Winter Fishing In Ponds

[Grizzn N Bassin]

Ive read quite a few posts on here about winter and all of the articles.. But theres still some mising what about pond fishing in the winter.. IVe only been out a handfull of time.. id say about 6-8 times 4-6 hour sessions on the bank and ive only gotten 2 bites Anything you bank fishermen know that might help?

[Grizzn N Bassin]

Oh and water temp is 39 -41 in the pond..

[birdseyelespaul]

Grizzn, I am not the most knowledgeable fisherman but I can tell you what I've been told because I have asked the same questions. Obviously the bass will be deep but they are catchable. As a matter of fact, my buddy sent me an article that said to use jigs,flat sided crankbaits, jigging spoons, and jerkbaits. I have tried drop shotting too. I caught my first November bass a couple of days ago. I was using a red tomato colored, salt infused finesse worm with a drop shot rig. If you don't know what it is, its very effective in the summer time and now I'm trying to figure it out in fall/winter. I love a drop shotted worm or minnow. Also, fish very slow. All the hits I got on my worm were very light. Going again Saturday. Gonna try to fish some bass jigs. Should be interesting.

[CoBass]

I have been fishing a small pond lately with water temps in the upper 30's to lower 40's and have been having success casting a 1/4 oz blade bait to deeper water and hopping it off the bottom like a spoon. Most hits have been on the fall. I like the blade because it creates a lot of vibration and flash when it is ripped off the bottom and it has a good fluttering action on the fall. I use the same technique in the Spring right between ice off and pre-spawn when the water is cold and the fish are still a little sluggish.

[38 Super Fan]

Banking it this time of year can be tough, I'm no expert myself, but getting skunked is pretty common in the late Fall for me. Try to find the deep spots, those with cover will likely be the best. I seem to do best with small jigs and Senkos, just dragging them real slowly, but hard jerkbaits, tubes, among others all can catch fish. Live bait can be hard to beat this time of year too, if your into that. Good luck!

[Bluebasser86]

We fish ponds all winter long if they don't freeze up. Last year we fished jerkbaits all winter long, even when there was ice on parts of the ponds, and we caught fish all winter long fishing from the bank. The key is long pauses, over 30 seconds a few days when the water temps were in the mid 30's. The water temps you have should be great for jerkbaiting if the water is fairly clear. Try some smaller baits like a 65 or 78 pointer in natural colors.

[PondBoss]

Personally from my studies and experiences, fish live both deep and shallow year round. While I do agree with the above posts that fish can be found slow and deep, I think you'd be surprised how many fish you will catch fishing fast and shallow. Not top water shallow, but less than 6 feet. A couple of years back I had one of my best winter days ever while I was standing on the ice and casting to holes I made by throwing big stones. I was even able to see a turtle and a catfish swimming under my feet. That day I caught all of my fish on 1/8 oz spinner baits fished maybe 2 ft deep in 4-6 ft of water. Fish are a lot like people in that they may go on vacation, but they don't move. If you can find cover fish it fast first, then let it rest and come back slow. I think you maybe surprised how many you catch on the first pass.

[thehooligan]

Only thing thats been working for me lately is lipless cranks, jerkbaits, and dropshot.

[quanjig]

Small jigs with a finess worm on the back as a trailer has been my go to for years while pond fishing in winter. 3/16-1/4 oz bitsy bug with a small RI flirt worm is deadly! Small hops and boom, fish on!

[wademaster1]

SLOW on the bottom

[Nitrofreak]

Small jigs with a finess worm on the back as a trailer has been my go to for years while pond fishing in winter. 3/16-1/4 oz bitsy bug with a small RI flirt worm is deadly! Small hops and boom, fish on!

X2, Bitsy jigs with a flirt worm, killer !!!

Small hops as Quanjig says and they will eat them up !!!

[Grizzn N Bassin]

so it looks like im going to go and buy some jerk baits and give em a try and ill pick up a few rat-l that are are smaller than the ones i have.. how about spinners.. any blade prefence i should rig up i can prob rig about 4-5 different colors on the smaller spinner bc im not touching my summer spinner patterns!!!

[Grizzn N Bassin]

thanks for all the tips.. what pound test do you use in ponds. ive got 15 pound fluro on my 2 baits caster... and 6 pound on my dropshot set up.. im sure the fish are even more finikie in teh winter and i think im scaring them with the line!!!

[Grizzn N Bassin]

We fish ponds all winter long if they don't freeze up. Last year we fished jerkbaits all winter long, even when there was ice on parts of the ponds, and we caught fish all winter long fishing from the bank. The key is long pauses, over 30 seconds a few days when the water temps were in the mid 30's. The water temps you have should be great for jerkbaiting if the water is fairly clear. Try some smaller baits like a 65 or 78 pointer in natural colors.

I saw many vids and read articles on this. but i left all my planos of jerkbaits at my uncles. i guess.. do you know if they have a blue gill pattern?

[Bluebasser86]

I saw many vids and read articles on this. but i left all my planos of jerkbaits at my uncles. i guess.. do you know if they have a blue gill pattern?

Yeah several companies make bluegill colors. I still have best luck with golden shiner, bass, and shad colors. I really had a lot of success with the Excalibur Erratic shads. They sit very still in the water and have a subtle, deadstick action, and they're a good sized baits that catch all sizes of fish.

[WDinarte]

Great tread, I was going around with the same question. This will be my first winter fishing adventure and I only fish from " bank" no way to be on top of the water YET. I do have some of the "gear" that you guys mention here, and I will get some more from the "fishing toys store" BUT the senkos will they be good still ?....

[Jay Ell Gee]

Senkos can certainly do well this time of year. I find them to be most effective fished weightless on a 3/0 EWG, but if your bass are deep this time of year, it can be downright frustrating to use. It can take a long time for a weightless senko to flutter down 20+ feet. Try wacky rigging it with a weighted jighead, similar to the flick shake. You'll get to cover water, slowly, but still at a reasonable pace.

If you want a bit of a faster fall, try the flick shake worms! Jackall or Bass Pro Shimmy worms work just as well. If that doesn't work, I wouldn't cut the wacky jig off until I also wacky rigged an old fluke or small swimbait and sent it down horizontally as well. You would be shocked at how well this works.

Soft plastic swimbaits (Berkley Grass Pig, Lake Fork Magic Shads, Zoom Paddle Tail Fluke all work well for me) fished on a keel weighted 4/0ish size hook and simply retrieved slowly across the bottom, above grassbeds, or wherever else your fish may be.

Finesse jigs with a floating finesse worm trailer can be a simple, downsized finesse option.

You can also never go wrong with a jig'n'pig. I scent all of my trailers this time of year. Every little bit helps. Some guys recommend bulky baits this time of year, to represent an easy, calorie packed meal worth not passing up on by the bass. I'm not really sure where to stand on this one.

I also wouldn't rule out the dropshot if the bass don't like texas rigs getting drug across the bottom. Worms, craws, creatures, etc. Typical color rules apply.

Throw those lipless cranks too!

If you have any, a weedless spoon (believe it or not) in baby bass or shad will work well if you can drop it right on their nose.

Point is, you have a lot of good options, and odds are, you are already have half of these lures in your arsenal. All you need to do is send them across the pond and see what they pull up!

Lot of good info this this thread:

http://www.bassresou...ts/page__st__15

[WDinarte]

Thanks, Jay...

Great ideas and tips, my lures still working with the temperature going down... but the senkos they are not working ( catch ) at the same speed as the other options. And one good point that you mention was the "baby bass " they are pulling any lure that I try, but like I say before this winter is my first one to try and I will work the pond until the last minute... my hands are frozen but on the line still not ice.

See you guys around and thanks for your help.