Looking For Advice On Fishing A Large Pond

[DocBar]

I used the search feature, but didn't really find what I was looking for, so I figured I'd ask here. I apologize if I missed some posts in the search.

 

I am currently fishing a large pond at the Rio Bend RV & Golf Resort in El Centro, Ca. and it's quite a bit different than anything I've fished before. The water is green, lightly stained and very warm, I have no idea at all how deep it is, but it drops off to several feet right at the shore (this is a man made pond).

There is very little structure that I can see from shore and no real shoreline features that say "fish here" other than an old foot bridge.

 

What strategies would y'all recommend? This is a catch and release only pond and I'm sure every fish in it has been caught a dozen times. The bluegill won't even bite a worm.

 

There are LM, trout(so I'm told) and at least one yellow cat.

 

I have seen large fish, no idea what species but probably 20"+, jumping out of the water and I see a lot of big swirls. Absolutely no luck in catching anything when I see this.

 

Thanks in advance for any tips or suggestions.

 

 

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Structure is relative. In a featureless body like this a 1 foot trench somewhere could hold fish. The pilings of the bridge, any inlet or outlet and the corners are the first places I'd look. I'd also comb the bottom in a grid fashion with a C-rig feeling for any change in depth, cover or bottom composition and make mental note of what you find. Also sounds like the fish are pressured which can mean finesse tactics are called for. A Senko or Ika inched along the bottom SLOWLY should get some bites, if not I'd start looking for new water.

[DocBar]

  On 10/26/2013 at 7:32 PM, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

Structure is relative. In a featureless body like this a 1 foot trench somewhere could hold fish. The pilings of the bridge, any inlet or outlet and the corners are the first places I'd look. I'd also comb the bottom in a grid fashion with a C-rig feeling for any change in depth, cover or bottom composition and make mental note of what you find. Also sounds like the fish are pressured which can mean finesse tactics are called for. A Senko or Ika inched along the bottom SLOWLY should get some bites, if not I'd start looking for new water.

I've done a quite a bit of fishing T-rigged and with a Rapala CD-9. Seems to be maybe 10' deep, but that's just a guess.

 

I've caught two fish close to the bridge, one being a 3.5 lb'er the other a bit over 1lb. 

 

Water is pumped in through a fountain at one end of the pond, it's shallow there with some rip rap (not a single bite there) and drains out through two small weirs at the other end. No bites there, either.

 

I'll try the C-rig this afternoon/evening and see what happens. I haven't had a bit of luck with soft plastics so far but maybe I've been fishing them too fast. I haven't tried any finesse methods yet.

 

One thing that really strikes me as different here is the complete lack of anything but bluegills and insects for forage. I haven't seen a frog, turtle, snake, crawfish or anything else.

 

It also doesn't help that I'm in the sunniest place in the whole country. Cloud cover is rare and the water is fairly clear. Pretty challenging conditions but since I'm only 2 minutes from the pond, at least I can get a hook wet and work on some techniques.

 

Thanks for the input.

[Marty]

The best advice I can offer is to move around a lot, covering as much water as possible. Eventually you may find some spots that are good and others that are not so good, even if the reason is not apparent to you from shore.

[Lil'Gunner]

Personally, I love tiny spinnerbaits for finding fish in new ponds - 1/8oz single colorados. I start  by running right along the edges, then work out. I try white first and if that doesn't work, go green or black. One or the other almost always works, at least to locate fish. After that I may slow down and work a plastic.

[LMB ANGLER]

 two words... drop-shot, when fish dont bite or are very finicky use a finesse drop-shot technique and ill guarantee you will catch.

[coryn h. fishowl]

  On 10/26/2013 at 7:32 PM, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

Structure is relative. In a featureless body like this a 1 foot trench somewhere could hold fish. The pilings of the bridge, any inlet or outlet and the corners are the first places I'd look. I'd also comb the bottom in a grid fashion with a C-rig feeling for any change in depth, cover or bottom composition and make mental note of what you find. Also sounds like the fish are pressured which can mean finesse tactics are called for. A Senko or Ika inched along the bottom SLOWLY should get some bites, if not I'd start looking for new water.

x2

Use green pumpkin and june bug colors.  Try using dropshot rigs, shaky heads and wacky rigs.

[DocBar]

  On 10/27/2013 at 1:39 AM, coryn h. fishowl said:

x2

Use green pumpkin and june bug colors.  Try using dropshot rigs, shaky heads and wacky rigs.

Those are the colors I've been using, along with motor oil. I used the shaky head today with no luck.

  On 10/27/2013 at 1:12 AM, Lil said:

Personally, I love tiny spinnerbaits for finding fish in new ponds - 1/8oz single colorados. I start  by running right along the edges, then work out. I try white first and if that doesn't work, go green or black. One or the other almost always works, at least to locate fish. After that I may slow down and work a plastic.

I love those, too. I throw those or a rattle trap to locate. Once I find them, I'll swap to soft plastic or a jerk bait.

 

  On 10/27/2013 at 1:30 AM, LMB ANGLER said:

 two words... drop-shot, when fish dont bite or are very finicky use a finesse drop-shot technique and ill guarantee you will catch.

I'm gonna try drop shot tomorrow. I've actually never used that technique, so I'm going to buy what I need and learn to use it. I've been doing some reading on it. Any advice on hooks or baits?

[coryn h. fishowl]

  On 10/27/2013 at 2:53 AM, DocBar said:

Those are the colors I've been using, along with motor oil. I used the shaky head today with no luck.

I love those, too. I throw those or a rattle trap to locate. Once I find them, I'll swap to soft plastic or a jerk bait.

 

 

Soft Plastic Jerkbaits are a great option.  When all else fails, why not resort to the lure the best imitates a dying fish.  Plus, flukes can't easily "burnt out" so to speak simply because it mimics a baitfish in distress, and if bass didn't react to such they would go hungry, so they will continue to be caught on them.

[DocBar]

  On 10/27/2013 at 2:57 AM, coryn h. fishowl said:

Soft Plastic Jerkbaits are a great option.  When all else fails, why not resort to the lure the best imitates a dying fish.  Plus, flukes can't easily "burnt out" so to speak simply because it mimics a baitfish in distress, and if bass didn't react to such they would go hungry, so they will continue to be caught on them.

I use soft plastic jerk baits quite often. I'm not that great with them bass fishing, but that's my go to bait for reds and specks when I can't find live shrimp.

 

I've been trying the soft plastic swim baits also, but I'm still figuring out different methods with them.

[coryn h. fishowl]

no prob

[DocBar]

Well, I tried the drop shot for the 1st time today. Used 2" Berkley pinched worms cuz that's the best I saw at Wal E World ( I ordered some better ones online). I missed one fish and didn't get another bite on it that I could tell. For the 1st time in my life, I might consider braided line. It reminds me a lot of fishing for sheeps head. Those suckers will suspend and eat your bait right off the hook.

 

The technique I used was to let it fall to the bottom, sit for 20-30 seconds, wiggle the rod tip, pause 4-5 seconds, lift the rod tip or reel in a bit to drag the weight across the bottom. Does that sound like a good tempo?

 

The wind really picked up out of the west, which is the end of the pond I was trying to fish, so I went down both sides of the east end of the lake and caught a couple of little scrubs on a 1/8 oz white SB with a single colorado blade.

 

I'm thinking the fishing will pick up as the weather continues to cool off. It's only been out of the 100's for a couple of weeks here and still in the high 80's to low 90's with lots and lots of sunshine. There's also a small lake across the interstate that is stocked. Come January, I'll get a fishing license and start hitting it regularly. $123 is a little too steep for a couple of months of fishing.

 

I'm seriously considering a Sea Eagle inflatable and adding a fish finder to it. All in all, I think this will be a good winter. If the fish ain't biting, there's a 9 hole golf course here at the park, too. Unfortunately my golf game resembles my bass game and I've spent way too much money to be able to blame the equipment.

[LMB ANGLER]

  On 10/28/2013 at 1:51 AM, DocBar said:

Well, I tried the drop shot for the 1st time today. Used 2" Berkley pinched worms cuz that's the best I saw at Wal E World ( I ordered some better ones online). I missed one fish and didn't get another bite on it that I could tell. For the 1st time in my life, I might consider braided line. It reminds me a lot of fishing for sheeps head. Those suckers will suspend and eat your bait right off the hook.

did you drop-shot with braid? i hope you at least had a fluorocarbon leader. drop-shot is a finesse type of bait that requires line fluoro line.

[coryn h. fishowl]

I hadn't taken into account the region your in.

A. What forage do you see around the lake and what size? Are the bluegill small enough to be a significant food source. Are there many frogs, etc.

B. what kind of vegatation is around there.

C. how much is there

D. U can use the dropshot or a football head jig to determine depth, bottom content, structure etc.

      1. Name every bit of structure you can- using polarized glasses, if you have any, will help

       2. take note of the bank slop as it enters the water.  This will be indicative of the slope underwater.

E. Give us more info and we can get you more fish.

F. HAVE FUN

[DocBar]

  On 10/28/2013 at 2:03 AM, LMB ANGLER said:

did you drop-shot with braid? i hope you at least had a fluorocarbon leader. drop-shot is a finesse type of bait that requires line fluoro line.

I've never fished with braided line in my life. I've always used mono. I got turned off by all the knot issues I've heard about and I've caught a butt ton of fish on mono. That said, I'm not a finesse guy. As I stated earlier, sheeps head can kick my butt. I fish for fun and have a hard enough time remembering what power and action rod to use for what bait/technique/line/wind/depth/water clarity/moon phase/astrological sign/menstrual cycle of the bass.

 

I'm sorry for sounding like a smart mouth. The amount of stuff to consider gets overwhelming at times. I try to use the K.I.S.S. method. I'd lose an eye in a boat trying to figure out what rod is on what reel with what line for what presentation of what particular bait.

 

  On 10/28/2013 at 2:06 AM, coryn h. fishowl said:

 I hadn't taken into account the region your in.

A. What forage do you see around the lake and what size? Are the bluegill small enough to be a significant food source. Are there many frogs, etc.

B. what kind of vegatation is around there.

C. how much is there

D. U can use the dropshot or a football head jig to determine depth, bottom content, structure etc.

      1. Name every bit of structure you can- using polarized glasses, if you have any, will help

       2. take note of the bank slop as it enters the water.  This will be indicative of the slope underwater.

E. Give us more info and we can get you more fish.

F. HAVE FUN

I watched those. That's why I chose the bait I chose. I did actually get to see some threadfin shad bait balls yesterday while fishing and they wereLess than an inch long. I'll be using that bit of info in the future. Other than bluegill/red ear and insects, I haven't seen a single other source of forage. I've stayed out at different points during the night to see what might change, but I'm in the middle of a desert with a lot of irrigation. I don't expect to see too much forage. 

[coryn h. fishowl]

I'll post something tomorrow but I just fell asleep twice int the last 2 minutes...time to sign off, but before I do, don't be afraid of braid.  I use it on my MH graphite soft platics/jig/spinnerbait/lipless crank spinning rod just fine. If you are afraid of backlashes just upsize.  20 pound braid has the diameter of 6 pound mono, but still floats.  So rather than using the test line that your reel is made for, use the diameter it was made for.  MY reel on that rod is made for up to 14 pound mono, but with 30 pound braid (which has the diameter of about 10 lb test) it runs like a charm.

[DocBar]

  On 10/28/2013 at 2:54 AM, coryn h. fishowl said:

I'll post something tomorrow but I just fell asleep twice int the last 2 minutes...time to sign off, but before I do, don't be afraid of braid.  I use it on my MH graphite soft platics/jig/spinnerbait/lipless crank spinning rod just fine. If you are afraid of backlashes just upsize.  20 pound braid has the diameter of 6 pound mono, but still floats.  So rather than using the test line that your reel is made for, use the diameter it was made for.  MY reel on that rod is made for up to 14 pound mono, but with 30 pound braid (which has the diameter of about 10 lb test) it runs like a charm.

I'm not afraid of anything with braid, just not sure I want the hassle of figuring out what rod has what line for what bait. I'm not even a cousin to a tournament fishermen, so that level of sophistication hasn't even registered with me. I may have missed a million fish on mono, but only a couple have ever broken my line. I just don't know that it;s worth it to get all that involved in line selection when it distracts from my enjoyment. I fish for a lot more than just bass. If I'm going inshore saltwater fishing, I'd rather fight a fish on mono. It's what I know and I'm comfortable with, I usually up size to 17-20lb. test for saltwater.

 

Backlashes don;t bother me in the least. I graduated from a Zebco 303/404 to an Ambassaduer 6500 over night and really learned how to get a rat's nest undone/cast a baitcaster. Since then, I've gone to mostly low profile BC set ups.

 

I tend to run a BC on the ragged edge of a backlash. By my reckoning, I've probably caught 30% of all of my fish because I was forced to spool off a backlash before reeling in. It sometimes forces me to be patient.  I also like the extra casting distance.

[coryn h. fishowl]

  On 10/28/2013 at 3:21 AM, DocBar said:

I'm not afraid of anything with braid, just not sure I want the hassle of figuring out what rod has what line for what bait. I'm not even a cousin to a tournament fishermen, so that level of sophistication hasn't even registered with me. I may have missed a million fish on mono, but only a couple have ever broken my line. 

 

Just send someone a private message (me if you want to) with info about what setup you currently use and what braid you would swap it out with.  I've come to LOVE the stuff.  I even use it for serving in my bow.