Fishing Scenario

[cBooms@SML]

Hey everyone, so i need some help here. I fish a little community pond that i am desperately waiting to thaw haha. it is about a football field long and half a field wide at the main part. It is mega shallow and fulllllllll of grass. The grass gets so bad that its kind of hard to fish because the grass grows so rapidly. The water is very stained with about 6inches of sight. The first time i went there i was able to catch some bass and develop a patter of yum 4inch dingers in junebug but that was around april. last year i started fishing a 1/4oz lipless crank at the ends of the pond where the ice was melting but with no luck. so i need your advice for what to use as soon as the ice starts melting as cabin fever is in full effect. one end of the pond splits in two arms, one is about 4 1/2 feet deep and the other comes to about 3 im guessing. the earliest i have caught them steadily was maybe in april. i caught one last year on a black and blue jig but i was just playin around over the edge of a dock, i dont think they would work because they would just get snagged. ALL the fish in this pond are small with the exception of a few 14-20 inch fish but i've only caught 4 of those in my 3 years of fishing there. If you guys can kindof comprehend what im talking about, please help. I really want to start being able to catch the bigger ones because the small ones just arent fun anymore. Thanks!

[J Francho]

Get a handful of Scumfrogs. 

[Fat-G]

I fish a pond VERY similar to the one you are describing. I love the pond. I've caught a lot of really good fish from it, and learned alot about fishing a pond with those characteristics.

The most productive presentation for me is swimming a Rage Craw, Space Monkey, or Smokin' Rooster on a keel-weighted hook. Experiment with different retrieves.

Another is a topwater frog. They can be fished a variety of different ways.

Hollow body swimbaits work well too.

PM me with any other questions and I'll gladly go into more detail.

[RyneB]

i also fish a similar ponds as you. I agree with swimming a rage craw and scum frogs. I also throw a texas rigged Rage Tail smokin rooster with only a 1/16th ounce weight. I throw it out and pretty much just reel it in like a wake bait. Its a bigger bait but it has caught me small bass as well as large bass. I like to reel it on top and then when i see a little pocket in the vegetation i let it fall in. With only that 1/16th ounce weight, it falls very slow and it looks amazing.

[philsoreel]

Weightless T-Rigged trick worms and lizards have always done very well fo me in grassy ponds.

[Fat-G]

Iwould think in the lste winter/early spring A weighless Senko would work well fished very slowly. Jig or texas rigged worm, craw, or creature. Shakey head is good too.

JFranco. Frogs in early season? or when the weeds come up?

GL...Bill

Both. Spring through summer.

[fishermantony]

If you can find alleys in the grass, open pockets or ares where the grass hasn't grown completely to the surface try burning a white spinnerbait in those areas.

[Intrepid]

small floating shallow diving cranks will work well, like rebel crawfish and crickhoppers. also i would throw floating worms t-rigged weightless and fished slowly

[B A S S E R]

almost all the ponds I fish are a lot like the one you described. I love to throw texas rigs (7" BPS ribbontail watermelon red 3/0 gammy ewgs with no weight or any where from 1/8 oz to 1 oz) and horny toads. Your pond sounds a little more stained then mine so you might try some 1/2oz black and blue jigs. I will be using jigs more at my pond this year. I caught about 6 bass last year from one pond that were above 4 pounds. Also saw a big musky in there and an albino catfish multiple times.

edit: another thing I like doing is just slowly working my weightless worm over the tops of the grass. You can get some cool topwater hits

[KWM]

I would try a shakey head with a 4-5 inch worm in watermelon or a pumkin color

[Uncle Leo]

Early in the year concentrate at the north end of the pond, even if ice is present. The north end will the first to experience ice out and should be a bit warmer. Try a minnow style bait worked slowly. A Weightless Fluke may also work. The nice thing about this time of year as the will be swallow or near the bank due to the temperature of the water on the rise.

[bwell]

The lake behind my house sounds the exact same way.  I even have a hard time taking my little boat out because the trolling motor will get tied up in the grass...  This year I plan on using some 1oz jigs to get to the bottom and maybe trying to rip a lipless crank, but I can see a crank getting stuck and losing them to the grass.

I have had the best luck using t-rigged plastics, and weedless topwater.