Pond Fishing For Big Bass

[Bigboy28438]

Okay guys need a little advise on pond fishing. I joined some ponds that have really big bass in them. I have had good results in these ponds but I want to target some of the bigger bass. Could y'all give me some advise on baits and techniques for catching these bigger bass during this time of year. The ponds are 12 to 14 deep and have shallow water also. Water clarity is visibity of about two to three feet. I am wanting to learn to catch the bigger bass. I know they are no guarantee on catching the bigger bass but I want to give it a try. They have some structure but not a lot. Thanks in advance.

[Mr_Scrogg]

I love tossing swimbaits in ponds. MS Slammers, Huddleston's, Lunker Punkers.

Depending on season will dictate my approach. Summer night pond hopping with Wakebaits, can't be beat IMO. Slather with Megastrike and hold on

[everythingthatswims]

Yep I agree with Scrogg, swimbaits are the way to go if you are looking for big bass. But don't think it takes a 7lb bass to eat a swimbait, I have caught lots of 2-3lb bass on big swimbaits.

[PondHopper96]

Hudd 68!

[Bluebasser86]

I agree with the swimbaits and will add 10" worms, senkos, buzzbait, and rattle trap. All those baits have caught me some of my biggest pond bass.

[SirSnookalot]

I fish ponds nearly every day, I have 6 of them in my community.  I would never use a large swimbait, that would mean using line and rod heavier than I want to.  Most of the time I'm using a top water popper, light power spinning rod, seems to produce the bigger bass and fewer small ones.  Bass aren't huge here, 20-24" are not uncommon, the lighter rod does increase the fun, I caught peacocks on this set up yesterday.

[deep]

I don't know jack about pond fishing, so take my advice for what it's worth. First off, what is a pond? When I think about ponds, I think of waterbodies that were not built by damming up a creek channel and likely dug by man. Probably it's bowl-shaped without too much structure out in the middle (structure: discernible part of the bottom contour)? What about the shoreline? Any vegetation, laydowns, brush? If so, they might hold some fish. What's the bottom like? Muck, grass, rocks?

 

Without getting into the specifics- I haven't seen your ponds- I have some suggestions. Pitch a florida-rigged plastic or a jig around shoreline cover. Are there any dropoffs, however subtle? Parallel them. In all cases, use something slightly bigger than you normally would (8" worm instead of 6" etc), work them close to the bottom, and fish them a little slower than you normally do. Try some night fishing if you're allowed to do that. I hate fishing at night, but early morning before sunrise works good for me.

 

What about the forage? What baitfish do you have in there? Do you see more of them in one particular part of the pond? If so, there must be something keeping them there. (Find out what it is.) The bass will be close when they're feeding.

[roadwarrior]

The Rage Structure Bug has been hot for me on both a Jika Rig (bottom contact)

 and Chatterbait as a trailer.

 

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/97547-to-all-my-memphis-pond-hoppers/page-17

 

 

 

[FishWitWiz]

The Rage Structure Bug has been hot for me on both a Jika Rig (bottom contact)

 and Chatterbait as a trailer.

 

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/97547-to-all-my-memphis-pond-hoppers/page-17

 

 

RW, I'm still learning from you here - what would that combo look like together?

[timsford]

Like the others mentioned swimbaits, big worms, jigs, spinnerbaits, and buzzbaits. My favorite bait for ponds are the mattlures ultimate bluegill and u2 bluegill. They imitate the primary forage in most ponds better than anything ive ever seen and you can catch some giant bass on them.

[roadwarrior]

RW, I'm still learning from you here - what would that combo look like together?

 

The Chatterbait/ Rage Bug a big presentation. The particular combination I caught Lucky on this weekend

was white on white. I think this presentation is going to be killer on the Tennessee River this fall. A large

portion of the shad population is mature and this size will match up pretty well I'm thinkin'.

 

 

 

[Bigboy28438]

I would like to take moment and say thanks for the info that u guys have gave me.i am going to start today and will keep u guys informed. Again thanks.

[TheSmilingSwordsman]

I assume that you are bank fishing.  If that is the case, I would suggest crankbaits, swimbaits, t-rigged plastics and spinnerbaits.  I would also recommend drop-shotting if the amount of cover and structure allows. 

 

I love fishing Siebert jigs, but when I fish from the shore in small waters I tend to lose them, so lean more heavily on t-rigged plastics.

[MCS]

I agree with the swimbaits and will add 10" worms, senkos, buzzbait, and rattle trap. All those baits have caught me some of my biggest pond bass.

 

 

Only thing I would add to this is a spinnerbait white/chart with a gold willow and nickle colorado cover all bases....If you want to go really big up the worm to a 13" gambler or 12" ol monster. 

[Raul]

My first 10 + lber came from a pond and nope, it wasn´t a swimbait what caught it, it was a Rapala Original Floating Minnow size 9 ( or less tan 4 " long ), my second 10 + was caught the same day, later in the day in the same pond, nope, it wasn´t caught by a swimbait, a 1/2 oz double willow spinnerbait caught it, I´ve caught several nice fish from that pond with all kinds of baits.

 

I won´t discard swimbaits in your quest for bigger bass but it´s more important, when, where and how, one problem with trying to catch bigger fish in ponds has a lot to do with the population of fish, ponds have tons of smaller, more idiotic ( and more willing to bite ) fish and you can go through dozens of them before your bait has a chance of luring in bigger fish.

[riverbasser13]

Has anyone said jigs yet? If there are bluegills in your pond then the larger bass are probably eating them. A jig and trailer matching the small to medium size bluegills has worked great for me. After reading the epic thread on here on jigs and jig fishing I have had great success with what I learned.

[Dwight Hottle]

My biggest pond bass was a 9-2 caught in southern GA on a Northstar hidden head spinner bait. The fish hit when other bass were chasing bream near the surface against the shore. I was casting parallel to the bank.

[greentrout]

The venerable Devil's Horse. A pond slayer. Cast it out. Let it sit at least 30 seconds. Sometimes longer. Then twitch it slowly.

 

Old school basser...