Best Pond Tactic?

[BW208]

Well I dont have a boat but I do have a pontoon and we have alot of public local ponds so I do a large amount of pond fishing.  They are mostly old dredge ponds from gold mining days so alot of them are deep with steep banks and very clear water.  Some have no cover and I dont have a lot of confidence in deep/open water, especially without electronics.  Also a lot of them have huge clumps of weeds, I mean like solid from the bottom to the surface for like 20 feet.  Or they will be up close to the surface of the water.  Kind of limits me on what baits I can throw.  Everyone always raves about shakey heads, finesse worms, etc.  I mostly rely on jigs, crank baits, spinner baits, swim baits, etc.  I guess what I am asking is what would your approach be and why?  Here is a couple pics that kind of show what I am talking about.

[Sam]

Unweighted Zoom trick worms in pink or white fished like a snake in the water

Wake baits in shad or chartreuse colors

Shaky head with Zoom trick worms in green pumpkin or watermelon

Drop Shot

Texas rigged finesse worms

Rat-L-Traps with rear hook removed

Senkos, wacky rigged

Chatterbaits

Cavitron buzz baits

Topwater poppers

Frogs/Toads

 

Use a spinning rig for finesse techniques.

 

Baits you are throwing:

Jigs - for big bass and slow fishing

Crankbaits - 1 to 3 feet or wake baits best in your pond

Spinnerbaits - windy conditions with chop on the top of the water

Swim Baits - for big bass

 

You need to throw plastics by flipping and pitching next to the clumps of grass or swim a trick worm.

 

I would walk around the pond and throw one presentation at a time using the "fan" pattern, going from left to right and then left to right two or three times for each bait.

 

If the water is clear than the bass can see you so stay off the bank and don't throw a shadow on the water.

 

Hit the pond before sunrise with Cavitrons, walk a frog, buzz a toad and poppers.

 

Do the same as the sun goes down.

 

You can also fish deep with a shaky head, drop shot, Senko or Texas rigged presentation.

 

Remember your needle nose pliers and to let everyone in your family know where you will be and what time you expect to be home. This is called a "float plan" and even if you fish ponds it is important that family members and friends know where you are fishing.

 

Try the finesse fishing attack along with the topwaters and let us know if your luck changes.

[jbw252]

Wow - great response from Sam.  That post pretty much sums it up. 

[Senko lover]

Jigs and T-Rigs

[Matthew2000]

I would throw a 5 inch swimbait around some cover, then take a Texas rig and work along the cover. Next I would take a frog and throw it over the cover.

[BW208]

I throw frogs alot. Problem is I almost never morning fish. Almost always fish the evenings. It's not warm enough yet for frogs I don't think. Thanks for the replies! I guess I need to just figure out how to finesse fish no matter how much I dislike it.

[Drew03cmc]

I like the Midwest Finesse philosophy and have begun using it with success this year. I just caught seven in an hour and lost five on a weedless Ned Rig. Give it a try.

[Mccallister25]

Sam is pretty dead on. Summed it up pretty good.

[BW208]

Thanks guys.  I will try it out.