Best small pond bass bait?

[Bassmaster3616]

I live in central Arkansas and fishing about 4 different ponds which are all fairly small. All private property so not super pressured. I was wondering what are some good baits to throw. I've tried chartreuse and white chatterbaits... No luck. Green pumpkin and bullfrog colored zoom trick worms t-rigged... Caught a few. I've also tried white spinners with little luck. 2 of these ponds have had 5lbers+ caught out of them. Thanks!!!

[blckshirt98]

Dropshot a 3.5-4" plastic.  Something like a green pumpkin/watermelon GYCB Kut Tail, Molix Sator Worm, or Reins Bubbling Shaker.

[mrmacwvu1]

senko

inline spinner

floating rapala

jitterbug

[Bassmaster3616]

Thanks!! Is an inline spinner the same thing as a rooster tail?

[r3825]

7 minutes ago, Bassmaster3616 said:

Thanks!! Is an inline spinner the same thing as a rooster tail?

Yes it is.

[boostr]

Jig and craw:  bk/bl, browns and greens   

Ned Rig (wasn't it invented there) same colors as above.

Swim jig: Blue gill, bream, and same colors as above

[soflabasser]

senko

[mrmacwvu1]

24 minutes ago, r3825 said:

Yes it is.

and they will catch anything that swims in a pond

I keep them in my idiot box

[Outdoor Zack]

4" YUM Dinger, Texas-rigged on a 2/0 or 3/0 EWG hook

[Hurricane]

Ned rig, rooster tail, strike king mini king Spinnerbait, rapala  floater..

[Kyhokie]

4" creme scoundrel on size 1 offset work hook. Usually split shot rig.

[Maxximus Redneckus]

2 " curly tail grub..pick a color 

[Caliyak]

Does the pond have cattails, any veg? If so, pitch or flip a creature bait like a d bomb or brush hog. How deep are the ponds? 

[BassThumb]

Try a soft jerkbait like a Zoom Super Fluke or Strike King Caffiene Shad Texas-rigged on an EWG 4/0 hook. 

They're very versatile lures that can be fished fast or slow and won't spook skittish bass.

[Damn Yankee]

If there are weeds maybe a hollow frog, buzz bait.

[RyneB]

Booyah finesse jig with twin tail trailer. I prefer a zoom salty crawler. 

[crypt]

3-4 inch slider grub,small spinnerbait,small rapalas  3f-5f,teeny rattletrap.

[Jaw1]

I'm also from the same area and have a couple ponds I hit up from time to time. The most productive baits for me are Yamamoto shad shaped worm fished on lite line weightless or split shot , small swimming fluke, regular fluke (not super) in green pumpkin,and rebel hoppers. I also fly fish them sometimes and catch a lot of bass along with bream on hopper imitations I tie

[the reel ess]

I fish mostly ponds. All ponds are not created equal. My favorites are:

Zoom Trick Worm, weightless, Craw, T-rigged or Yamamoto Hula Grub, 3/16 oz weight or smaller if using spinning, Booyah Pad Crasher frog (if you think fish are too small for a big frog, they make a Jr size too, another topwater bait, like Spook, Jr or Chug Bug. Fish in ponds will hit topwaters better than those in large lakes.

Honorable mentions: T-rigged worm-weighted, Fluke, Rapala Minnow jerkbaits, Rebel Craw crankbaits, Rat L Trap, spinnerbaits, jig & trailer, Beetlespins, crappie tube or grub jigs, Inline Spinners, fly poppers or frogs, +1 for the Rebel miniatures (but big fish will wreck UL tackle).

 

 

[primetime]

#7-#9 Floating Rapala on spinning gear #6-#10lb test mono...Barely twitched kept on surface with pauses, and cast toward cover and along shorelines...

Next would be a any soft plastic you have the most confidence in, just start out with a standard size like a 5" worm or fluke, nothing too big, but a 6" Culprit or Zoom U tail with a split shot 18" up if you need more weight is hard to beat...

I always use the lightest line I can get away with, If Pond has a ton of weeds, then a pegged texas rig with a Rage menace grub or any smaller creature/soft bait with 1/8 oz is hard to beat, 3/16 is heaviest I usually go in a pond..

Soft landings and casting is important in ponds. Fish spook easy, I often will use a small Jig like a Bitsy Bug jig (Not the Flipping one, use the standard since you can swim it with a 3" Grub on back and the weedguard is thinner)....Also the buzzcut finesse jigs allow you to get a longer cast with a heavier weight, you can take any jig say 1/4 oz, and make it buzz cut so it has that parachute shape on top and that helps the jig land and skip Arkie style is good for this and they then fall slower and in ponds smaller profiles are more common and really you can use anything you have confidence in and have success as long as it is not overbearing, and if you can use 6lb test which you usually can, You get more strikes on #6 than #8 and I always keep line out of the water, if you leave it under the water it spooks fish as they may feel it, see it, and stealth is key..Stand far back when you approach and the rapala works so well since it lands so natural, they never get spooked. I would only use buzz style baits if choppy or darker out.

When I want to remove bass from a pond to help control populations, I grab my light action spinning rod, 4lb test, and a 3" grub on a light jighead and usually get bit every cast by small fish and some big fish but it is fun if in the right pond....Big bass will come if you start getting smaller fish, always happens, after half dozen smaller fish a big one almost always comes along to see what the action is and will not let a smaller fish get the bait first, when the bite slows down....Hold on tight.

[DrePac3000]

Wacky rig senko always catches them 

[Hurricane]

Zoom 6 inch black lizard wont hurt..

[Senko lover]

I see topics like this come up a lot around the internet, they're kinda funny to me. Sure, a lot of ponds wouldn't set up correctly for a 10xd or the like, but with the majority of small ponds, the same lures you would catch bass on in a large lake work for them. You don't need special baits for small ponds. Just throw stuff that you're confident in and that you know the bass will eat.