Lures in this Condition....

[Anantha Patel]

There's a pond really close to my house with real hawgs (I've seen them). My friend and I fish there. I use my texas rigged worm (7" Roboworm Straight Tail, Warmouth color), while he throws his seances and stickos, blue and black. These are our old standbys; the fish in this pond aren't eager to bite anything, so we use our proven fish catchers. We fish in the pond quite often. He sometimes overfish me, I sometimes overfish him. Can anyone recommend me the best lure to use in this very odd pond?

It's really dirty, muddy. It is like 1 acre in sizeThere are a bunch of carp in there, eating any vegetation and stirring up the bottom. No cover or structure to be seen or felt hopping my worm along the bottom, except for the occasional weed either. The pond is in the middle of a well-manicured grass field, no overhanging trees. Forage is bluegill. Again, there are very, very few weeds in there. It's a really mystery to me why there are some hawgs. Not many frogs. Only structure I can see is a patch of cattails on the side. Very odd pond for the big fish. 

[d-camarena]

Drag a tube

[WRB]

Fish at night.

Tom

[Avalonjohn44]

Other: Colorado bladed spinnerbait (green/white is my fav...) followed up with a weightless t-rigged trickworm if you miss a spinnerbait hit.

[Hogsticker]

I'd try fishing a Jackall Clone Fry in bluegill pattern, nose hooked with a split shot weight just heavy enough to make a decent cast clamped on the line 12-18 inches above the bait. Just let it sink on semi slack line and when one of those bigger bass pick it up she'll start swimming away with it, so watch your line and when it gets taught set the hook. If they don't take it on the drop experiment with your retrieve. Any small bluegill minnow imitation should suffice. I'm just partial to Jackall. I'd also try a wacky rigged Jackall Flick Shake in bluegill pattern. Use the lightest weight you can get away with. Fish it the same as I mentioned above. Realistic as possible, slow and finesse oriented is what you want. Think along those lines and you should catch some. I'd hit it hard the last 45 minutes before it gets dark. Good luck 

I'd definitely down size the baits you have listed. 

[Anantha Patel]

3 hours ago, Hogsticker said:

I'd try fishing a Jackall Clone Fry in bluegill pattern, nose hooked with a split shot weight just heavy enough to make a decent cast clamped on the line 12-18 inches above the bait. Just let it sink on semi slack line and when one of those bigger bass pick it up she'll start swimming away with it, so watch your line and when it gets taught set the hook. If they don't take it on the drop experiment with your retrieve. Any small bluegill minnow imitation should suffice. I'm just partial to Jackall. I'd also try a wacky rigged Jackall Flick Shake in bluegill pattern. Use the lightest weight you can get away with. Fish it the same as I mentioned above. Realistic as possible, slow and finesse oriented is what you want. Think along those lines and you should catch some. I'd hit it hard the last 45 minutes before it gets dark. Good luck 

I'd definitely down size the baits you have listed. 

Thanks for the reply. I have already fished some 4" worms, bluegill color, on a drop shot, and slowly swam and jigged some 2" grubs, bluegill colored. I haven't got any bites. I think the pond water is just too muddy for the bass to see the finesse bait. It constantly is.

[papajoe222]

You seem to be limiting yourself to as far as presentations go.  As suggested, a Colorado bladed spinnerbait (possibly black or dark blue) is a great choice for muddy water.  A wide wobbling, rattling crank,or swimming a jig with a trailer that moves a lot of water, possibly with a rattle, are some other options.  The jig gives you the option of slowing down your presentation without changing baits. 

[flyingmonkie]

Throw the new Whopper Plopper buzz bait - guaranteed they've never seen one before... they won't know what to do!

[timsford]

I'd use stuff that displaces more water than a senko or roboworm. Texas rigged ribbon tail worms and creatures, craw and bluegill colored cranks, jigs, Colorado or Indiana single or tandem spinnerbaits, black buzzbaits, or my favorite a bluegill swim bait like the mattlures,  savage gear, huddleston, or little creeper. Or since it's hot during the day, try a black spinnerbait, buzzbait, jig, or Texas rigged worm at night

[bigbill]

My favorite setup from shore is the 24" 1/8 oz Carolina rig with plastics. I fish in 9' of water max most of the time. I think the 1/8oz weight gives it the perfect rate of fall on the weed edges and open areas. It's in view more rather than a rapid fall. I add a clicker to my plastics, brighter colors in stained, to muddy waters, add a scent. Crank baits  with loud rattles. Cast parallel to the catails. Fish early mornings, evenings.

[Anantha Patel]

Thanks for the reply. I went back and threw a colorado bladed black and blue spinnerbait and caught a dink. No other bites on my other colorado spinner. Jig didn't catch anything, neither did the rattlin' square bill. Then I threw in my popper, a Yo-Zuri 3db, without luck. Threw in a my 7" straight tailed worm and got a bite after fishing it. I'm beginning to think that I need a finesse bait for muddy water, something the fish can feel, but isn't too disruptive...

Should I throw my Roboworm Zipper, texas rigged, in a dark color? I think the ribbing should give a good amount of feel, and I'll throw on a dash of Smelly Jelly Stick Liquid. The pic is from Tackwarehouse.

 

[primetime]

I fish a bunch of small ponds and if you have stained water and not too many weeds on the surface, try to work a floating Minnow bait on the surface barely moving it...Let it land, wait 10 seconds, twitch, twitch pause...F-9,F-11 Gold and black in stained water is my favorite and if you can use 10lb mono that is the way to go, or 8lb. 

I catch more fish in ponds both at night and early morning even afternoon on a Floating Rapala, and I will use the Jointed J-9,J-11 gold and black at night or early waked slowly. 

In Ponds, I truly believe the lightest line possible makes a difference. If water is dark, it is hard to beat a Black worm dipped in Chartruese, and I like a swimming worm like a 9" Ribbon tail, or 6" Curly tail worm and adding a split shot often helps. fish it like normal, but if you have weeds all over the place, I would get a buzzing tail worm like a Zoom Speed worm in Junebug if bluegills are in the pond, and pitch it, buzz it, swim It etc...

Try the Rapala steady reeled slowly at night....The Floating Rapala is like the Senko of Hardbaits imo....It needs to be fished on the right line however to get the best action. If you need to go above 12lb test or 10lb braid, I would get a Bomber 14 Long A, they have strong saltwater hooks and many fish hit the lure as soon as it lands. For weeds, just fish a Fluke or Sluggo in a color that matches forage, I find if I can match the color of the bluegills I can do well in any pond on most days. Here in Florida they take a metalic silver body color with dark purple, Not much bright color on them so Junebug, black and blue, Melon Blue works well..

Hope that helps. Try to use a shorter rod fishing ponds so you can skip jigs and worms deep into brush or on undercut banks. Always fish the shade lines, and try to find moving water, especially where it enters the pond. This creates a ditch, or a channel Bass will use to ambush prey that floats into the pond, lizards work well after a rain, or any soft bait since Bass in ponds are usually in the spots you think they would be...Think Like a Big Bass...Where is the water that is cooler, has structure, and provides easy bait passing by where they can ambush without using energy. If you find moving water, the channel will run the length of the pond and you can catch fish after fish just dragging bottom with your favorite plastic, just remember...Most days, Bigger bass will not move more than a few inches to feed, and if you see them, they see you, so try to go by your self so talking is too a minimum. Big bass in ponds learn from bad experiences, I am 100% convinced of this...I have watched big bass pass up shiners for over an hour, but when one would fall off, they would get slurped without the hook....If you really want to find out how many bass are in a pond, and how many we often miss, get some big shiners and live line them, you will be shocked......I have gone 2 hours without a strike, live line a shiner and get bit within a minute in an area I worked with every bait possible....

Ponds are not easy as everyone thinks. Often they are harder and they learn, I can't catch fish over 12" on a senko anymore in most ponds, or on a finesse worm, small jig....Small Chatterbaits work well, not too much flash, black on black is my favorite in the 3/16 or 1/4 size, just sharpen any Z-Man hooks if you can, those little hooks come dull and sometimes they split when sharpening.

[primetime]

Zipper worms make great swim jig trailers...Flat body = great action...I love zipper worms in stained water,  would try swimming them behind a swim jig to create a nice bulge, also see what other forrage is in the pond. If Shiners are present, than that is why you have giant bass in a 1 acre pond, that is rare, but baby carp would make great forage. Try to catch one to see the color of it...Carp actually look like golden shiners when little, so Olive/gold, green pumpkin flash, watermelon gold...

It sounds like you have a great situation for light line and wake baits, small swimbaits on a jighead, just fish it slowly and walk softly and even though water is stained, don't assume rattles are the way to go, I would try both, Bass learn to find bait in stained water, rattles in 1 acre could be too much unless they are active...Night is always best in summer, not even close imo, just wait an hour after it gets dark.

[Scarborough817]

On 7/9/2016 at 10:20 PM, Anantha Patel said:

Forage is bluegill

you should be throwing bluegill imitations then 

[2tall79]

Jig and Pig......... Black with Chartreuse trailer (soaked in anise)

[Hogsticker]

Insert a rattle into a tube bait.