Pond in my backyard.

[jimf]

 

Last September my wife and I moved, part of the draw of the house we picked was a retention pond in the back yard.  It was kind of pretty, with ducks and geese and best of all, no neighbors!  My wife was so happy for me to have a place to fish, but honestly I didn't think it would hold fish.   I checked it out, saw a couple of little bluegill and figured ok, maybe I could go catch a couple of stunted gills from time to time.

 

First month of the house and I never fished it.   When I finally did go down to fish it, I did so more to say "Yeah, I have a house where I fish in my backyard" than really catch fish.   Then I caught my first fish, a bluegill on a fly rod, and the thing was an absolute slab.   I proceeded to catch several more, and also had something huge break me off.    Turns out that there are huge bluegills, 10+ pound carp (I'm going to get one soon here), and bass.    For example, last night I just walked around the pond, maybe 20 minutes, and got 4 or 5.  I never guessed this pond would produce 4-5 fish like this in a 20 minute around:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jr231]

Looks like you have neighbors to me lol. 

 

Love pond fishing... Perfect place to get a quick bass thumb and honestly a chance at catching a real hog !! My PB came out of a pond (the pond was pretty big though ) and Ohio's state record came from a pond as well ! 

 

Also like pond fishing for trying new baits and techniques..  because you know you're on the fish..

 

Ponds are often looked at as being easy or for beginners... But ive been to some pressured ponds that would make a seasoned vet curse . 

 

Your bass will learn about you ! Especially the big ones... I have a set of ponds I've been running for about 4 years... And they have gotten used to the senko, popper , fluke, shad rap and hula grub (which are my favorites for pond fishing) .. they can still be had on these baits but it's just not like it used to be...

 

I've had to really change it up when fishing these areas.. 

 

Nice fish ! Hard to beat that.. 

 

Do you think that whatever broke you off was a carp ? 

[jimf]

I have been wondering now how quickly I will educate them.   A co-worker who has lived in this area when they started developing it said that these neighborhood retention ponds are often connected, and almost always deep.    He saw some of them dug out years ago and told me he wouldn't be surprised if it's 30+ feet deep.   We do have two small ponds when you come in to the subdivision that has fountains in them, and I'm pretty sure those 2 are connected to mine.

 

Definitely a carp that broke me off.   Over the years I have actually gotten pretty good at fly fishing for them in the early summer, and that's when I will get one.   The problem was I was using my little spring creek trout rod - a 3 weight with prob. 3-4 lb test tippet, and had no chance.   I will target them with my 6 or 7 weight rod with some beef on the leader.   You need to use small flies and a quiet presetnation with carp, fly fishing for them when they are schooling and slurping scum off the surface is the way to go.

[roadwarrior]

Too cool!

 

[jr231]

Are they common carp ?? 

[jimf]

54 minutes ago, Yeajray231 said:

Are they common carp ?? 

Not 100% sure, I assumed common.  

[JustJames]

Nice looking backyard. I wish some day I can have backyard like that.

[NYWayfarer]

14 hours ago, JustJames said:

Nice looking backyard. I wish some day I can have backyard like that.

 

Ditto!

[jr231]

Common carp are known to eat alot of things and are often taken on small bass lures... 

 

But there are some grass carp in a pond I frequent and I can't even get a nibble... I've tried everything recommended to me... Sweet corn, cherry tomatoes, part of a cat tail , dough balls... Nothin !  Even chummed for a few days in a row to get them used to feeding in an area and that would call them in.. but couldn't get a bite..

 

I'm not shooting them with a bow either.. lol 

[lonnie g]

nice fish! glad you got your dream home. and water is better than grass any day , you don't have to mow it!

[JustJames]

On 5/11/2017 at 10:24 AM, Yeajray231 said:

Common carp are known to eat alot of things and are often taken on small bass lures... 

 

But there are some grass carp in a pond I frequent and I can't even get a nibble... I've tried everything recommended to me... Sweet corn, cherry tomatoes, part of a cat tail , dough balls... Nothin !  Even chummed for a few days in a row to get them used to feeding in an area and that would call them in.. but couldn't get a bite..

 

I'm not shooting them with a bow either.. lol 

Have you tried pop corn?

[jr231]

@JustJames no.. one of them are huge ! It'd be cool to catch one..

 

 

I'm almost always targeting bass tho..

 

 

[JustJames]

I might try to catch one with pop corn since it float and I always see carp near by when bank fishing.

[uncle reddog]

A guy I used to work with found a way to catch grass carp. He'd take bagels and leave them on the dash (in a bag of course lol)of his truck to get them all gooey and nasty then make little balls out of them and catch em that way. Give it a try.

[N Florida Mike]

There's a pond I've fished that's full of big carp.I would chum them with bread balls and while I waited for the carp I would catch bream.

I caught one carp that was 32 inches out of there with a big bread ball.My grandson hooked one and the drag was tightened down too far and it broke 25 pound test !!

The ones in my lake Are over 30 pounds,maybe pushing 40. I snagged one 2 -3 years ago that weighed 23.

But my carp seem to have no interest in anything but grass.