Shallow Pond Tips

[Tyler21]

Tomorrow I will be fishing a very shallow pond from the bank. The deepest part within casting distance is about 3 feet and the visibility is 1 foot. I was wondering if you guys had any tips on how to fish this pond? I've fished plenty of ponds, but none have been this shallow and the first time there I only caught one bass. All tips are appreciated.

[CroakHunter]

Mojo rigged senko. Feel for structure/bottom change/depth change, then go to your confidence bait.

[huffman1988]

If your there early try some topwater since it's so shallow. If that doesn't work try a drop shot. 

[Bluebasser86]

Is there any deeper water out of your reach that you know of? A pond that shallow probably wouldn't support a large population of fish, especially if you're above the freeze line.

 

I usually do best in shallow ponds on spinnerbaits and buzzbaits. 

[Tyler21]

5 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Is there any deeper water out of your reach that you know of?

I think in the middle it's much deeper. I would like to bring my kayak out there and try to find some deeper spots because it's a pretty large pond, but I haven't gotten permission to bring it yet. I'm only able to fish off the bank for now.

[Oklahoma Mike]

Bring you waders so you can walk out and cast to more areas. 

 

As for baits, I would try topwaters, senkos, spinnerbaits, and swimbaits. If there are some areas with structure I would hit them with a jig as well. 

[NYWayfarer]

Yum Dingers for shallow ponds. When fished weightless they sink real slow.

[Dens228]

I fished a shallow pond yesterday.  Deepest part is 5 feet, pretty flat bottom.   No bottom structure to speak of.  Just an doglegged shaped oval bowl.  We used my Basshunter and tried several things, included frogs on the few patches of lilly pads and nothing worked.  We switched to weightless Senkos in and around thick weeds and under overhanging trees and began catching bass, all between 2 and 4 pounds. We kept catching until we had to leave. 

 

So in summary, what worked was slow fishing in weeds located either in, or very close to shaded water. 

It was a cloudless sunny day with little to no wind too. 

[Dorado]

Manns Baby One Minus

[OCdockskipper]

My basic rules for baits in smaller ponds is smaller & slower.  While there are times a small spinnerbait will outperform a Ned rig (as an example), usually those fish are eating small forage that really has no where else to run & hide.  Often those fish don't have much reason to chase.

[The Fisher]

Try a rooster tail

[Tyler21]

Thanks for the tips guys! I went for about 6 hours today and caught 14 bass. Nothing of size but had fun nonetheless. I used spinnerbaits and small senkos to catch them.

[frosty]

I fish a place like that, I have been killing them on the chatter bait and a bluegill swim bait. There is deeper water, but the majority of it is 3'-4' deep, my biggest so far is just a couple ounces shy of 3 pounds, but I've seen some pretty big ones in there to. 

[LxVE Bassin]

All you needs is a chatterbait and some weightkess senkos. Fish them as slow as possible.

[deadadrift89]

Small weightless

fluke

[RoLo]

 

On golf course ponds, retention ponds and farm ponds,

my go-to lure is a T-rigged 6.0" ribbon-tail worm (e.g. Original Culprit)

with a 3/16oz bullet sinker.

 

Roger

[DavidIsWinning]

On 6/10/2017 at 3:27 PM, frosty said:

I fish a place like that, I have been killing them on the chatter bait and a bluegill swim bait. There is deeper water, but the majority of it is 3'-4' deep, my biggest so far is just a couple ounces shy of 3 pounds, but I've seen some pretty big ones in there to. 

 

I fish ponds like this as well and can agree with the chatterbait. That and a scum frog are what I have the most success on.

[pondbassin101]

28 minutes ago, RoLo said:

 

On golf course ponds, retention ponds and farm ponds,

my go-to lure is a T-rigged 6.0" ribbon-tail worm (e.g. Original Culprit)

with a 3/16oz bullet sinker.

 

Roger

 

X2. That rig works great in retention ponds, watermelon red is a good color IMO

[the reel ess]

You're speaking my language. I like any bait that will come through shallow weeds, assuming you have weeds. My all-time favorite shallow pond bait is a Trick Work, weightless in the bubble gum color. Just toss it out and twitch it back. If you get no bites at all with this (unlikely) try the same thing with the Finesse size worm. As already mentioned many times, stick works are good. Lately I've used a Zoom Swimming Super Fluke with a 1/8 oz. bullet weight with some success. I love hollow body frogs. I'll throw almost any topwater bait in a shallow pond, but generally, the shallower the pond, the less noisy they need to be. Fish that are trapped in 3' max of water might get spooked by a buzzbait, but who knows? Another recent favorite is the SPRO rat. Of course, there is the ever-popular T rigged worm and craw. Good luck.