Figuring out a new pond

[Sifuedition]

I'm trying to figure out a new pond. I've been twice. Both times, I see very frequent soft boils that look the right size to be bass. Today, I watched an insect cruise across water toward the bank on the top. When it was about one inch from the grass, a fish finally took it. I see the most boils near the dam, and there is submerged grass in this zone that is very course. It looks like baby pondweed. This pond also has trees about two-three feet off of the bank spaced out about every 30-50 yards. I will sometimes see these soft boils near or under these trees, and a little less frequently, out in the very middle. The entire shoreline has a grassy edge extending a few feet into the water along most of the bank and sometimes moss in or near the grass. The water is fairly clear, as in not muddy, but visibility is not real deep. This is in Oklahoma and the weather has been variable lately, sometimes still in the 90's, sometimes in the 70's. We've also had some rainy days in the last two weeks. I don't have a thermometer, but I would guess water temps in the 80's. At a pond just two miles away, I have only been catching fish very near the bank, but this may just be a matter of structure.

 

You can see the shape and even the shoreline trees on google maps

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.5119565,-97.7325482,652m/data=!3m1!1e3

The dam is the far north portion. The dink was in the far southeast corner.

 

I have thrown:

rattletrap - one strike that missed and three or four casts later, I hung it up and lost the lure, need to try it again; baby bass colored

spinner - medium size; white, silver spoons

whopper-plopper jr; yoda color

small billed, two hook jerkbait; live target

small billed thin crankbait; perch

wacky rigged drop-shot senko; pumpkin

chatterbait; black and blue with black and blue craw

heddon baby torpedo; black

frog

 

So far, I've had one weak strike on the rattletrap and caught one dink on the whopper-plopper on the opposite end of the pond from the dam. The dink barely hit it, which makes me think it was more of a defensive strike than a top-water feed. The rattletrap strike was when I first got there my first trip and would have been about an hour before sundown (6 pm-ish). The whopper-plopper catch was about 30 minutes after dark (8 pm-ish).

 

I'm struggling to think what I should do to get some strikes. There are obviously quite a few fish in here. I was turned onto the pond by someone who said he's caught multiple 3-5 pounders here, which he said he caught on a whopper plopper by the dam, but I don't know what time of the year. The boils make me think top-water may be the way to go, but, so far, it also seems like I need to go more finesse. I was actually kind of surprised the senko got bupkis.

 

Some of my thoughts;

small buzzbait

weightless senko

plastic swimbait

hard-body swimbait

small squarebill

 

What are your thoughts?

[Ksam1234]

24 minutes ago, Sifuedition said:

I'm trying to figure out a new pond. I've been twice. Both times, I see very frequent soft boils that look the right size to be bass. Today, I watched an insect cruise across water toward the bank on the top. When it was about one inch from the grass, a fish finally took it. I see the most boils near the dam, and there is submerged grass in this zone that is very course. It looks like baby pondweed. This pond also has trees about two-three feet off of the bank spaced out about every 30-50 yards. I will sometimes see these soft boils near or under these trees, and a little less frequently, out in the very middle. The entire shoreline has a grassy edge extending a few feet into the water along most of the bank and sometimes moss in or near the grass. The water is fairly clear, as in not muddy, but visibility is not real deep. This is in Oklahoma and the weather has been variable lately, sometimes still in the 90's, sometimes in the 70's. We've also had some rainy days in the last two weeks. I don't have a thermometer, but I would guess water temps in the 80's. At a pond just two miles away, I have only been catching fish very near the bank, but this may just be a matter of structure.

 

I have thrown:

rattletrap - one strike that missed and three or four casts later, I hung it up and lost the lure, need to try it again; baby bass colored

spinner - medium size; white, silver spoons

whopper-plopper jr; yoda color

small billed, two hook jerkbait; live target

small billed thin crankbait; perch

wacky rigged drop-shot senko; pumpkin

chatterbait; black and blue with black and blue craw

heddon baby torpedo; black

frog

 

So far, I've had one weak strike on the rattletrap and caught one dink on the whopper-plopper on the opposite end of the pond from the dam. The dink barely hit it, which makes me think it was more of a defensive strike than a top-water feed. The rattletrap strike was when I first got there my first trip and would have been about an hour before sundown (6 pm-ish). The whopper-plopper catch was about 30 minutes after dark (8 pm-ish).

 

I'm struggling to think what I should do to get some strikes. There are obviously quite a few fish in here. I was turned onto the pond by someone who said he's caught multiple 3-5 pounders here, which he said he caught on a whopper plopper by the dam, but I don't know what time of the year. The boils make me think top-water may be the way to go, but, so far, it also seems like I need to go more finesse. I was actually kind of surprised the senko got bupkis.

 

Some of my thoughts;

small buzzbait

weightless senko

plastic swimbait

hard-body swimbait

small squarebill

 

What are your thoughts?

Go early in the morning or later in the evening/night with the whopper plopper and other top waters.  Those low light conditions are best for top water bite. Fish the shoreline parallel with spinnerbait sand some cranksbaits if its deep enough.  For the weedy areas I would use a weightless senko, you can use the weightless senko for the entire area as usually that always gets some bites.  Just throw lures by lay downs and structures. Look for drop offs. If you see weeds then no weeds throw parallel and skip the edges or over the tops of the weeds. Try slowing down your approach. Jigs are amazing as you can use them three the weeds and brush.  

[bigbill]

I would toss a panther Martin, a mepps inline. Start out with small baits. Fished slow. The panther martin silver blade orange fly is a hot one here.

http://www.basspro.com/shop/en/panther-martin-pro-guide-anywhere-6-spinner-kit?hvarAID=shopping_googleproductextensions

[roadwarrior]

 

[bigbill]

My ritual of baits I toss on any given day searching for bass is,

 

topwater popper rebel blue

mepps #3 inline spinner silver blade gray tail

rapala #f7 orginal floater blue

manns classic spinnerbaits 1/4oz white or chartreuse

manns baby 1 browncrawdad

Strike King #3 inline spinner silver blade, black tail

bomber FAT A crank, redapplecraw size 05

bomber FAT A crank, baby bass orange bottom

Topnocker in chartreuse #25 color

jointed rapala black gold

panther marten spinfly

rapala orginal floater black

c-rig senko wacky rigged

c-rig brushog

split shot rigged black worm 6"

 

add a bass scent.

 

when I first started bass fishing we used live minnows that would show us exactly what's there at a new spot. You could try throwing small pieces of bread?

 

my misses went to the gym were they had a drainage pond. She was feeding the ducks bread when she seen the fish eating it too. We went there and caught dinks, but as the years progressed the lastime there they were 3lbers. I have no clue how the little bass travel but there is a spring feeding the pond.

 

 

 

 

[Sifuedition]

11 hours ago, bigbill said:

I would toss a panther Martin, a mepps inline. Start out with small baits. Fished slow. The panther martin silver blade orange fly is a hot one here.

http://www.basspro.com/shop/en/panther-martin-pro-guide-anywhere-6-spinner-kit?hvarAID=shopping_googleproductextensions

I actually picked up a very similar pack of inline spinners today and headed out there. Tried an orange/chartreuse for a while, but no luck. I guess to add to the list:

 

lipless crankbait; perch - tried again, but nothing today

Inline spinner; orange/chartreuse

Small spinner; chartreuse

Buzzbait; chartreuse

Swimbait - softbody; shad

[Sifuedition]

10 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

 

Sadly, I've tried senkos. This might mean these two ponds are just not very good. I haven't tried weightless, yet, though, so I guess there are still a few things for me to try. Also, I'm getting on tacklewarehouse in just a minute to get some cylindrical drop shot weights. All they had at my local places was egg shaped ones, which make a significant plunk when they hit the water, and these fish seem to spook.

 

Also, when I got there today, there was a guy with his son fishing the steep side of the dam with live bait, but I don't know what kind. Didn't see them get a bite, either.

[bigbill]

Joesfly in his spinflys. Blackgnat silver or gold blade. I'd scale down baits at first till you see what's there.

 

sometimes I'd swear there are no fish in a new spot till we break the ice. Do you know the depth? I would wait till the ice was on then poke holes to learn the layout of the bottom. But now they have the hummingbird portable fish finder I use to find out were the drop offs are, flats, the depth, the holes. Etc. it's a big help knowing this info when no topology maps are available. Not knowing the layout of the pond were fishing blind. Once I know the depths I can adjust the depths of my baits. We can fish it top to bottom.

 

i did find out during ice fishing before the portable fish finder the water was only 4' deep. Plenty of bass, pickerel plus the 32" pickerel.

 

i can't judge the body of water by its size.

[Sifuedition]

@bigbill

 

"Do you know the depth?"

No idea.

 

"I would wait till the ice was on then poke holes to learn the layout of the bottom."

Very rare to have ice thick enough to walk on in Oklahoma.

 

"But now they have the hummingbird portable fish finder I use to find out were the drop offs are, flats, the depth, the holes."

$250 is more than I want to commit to bank fishing, yet. I've been dropping too much already with new tackle and lures in the last two months getting back into it. $200 on a Lew's Orange Crush combo, $80 on a Mitchell 300 spinning combo, $90 on a left handed retrieve baitcaster (for testing purposes), plus probably $200-300 on lines, lures, backpack style tacklebox, fishing pliers, etc, etc, etc. Still considering a higher quality spinning combo. Something like that seems like it should come after the basics, which I should be about done with, but, I'm also thinking I need to stop the bleeding from the wallet, lol. Everything so far is good to me anywhere, in any style. That is very niche to bank fishing. While it is info I would LOVE to have...well, I've gone most of my life without it, so, I guess I'll have to continue to manage, for now.

 

 

[Bankbeater]

As long as water is somewhat clear, I would try using

a weightless fluke. Let it sink down to the bottom, and start working it back slowly. 

[Sifuedition]

On 10/9/2017 at 8:19 PM, Bankbeater said:

As long as water is somewhat clear, I would try using

a weightless fluke. Let it sink down to the bottom, and start working it back slowly. 

I don't know why, but I didn't see this post until now. Ironically, I was coming back to question why nobody suggested a fluke.

 

As an update, two weeks ago, I caught four on a 3/8 shad pattern rattle trap. 2.8, 2.4, ~1.5, ~1. Since then, I've caught a few more ~1's on a rattle trap. Still haven't had much luck on anything else.

 

I was hitting a new pond about 30 minutes away and couldn't pull anything back without weeds and/or moss at about 5-10 yards out. It hit me, just before dark, a fluke would let me run near weedless simulating the same baitfish. While I started throwing it too late at the new pond, it occurred to me that I haven't tried it yet on my regular pond. I'll probably check this out tomorrow.

[Sifuedition]

Even small square-bills have to be fished really slow to allow them to float up to avoid the lettuce in all three of the ponds I've been fishing lately. Really makes it tough to figure out what to throw. The fluke may be the money-bait.

[Mr. Aquarium]

your not fishing slow enough! try texas rig or  jigs!  

[Sifuedition]

On 11/29/2017 at 1:49 PM, Mr. Aquarium said:

your not fishing slow enough! try texas rig or  jigs!  

I like the way you're thinking, but jigs/chatterbait/worms have been...unproductive. I've caught one on a wacky-rigged senko. Haven't even had a nibble on any of them otherwise.

 

I have had some luck since originally posting this. Everything has been some form of shad imitation.

Shad pattern hard-bodied swimbait - 1 ~1.5 lbs

Weightless fluke - 1 ~ 2 lbs (fished slow and fast, but the one strike was fishing fast)

Shad pattern 3/8 oz lipless crankbait - 7 from 3-1 lbs.

 

They seem to want a faster presentation, but not topwater. I've tried slowing down with things like the swimbait and the fluke, and of course, the jig/worm/chatterbait, but getting bupkis. I'm not just outright burning them, but, I do have to pick up the pace a bit before I get strikes. Water temps still have not really dropped. Weather has not stayed cold more than a day or two at a time. Makes it tough to find the right lures for that presentation; fast, below water, not deep enough to pick up moss/lettuce.

 

I'm really thinking the bass population is not great here. I've heard rumors of 4-7 lbs being pulled out of there, but, I suspect that they are either exaggerating or VERY few of those in there. There are a metric ton of shad in there and some of them are huge. I've foul hooked two shad that were each 8-12 inches. All of the bass I've caught have had full bellies. I think the baitfish outnumber the bass by a lot and so they aren't hungry often. Not sure why there aren't more large ones.

 

It is a catch and release pond, but, it's kind of secluded. Secluded is an odd word...it is in a neighborhood, surrounded by houses on two sides. Rarely do I see any homeowners, however, and there aren't many people fishing it, or even know it is there. I'm kind of wondering if people have been harvesting a lot of the bass, in defiance of the rules.

[snake95]

I fish ponds from northern Ontario to south Florida throughout the year and my experience has been:

 

Like all bass fishing, catching bass is ponds not particularly hard, FINDING bass is the hard part.  Maybe I should clarify by saying finding bass that are active enough to eat a lure is the hard part.  You might be in the wrong thread.  The lures are not the key factor, certainly not the only factor.

 

A few of the ponds I've fished in similar environments to what you are describing and I have caught many many fish in a single outing.  Occasionally, I get a big one.  Other times, or times of the year, I get nothing.  There could be many reasons:

- The fish are (relatively) deep, suspended, and lethargic and they are both hard to get and I'm not targeting those fish effectively

- The fish are deep in structure, and my techniques aren't reaching those fish

- They aren't interested in very many lures at all

 

I've learned certain combinations of lures and times of the day and periods of the yearly cycle tend to coincide for awesome fishing in these ponds, either in size or numbers.  Other times of the year, it is more hit and miss.  Regardless, the fish are still in there.  

 

Around here in north Georgia in communities, bass are not harvested extensively, if at all, because that is frowned upon and nobody wants to eat bass out of the ponds.

 

My point is, the lures may be a factor, and you should try various techniques, but you shouldn't write off the pond because you go through a multi-month slow period.

 

FWIW, I'm not a huge stickbait angler, but when it comes to boils in ponds, my go-to is a T-rigged stickbait 5" or 6" long.  Most swirls I see can be correlated to: bluegills congregating (often with bass lurking around nearby) or bass slurping minnnows or frogs they've trapped in shallow water.  In both cases, the gentle splashdown followed by the shimmy of the stickbait is hard to beat most times of the year.  Again, I think it will help you to focus less on the lures and think more about the environment and bass activity, and select your baits with that in mind.