How fast do you abandon a pond?

[bma3]

How fast do you guys give up on a pond when you are pond hopping? I like to fish small farm ponds in my area and I never know when to give up. Obviously, if I'm catching fish I'll stay for a while but if not, how long should I wait? Do you like to switch presentations multiple times or just move on? Thanks!

[fishwizzard]

It depends on my mood and the weather.  If I am not baking in the sun/freezing in the wind I will stay longer and try to grind one out.  If I am at the beginning on a long work break I will stay longer but if I am about to start work up again I will move more often to try and get on some fish. 

 

If I am by the pond by the great bbq place I stop fishing at 1pm irrespective of how much they are biting. 

[Ratherbfishing]

I fish two ponds which are within a hundred yards of each other.  Their personalities are as different as night and day.  Last Wednesday I stopped at one and fished it for awhile without so much as a sniff.  Knowing daylight was burning I went to the other.  I got several good bites (and one bass) on a wacky rig but it slowed down so I switched to the same bait (a deep(er) diving Shadow Rap (which had not produced at all on the first lake) but here it caught 5 nice bass and 2 dinks in about a half an hour.  I was satisfied.  I don't ALWAYS move on but something just told me....  (Luck never hurts, either).

[DINK WHISPERER]

Depends on time of year and weather. I'll usually start with a rat l trap, spinner bait or some kind of rain bait. If nothing, I'll go to a plastic worm. After that I'll switch ponds but will return either later in the afternoon or another day. There's this one big pond I fished on and off for about 3 months and never caught anything. Choked with vegetation all over it. As hard as it was I convinced myself there were no bass or people had kept them all over time. One day about a month ago, a buddy of mine was dead set on fishing it so we went. Told him all about my disappointments there. About 2 min after telling him that, he lands one on a fluke. Later on I landed a 6.5lb flipping. No idea why I could never catch anything there before. All my attempts were in the dead of summer too.

[Maxximus Redneckus]

Depends on how mean the black angus is and if the hogs are over 200 lbs and way too friendly 

[RPreeb]

I don't really have a lot of choice here.  I have 2 ponds, with a 25 minute drive between them.  Generally I try several things and if after a couple of hours not much is happening, I just bag it and wait for another day.

[68camaro]

I have two neighborhood ponds, I typically fish an hour each before moving on if no action. Although they are very close, they do fish differently.

[Bankbeater]

The ponds I fish are around 4 acres in size.  I walk all the way around the pond one time.  If I don't get bites I move on to another pond.

[DogBone_384]

Usually a lot later than I should.  I’m type-A with a short (Irish) temper.... 

[KDW96]

I wont leave,dont care how hot or cold whatever. Sooner or later they will bite.

[Deleted account]

I have several small ponds around me, when fishing those, I can usually tell fairly quickly how good or bad the bite is going to be. Sometimes I'll stick it out to get my 5 when I know its going to be slow, and sometimes I hop around depending on my mood. You can learn a lot by doing either. When fishing unfamiliar ponds, depending on the time of year and conditions, I'll stick it out and really hunker down, trying different things, usually, I'll start covering water, ideally catch a fish or 2 or get a bump or see one or 2, and adjust and maybe slow down depending on that. 

[Senko lover]

Depends on if it's a pond I know or a pond I've never fished before. 

 

My regular haunts, I know them so well that I have a good feel for what's going on and if there's a bite happening or not. Give me about an hour and I usually will make a decision to stay or not. 

 

If it's a pond I haven't fished before, I'll fish until I have to go home. 

[bma3]

13 hours ago, Senko lover said:

Depends on if it's a pond I know or a pond I've never fished before. 

 

My regular haunts, I know them so well that I have a good feel for what's going on and if there's a bite happening or not. Give me about an hour and I usually will make a decision to stay or not. 

 

If it's a pond I haven't fished before, I'll fish until I have to go home. 

What if it's a pond you've never fished before and don't know if there are even fish?

[Koz]

22 hours ago, bma3 said:

What if it's a pond you've never fished before and don't know if there are even fish?

 

I look for two things:

 

1. Areas where there should be bass like laydowns, stumps, lily pads, weed beds and fish those first before just casting around the pond.

 

2. Signs of fish activity like lots of bait fish, fish jumping or feeding on the surface.

 

As a matter of fact, my son and I fished two new ponds last night. The first one looked promising with lots of laydowns and a few fallen trees in the water. But we didn't see much in the way of bait fish and only a few ripples from what were probably small bream. We tried a number of different lures but didn't get one bite. The only thing we attracted was an annoying juvenile alligator that was aggressive in protecting his turf. If we do fish there again it will be a different time of day, but I doubt much is in there.

 

We hit another open area pond on the way home but it was hard to fish. The banks were clear of trees, but years of sloughing meant there was 10-15 feet of soggy turf followed by another 5 feet of aquatic vegetation.

 

All in all we didn't have one bit, but we gave a few new places a try. We have hundreds of lagoons / ponds in our area so we'll always have new places to try.

[Senko lover]

On 11/2/2017 at 11:11 AM, bma3 said:

What if it's a pond you've never fished before and don't know if there are even fish?

Then I tie on a Ned Rig

[WDE]

It’s dependent on the size of the pond, however typically 30 minutes to an hour if the bite is weak. I have a handful of ponds I hit on my day off all within 20 minutes of my house, so I do a lot of bouncing around.

 

If I’m fishing after my morning shift days, I get off at 3pm and stick to one until dark. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

depends on my mood and where im fishing! if its pain to get to, requiring a drag of the kayak into the woods, which it usually is, then i fish it longer. if its a new pond i stay a while to.  the problem is usually fish swimbaits and jigs so bites dont happen alot but when they are do they are quality fish. if im shore pounding then ill travel around. in the winter when im bored ill drive around for the day looking for new access to ponds. also depends on the feel on the pond sometimes ill get that vibe it aint worth staying.  another issue is, with my kayak i can only fish 2 rods, so i dont switch my baits much. 

also have another spot! bites arent often but they are good quality fish! 

[geo g]

I don't give up easily on a body of water.  The average catch rate in Florida is under 1 fish per hour state wide.  Although this rate is surpassed during many fishing conditions, it does give room for thought!  During these times fish will still eat a bait, but just not in the mood to chase a bait.  I will slow down, big time and let the bait soak!!!!!!!!