favorite pond goes from great fishing to really tough fishing

[Nolanh18]

I’ve been fishing a 22.5 acre pond for about two and a half years. The first year fishing there was awesome, always caught a bunch of fish between bass, Mayan cichlids, bluegill, and a few others. The last year and a half or so it seems like there was a drastic drop off in the number of fish I catch and I’m not sure why. Two things that I’ve noticed is that there used to be a lot more matted vegetation along the bank than there is now, and it gets quite a bit more fishing pressure. I know that pressure can make it tougher to catch fish, and less cover on the bank probably pushes the fish out deeper. It seems like there are just less fish in the pond now. What do you guys think could be going on? Can fishing pressure make that huge of a difference?

[OCdockskipper]

Fishing pressure can make a big difference on a lake that size.

 

If possible, pay attention to what methods others are using and then choose techniques & lures that are different.  If everyone is throwing small crankbaits, use a more subtle, small swimbait.  If everyone is dragging the bottom using slow moving baits, do something that doesn't give the fish a chance to look over the lure.

 

Make your presentations different than others,

[Armtx77]

We have the City Park Lagoons here in NOLA and to say they get preasure is understatement. There are days it eats my lunch. As in a skunk lunch, but guys pull out BASS upwards to 8lbs, a few times a year and 6lbs is not unusual.

 

My best in those lagoons is 4lbs on a couple of different occassions, but any fish that is better than 12" is caught deep in the vegetation and always on a T-rig.

I have tried finesse, shallow cranks, spinner baits, buzz baits, frogs, in line spinners, small Rebel Crick Hoppers during the hatch(I crush the bream with it), weedless spoons...the feeaking kitchen sink and they just want a T-rigged worm on their face. I know they are being faced, because pick up happens almost immediately. Rarely do I work it out and get a strike.

 

Are you isolated to fishing from the bank or can you drop a watetcraft in it? The lagoons/lakes I fish here in the city, are STICTLY bank fishing.

[Paul Roberts]

How often do you go?

[Nolanh18]

I go there at least once every week or two. I have only fished from the bank until yesterday when I put in my canoe but didn’t get any bites. I was throwing a t-rig zoom speed worm and my wife was throwing a rooster tail which almost always catches something.  Most of the bass I have caught there recently have been on a ned rig or small spinners like beetle spins or rooster tails. 

[jr231]

They're on to you !

 

I think you're going too often to the same spots, and using the same stuff as well... Ocdockskip has it right,throw something different. 

 

That's the cool part about bass. 101 ways to catch one .change it up!!! 

[Paul Roberts]

How's the water clarity? Has that changed any?

[Glaucus]

Same with my favorite pond. Everyone throws Senkos and Spinnerbaits. So now I'm using Trick Worms and small swimbaits with better results. Whopper Plopper is popular too, so now I'm using the Jitterbug. You have to change. Small ponds are no place to fool around. The bass get napalmed with the same things every day.

[Bankbeater]

Fishing pressure is the reason I learned how to fish with a jig.

[Nolanh18]

Thanks for the help everyone! The water isn’t quite as clear as it normally is, but that’s a more recent change because we haven’t had much rain so there hasn’t been any water flowing out of the spillways in a while. 

5 minutes ago, Bankbeater said:

Fishing pressure is the reason I learned how to fish with a jig.

Any type of jig in particular?

[Bankbeater]

2 minutes ago, Nolanh18 said:

Thanks for the help everyone! The water isn’t quite as clear as it normally is, but that’s a more recent change because we haven’t had much rain so there hasn’t been any water flowing out of the spillways in a while. 

Any type of jig in particular?

Nope.  I have several brands in the bag.

[jr231]

Perfect jig for tough bites is a finesse jig . Either 1/8oz or 3/16... Throw a rage chunk on there...hop it, swim it , pitch it, burn it , drag it... Catches fish for sure, and usually some nicer ones come after the jigs. 

[bigbassin']

I would personally think your general location is playing at least a slight role in the decline of the fishing, particularly because you mentioned a decline in grass.  The majority of the places I used to fish where grass was key had it more or less wiped out during Irma (ponds not lakes, the lakes didn't seem to be effected much).  This has scattered the bass out, along with creating dirtier water since the grass isn't there to hold dirt on the bottom when it rains.  Might be even worse for you considering all the issues they're having with the Lagoon and IRL losing grass from algae blooms and you're right next to it, not sure if the spillways you mentioned connect the ponds with either of those water bodies.

 

With all that being said, if you're there every week and didn't see a fish kill off, they're still in there.  The bass are probably just more spread out and no longer relating to a clearly visible target such as matted grass.  Conditioning may be a factor as others have said, but I personally feel that applies more to hard baits than soft plastics.

[soflabasser]

 

8 hours ago, Nolanh18 said:

I’ve been fishing a 22.5 acre pond for about two and a half years. The first year fishing there was awesome, always caught a bunch of fish between bass, Mayan cichlids, bluegill, and a few others. The last year and a half or so it seems like there was a drastic drop off in the number of fish I catch and I’m not sure why. Two things that I’ve noticed is that there used to be a lot more matted vegetation along the bank than there is now, and it gets quite a bit more fishing pressure. I know that pressure can make it tougher to catch fish, and less cover on the bank probably pushes the fish out deeper. It seems like there are just less fish in the pond now. What do you guys think could be going on? Can fishing pressure make that huge of a difference?

Sounds like you are in South Florida since you mentioned Mayan cichilds. Don't know of another state that has wild Mayan chichilds besides Florida but let me know if there is. Try fishing at night and be careful with the alligators, moccasins, and Burmese pythons that love to be close to the shore.

[Nolanh18]

10 hours ago, soflabasser said:

 

Sounds like you are in South Florida since you mentioned Mayan cichilds. Don't know of another state that has wild Mayan chichilds besides Florida but let me know if there is. Try fishing at night and be careful with the alligators, moccasins, and Burmese pythons that love to be close to the shore.

I’m on the east coast of central Florida, Merritt Island to be exact. This is the only place this far north that I have seen Mayan cichlids. I think I’ll try night fishing a little more.

12 hours ago, bigbassin' said:

I would personally think your general location is playing at least a slight role in the decline of the fishing, particularly because you mentioned a decline in grass.  The majority of the places I used to fish where grass was key had it more or less wiped out during Irma (ponds not lakes, the lakes didn't seem to be effected much).  This has scattered the bass out, along with creating dirtier water since the grass isn't there to hold dirt on the bottom when it rains.  Might be even worse for you considering all the issues they're having with the Lagoon and IRL losing grass from algae blooms and you're right next to it, not sure if the spillways you mentioned connect the ponds with either of those water bodies.

 

With all that being said, if you're there every week and didn't see a fish kill off, they're still in there.  The bass are probably just more spread out and no longer relating to a clearly visible target such as matted grass.  Conditioning may be a factor as others have said, but I personally feel that applies more to hard baits than soft plastics.

The spillways do connect the pond to the lagoon system. I have actually caught redfish, sea trout, and have seen tarpon and mullet in the pond. The pond has always been much cleaner than the lagoon, though it has been a bit dirtier since Irma.

[Sifuedition]

You've already heard a lot of the best advice. Trying to think outside the box, here's another consideration.

 

Is it a catch and release only body of water? Do a lot of people keep their catch? Either of those can affect populations a lot, too.

 

It's fairly obvious that if too many fish get harvested, populations can be affected. However, catch and release only can negatively affect populations sometimes, too. A body of water can only support so much bio-mass. Sometimes, top level predators, like bass, should be harvested in order to keep more ideal ratios of baitfish, etc.

 

Is this water managed by the local fish and wildlife service? If not, it sounds public, could they be engaged to do a study and make recommendations on slot limits?

[Nolanh18]

7 hours ago, Sifuedition said:

You've already heard a lot of the best advice. Trying to think outside the box, here's another consideration.

 

Is it a catch and release only body of water? Do a lot of people keep their catch? Either of those can affect populations a lot, too.

 

It's fairly obvious that if too many fish get harvested, populations can be affected. However, catch and release only can negatively affect populations sometimes, too. A body of water can only support so much bio-mass. Sometimes, top level predators, like bass, should be harvested in order to keep more ideal ratios of baitfish, etc.

 

Is this water managed by the local fish and wildlife service? If not, it sounds public, could they be engaged to do a study and make recommendations on slot limits?

It’s a public body of water but I doubt that it is managed. There isn’t a catch and release only rule, but I think most people fishing there practice it. I know some people will keep Mayan cichlids. Since it is sort of connected to the lagoon, at times I’m sure there are lots of predatory fish such as bass, tarpon, redfish, trout, and even large cichlids because they are very aggressive.

[WRB]

You have brackish water in this small lake? 

Have you ever spotted spawning bass earlier in the year?

It could be this small lakes bass population is marginal and may have been over harvested by locals. 

I would go with a slip shot rig with 4 1/2" to 5" Roboworms worms and the Ned rig using a wider range of colors from black grape/blue neon and morning dawn or red crawler depending on what the crawdads or crabs look like. Most locals don't use Roboworms and the colors are outstanding.

Tom

[Nolanh18]

4 hours ago, WRB said:

You have brackish water in this small lake? 

Have you ever spotted spawning bass earlier in the year?

It could be this small lakes bass population is marginal and may have been over harvested by locals. 

I would go with a slip shot rig with 4 1/2" to 5" Roboworms worms and the Ned rig using a wider range of colors from black grape/blue neon and morning dawn or red crawler depending on what the crawdads or crabs look like. Most locals don't use Roboworms and the colors are outstanding.

Tom

Haven’t noticed them spawning earlier. I think the water is mostly fresh but maybe a little brackish. I’ll have to try the slip shot rig, never used that before.