Urban bassing

[Looking for the big one]

So, my quest for urban bass fishing near to my house comes from not being able to drive (I’m 15) and relying on my parents to drive me, and they don’t like long drives. So I’ve found bass nearby in some creeks and a super public park. It’s amazing the places that I’ve been passing for years without dropping a line in. My personal best from in town is 3.5 and it was a pretty lucky catch. I know there’s bigger in the places I’m fishing, but what do y’all do differently when you’re fishing in public parks or pressured creeks to fool the bigger ones?

 Edit: mods can you pls move this I started it in the wrong forum

 

[Dorado]

I have two young children with a busy work schedule so I can not venture far from the city to fish these days. To get my fix, I have to urban fish extremely pressured ponds and it’s definitely a challenge. However, it’s rewarding once you figure out their ever changing riddles. 

 

Best advice, fish at night where it’s lawful to do so.  Know the primary forage. I’m a strong believer in marching the hatch and most forage in urban ponds are very small so learn to master finesse fishing. Fish SLOW! Every body is throwing spinnerbaits and loud lipless cranks so rely mostly on soft plastics. 

 

Where I roam, Threadfin Shad make their ways in the ponds I fish through canals connected to northern reservoirs. With that said, white grubs, Small swimbaits (Keitechs, Sassy Shads, Roboworms on a drop shot, Berkely Gulp Alive Black Shads on a drop shot) are staples. 

 

Where I’m from, in Denver, those metro ponds were full of crawdads. Strike King Bitsy Tubes (2.75”) were phenomenal. 

[Dorado]

One last final point. The Ned Rig should be mandatory IMO. It’s so versatile and it’s that morsel that even inactive bass strike, plus you keep yourself engaged by having opportunities for other species, such as crappie, catfish, bluegills, list goes on. 

 

You can swim a ned rig subsurface like a grub all the way to fishing it like a shakeyhead. Deadsticking does wonders too. It covers all water columns below the surface. 

[Airman4754]

I don't know where you live but when I lived in Phoenix and Tucson I would catch some toads sigh fishing with the big suspending Thundersticks. It's super boring and can take what feels like an hour per cast, but it does pay off. 

[Dorado]

11 minutes ago, Mosster47 said:

I don't know where you live but when I lived in Phoenix and Tucson I would catch some toads sigh fishing with the big suspending Thundersticks. It's super boring and can take what feels like an hour per cast, but it does pay off. 

Now you really have my attention. Never used a Thunderstick before. Partial to a certain color? How did you retrieve?

[Airman4754]

2 hours ago, Dorado said:

Now you really have my attention. Never used a Thunderstick before. Partial to a certain color? How did you retrieve?

It's an old crankbait made by Storm. Any suspending bait will work.

 

See a fish, throw it near it, whenever it starts to lose interest give it a twitch. One of you will quit first. It's super awful fishing, but works. 

[Dorado]

1 hour ago, Mosster47 said:

It's an old crankbait made by Storm. Any suspending bait will work.

 

See a fish, throw it near it, whenever it starts to lose interest give it a twitch. One of you will quit first. It's super awful fishing, but works. 

Thank you. Can’t wait to try!

[Airman4754]

14 hours ago, Dorado said:

Thank you. Can’t wait to try!

You are in Phoenix. This was about a decade ago, but I lived by 31st & Dunlap. The pond there at Cortez park had some really good fish. They planted trout in it all the time. There would always be a ton of people fishing it, but not for bass.

 

To answer your previous question they were rainbow trout colored. I don't think that really matters.