Florida pond fishing

[Arsinek]

I started bass fishing recently in small ponds around St. Augustine FL. I just do it from the bank, no boat. I was wondering what lures I should be using now that the temperatures are heating up and I'm guessing the bass are done spawning.

 

Some things to take into consideration are these ponds have little to no structure. They're either retention ponds or golf course ponds. Some have a lot of algae slime near the bank or bottom. The one I fished today had less algae and was basically a rectangle with only sporadic grass where the water was about 6in to 2ft deep. I dont know how deep these ponds are at their deepest but I image its not very deep.

 

The golf course ponds are still basically retention ponds but they let aquatic plants grow in and around them. Some have a few lily pads, cat tail and other things but most of the grass is just around the banks.

 

But these ponds do have fish. I have caught bass, blue gill, sun fish, bofin and saw some gar.

[gnappi]

Do you mean live baits like some sort of shiners / worms or lures. 

 

Shiners are fish catchers for sure, live worms less so unless you want panfish, when my son was young we did well on live worms. 

 

If you're looking to lures, I fish a lot of small ponds, and since you have LMB in those you fished a good start is wiggle / paddle tail swim baits. Without structure or weeds the exposed hook won't foul. 

 

 

 

 

[NittyGrittyBoy]

Throw a weightless fluke around the banks (parallel), fish it through the slime vegetation. 

 

Throwing out towards the middle I'd opt for a 5/16-3/8 Spinnerbait, something to cover water that won't snag bad. 

 

After you try those, toss a T-rig with your favorite worm. Start out simple, don't over think it. Definitely way past post spawn in Fla, +90° days already, Bass will most likely be buried in vegetation. Small ponds water depth will doubtfully be an issue. 

[Arsinek]

9 hours ago, gnappi said:

Do you mean live baits like some sort of shiners / worms or lures. 

 

Shiners are fish catchers for sure, live worms less so unless you want panfish, when my son was young we did well on live worms. 

 

If you're looking to lures, I fish a lot of small ponds, and since you have LMB in those you fished a good start is wiggle / paddle tail swim baits. Without structure or weeds the exposed hook won't foul. 

 

 

 

 

Sorry I should have clarified, I use artificial only.

8 hours ago, NittyGrittyBoy said:

Throw a weightless fluke around the banks (parallel), fish it through the slime vegetation. 

 

Throwing out towards the middle I'd opt for a 5/16-3/8 Spinnerbait, something to cover water that won't snag bad. 

 

After you try those, toss a T-rig with your favorite worm. Start out simple, don't over think it. Definitely way past post spawn in Fla, +90° days already, Bass will most likely be buried in vegetation. Small ponds water depth will doubtfully be an issue. 

 

I kind of get the feeling the bass might be in the deepest parts of the ponds, at least in the hotter parts of the day. There's not really much cover for them to get shade from anywhere else, at least the pond I fished yesterday.

 

One thing that was cool was there was lots of beds, some of them pretty d**n big, but no big fish in them as I guess spawning is over.

[NittyGrittyBoy]

I guess I'm thinking lots of vegetation on the edges, how's the bottom in the deeper parts? Slimy too? 

 

One trick I've done bank fishing, if there's grass/muck on bottom do the "bubba"shot or PowerShot method, keeps your bait up and out of the muck on the bottom. 

 

 

[Arsinek]

On 5/12/2019 at 11:19 PM, NittyGrittyBoy said:

I guess I'm thinking lots of vegetation on the edges, how's the bottom in the deeper parts? Slimy too? 

 

One trick I've done bank fishing, if there's grass/muck on bottom do the "bubba"shot or PowerShot method, keeps your bait up and out of the muck on the bottom. 

 

 

What is the bubba shot / powershot?

 

Ive been using Carolina rigs for mucky bottoms, works pretty good.

 

This new pond Ive been fishing seems to have a lot less muck on the bottom. Think I might try the ned rig on it. I tried the ned rig in some of the other ponds and it just dont work with all the slime.

 

I fished the less mucky pond today and caught about 5, all small though. This is the pond where I saw all the beds. Im wondering where are the bigger ones are. There has to be some bigger ones in there, just dont know where.

[NittyGrittyBoy]

15 hours ago, Arsinek said:

What is the bubba shot / powershot?

Basically fishing a dropshot on heavy braid gear, unlike a dropshot with 1/0 hooks and tiny line.

 

My rig is 5/16 bell weight, with 4/0ewg tied about 1.5' from weight on 30lb PowerPro. You can use any worm, creature, or craw. 

 

Cast out, hold you line tight, with very subtle rod tip movements. Move bait about 1ft and hold line tight again. Glenn has a good video on it I'll try to post it up

[NittyGrittyBoy]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/advanced-drop-shot.html&ved=2ahUKEwi9zIvHv6HiAhVkk-AKHTAdDUEQwqsBMAF6BAgGEAo&usg=AOvVaw2GK6pJnPtFZqkbUxlQdwOF

[Arsinek]

Ah ok. Ive been wanting to try dropshotting, seems like a good way to fish mucky spots.

[NittyGrittyBoy]

Give it shot I think you'll like it. I throw it on a 7'3 med/fast spinning combo. Like Glenn said in the video if you new to dropshotting your tendency is to move the rod tip alot. But don't! Less is more

 

Personal favorite is zoom Junebug trick worm

[bigbassin']

On 5/12/2019 at 10:22 AM, Arsinek said:

I kind of get the feeling the bass might be in the deepest parts of the ponds, at least in the hotter parts of the day. There's not really much cover for them to get shade from anywhere else, at least the pond I fished yesterday.

 

One thing that was cool was there was lots of beds, some of them pretty d**n big, but no big fish in them as I guess spawning is over.

We're already at the point in the year where fishing from 10:30 am to 6:00 pm isn't going to be very productive, particularly if there isn't any shade for them.

 

For lures, weightless senkos, speedworms, flukes, swimbaits, and spooks are about all I'd be throwing for the next couple months of the bank.

 

Are the beds sandy craters or flat patches? From what I've seen, if it's craters those are probably tilapia beds not bass.

[dh1337]

I prefer Texas rigging medium to small size baits this time of year. you need to fish slow unless it's super early before 830 am or after 7 PM. btw I'm in Fleming island or mandarin most of the time so we are fishing the same kind of areas. I recommend using baits in bass color Gary Yamamoto has a a color baby bass that I love for pond fishing. if there are good sized bass they probably spend alot of their lives eating smaller bass so use this to your advantage. I prefer the cowboy or flapping hog because they arent huge but have good movement and mimic lizards(flappin) the cowboy mimics a wounded bass has lots of tail movement. any tubes or creature or brush hog baits typically the smaller the better in green pumpkin with blk flake will produce strikes I believe these baits mimic the giant population of lizards skinks and other weird critters we have. you want the smaller 4 inch kreature baits or baby brush hogs because these bass are hot and just want a quick snack they dont want to waste energy on a big takedown. save the bigger worms for September or if you find a pond with lots of tall grass and lilys then the extra size might help the fish spot your bait.