Overfished pond

[Etxwormwiggler]

I have a neighbor with a very small pond in his yard that I have been given permission to fish. The first day I caught 7 on various lures, and since then I’ve gone maybe 3-4 times a week for the past month or so. Over time the fishing has gotten drastically tougher and I even got skunked the last 2 outings. I’m beginning to think I overfished the pond and the bass have become hook shy. Does anyone else have a similar experience or some input? I plan to let it breathe for the next couple months and see what happens. 

[Hammer 4]

Good call, on giving it a rest.

[Koz]

How drastically has the water temperature changed over that same period?

[N Florida Mike]

Use a totally different bait.

Try live bait.

Try slowing the presentation.

If that all fails, then let it rest.

 

[Joe_w1234]

3-4 times a week on a small pond seems like a lot to me. 

[Hook2Jaw]

I have to let the three local ponds I have access to rest -- when I first started on them, it was action packed.  Now I cycle through them, and I'll only fish one once a week, tops.

 

My local PFA is heavily pressured.  For years a weightless Senko would work well, but now I'm forced to drop shot.

 

Let it rest or give them a different presentation.

[Dirtyeggroll]

Buy some live bait or fish food of sorts. Give them a healthy amount every time you catch them on a lure. Just like training a dog. Haha

[Etxwormwiggler]

Water temp has gotten cooler but not drastically. I have switched through just about every bait I own to get the fish I successfully caught. Now they’ve seen chatterbaits, lipless cranks, TX rigs, shaky heads, weightless senkos, and jigs/finesse jigs. As the bite got tougher, I began downsizing and throwing finesse style baits. Even those no longer work so I’m just going to give it time and find a new honey hole. 

[the reel ess]

9 hours ago, Etxwormwiggler said:

Water temp has gotten cooler but not drastically. I have switched through just about every bait I own to get the fish I successfully caught. Now they’ve seen chatterbaits, lipless cranks, TX rigs, shaky heads, weightless senkos, and jigs/finesse jigs. As the bite got tougher, I began downsizing and throwing finesse style baits. Even those no longer work so I’m just going to give it time and find a new honey hole. 

I don't think they're getting hook shy. There are a certain number of fish that will bite and a very large percentage that won't. It could be you went on a new or full moon on the best days to fish. Then you went back at a low point in terms of peak feeding times. If the fish that will bite see a different lure, they may bite it. But fish that you hooked and landed may not eat for days.

[Koz]

10 hours ago, Etxwormwiggler said:

Water temp has gotten cooler but not drastically. I have switched through just about every bait I own to get the fish I successfully caught. Now they’ve seen chatterbaits, lipless cranks, TX rigs, shaky heads, weightless senkos, and jigs/finesse jigs. As the bite got tougher, I began downsizing and throwing finesse style baits. Even those no longer work so I’m just going to give it time and find a new honey hole. 

I have found that in small bodies of water like ponds and lagoons that the bait fish are more susceptible to changes in water temperature - especially cooling waters. So if the bait fish are staging in different areas that impacts bass feeding locations.

 

Your pond may also have reached that threshold temperature where the metabolism of the bass slows down and they feed less until the temperatures warm again.

 

Your experiences may vary, but I have found that in small bodies of water even small temperature and environmental changes can disrupt traditional fishing patterns.

[Etxwormwiggler]

Thank you all for the replies. Got one today from said pond but still want to give it a rest. Just hard to make myself not fish and the wife doesn’t want me running all over the county finding spots. (She does not share the same enthusiasm)

[Bluebasser86]

A friend of mine had a tiny pond on their property that his dad swore had no fish. First time we fished it, we caught at least 30 with a lot of them in the 3-5 pound range. We went several times the next couple weeks and the fishing got tougher and tougher until it was a struggle to get a bite at all, even from those fish that had never been fished for before. We left the pond alone for a couple weeks and tried it again, and it was on again, including a 7 pounder. So we learned to not go back more than once every couple of weeks and the pond continues to fish great.

 

It's very possible to over fish and educate those fish in a small body of water.

[Sam]

I am one of four guys allowed to fish my friend's double secret pond.

 

One outing I stopped counting at 60.

 

On other outings I got skunked.

 

Big pond at around 7 acres. I have learned that what happens in this pond also happens on lakes and rivers: it is impacted by wind, rain, cold fronts, water temperature, droughts, and time of year.

 

So don't fret over not catching anything. Just keep notes on the weather, water temperature, etc. and after 20 trips to the pond you will start to see what happens under specific weather conditions.

 

I took a friend's son with me one day and here is one of the ones what he caught. The young man is a freshman at Virginia Tech this year. (Don't be concerned with the date. I did not set the correct date on the iPhone)

 

 

[the reel ess]

On 12/23/2019 at 6:07 PM, Etxwormwiggler said:

Thank you all for the replies. Got one today from said pond but still want to give it a rest. Just hard to make myself not fish and the wife doesn’t want me running all over the county finding spots. (She does not share the same enthusiasm)

You may need a different wife. ?

On 12/24/2019 at 3:39 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

A friend of mine had a tiny pond on their property that his dad swore had no fish. First time we fished it, we caught at least 30 with a lot of them in the 3-5 pound range. We went several times the next couple weeks and the fishing got tougher and tougher until it was a struggle to get a bite at all, even from those fish that had never been fished for before. We left the pond alone for a couple weeks and tried it again, and it was on again, including a 7 pounder. So we learned to not go back more than once every couple of weeks and the pond continues to fish great.

 

It's very possible to over fish and educate those fish in a small body of water.

I often outfish my buddy on his own pond because he only fishes a T rigged worm. I do something different every time there and I choose techniques more based on seasonal patterns. He thinks I'm Bill Dance.