Pond fishing blues

[RyanLC]

3 years ago I inherited some land from my grandparents. On the land is a 3 acre pond. I use to fish there whenever I was a kid and even then I really can't remember catching to many fish. When I first moved to the property 3 years ago I really didn't know what all was in there. I had seen a couple of bluegill and bass , but I didn't know how many was in there . I decided to stock it with 250 largemouth bass and 50 channel cats. The last 2 years I have bought around 100 dollars worth of fat head minnows to hopefully get the bass a little bigger. Like I said the pond is 3 acres.  The deep end is 27ft and the shallow side is 4ft. There is also bunch of fallen trees in there.  Most of the time the water is pretty clear. You can probably see 5 or more feet from the top of the water. I probably fish 4 out of 7 days a week , and im lucky if I catch 2 fish a 3 fish a week. The thing is I always see tons of fish down there. I can tell the ones I stocked because they are all the same size , but I see alot of big bass too. Anyways I have spent over 300 dollars in lures in the last month alone , and all I ever catch if I'm lucky are a couple of the smaller bass. Some weeks I don't catch anything at all. The only thing I ever get bit with are a texas rig senko. Usually in green pumpkin or baby bass. Ive thrown everything but the kitchen sink. Ive tried whopper ploppers , frogs, chatterbaits , jigs , square bills , savage gear pulse tails, . They will come check the bait out , but they never bite. I don't know if I'm doing something  wrong or what.I've also wondered if I could have overstocked the minnows. Any advice will be deeply appreciated . Sorry the post was so long. I just wanted to give the background on the pond.

[Jmurphy87]

My limited advice would probably be to try using some of the minnows that you have been feeding them or maybe a jerk bait. Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful but that is my thoughts, my guess is that they are use to eating live bait.

[The Bassman]

Welcome to these forums. Sounds to me like you're sitting on a gold mine. Telling us where you are will help. For one thing wind and low light would be a big help with your problem. A wacky rigged stick worm would be a good place to start. Lots to read up on and learn here. Enjoy

[Sam]

What is the bottom composition? Hard, soft, grass, rocks, wood, etc.? Is there any wood they can use for cover? Can you drop some "bushes" or wood into the pond in a few places to create a good habitat? Can you score some old live Christmas trees this winter and put them in the pond?

 

As I read your post you say the bass you stocked are the same size. This means you may have too many bass and they are fighting for what they can get to eat. So let's help them eat!

 

Bluegills, bream, minnows of different sizes, and crawfish would form a strong food chain for the bass and other fish. No Crappie, please.  You can get some dry dog food and feed your catfish. Watching a catfish feeding frenzy is great. Only problem is that the school of catfish will follow you around the pond all day after you feed them. So feed them when you are not fishing.

 

Although we have no idea of where you are located, you are probably in the USA somewhere and your state's fisheries management department (or whatever they call it) is available to give you some insight and assistance with your pond management.  This may be a better use of your funds than buying more baits.

 

As for baits, have you fished the pond before daybreak with topwaters? Then switched over to moving treble hook baits and then plastics as the morning progresses? And then have you fished the pond at sunset  starting with plastics, then going with treble hook moving baits and finally topwaters as the sun sets?

 

Poppers and buzzbaits should work. It is up to you to find out if they feed first on the north and west side (early sun and warmer water) or if they stick to the shady bank areas. 

 

Have you kept a log of each fishing adventure? Google "Bass Resource Fishing Log" and you can download and print them, keeping each one in a three ring binder for future use and to see if there is a pattern to your pond.

 

As for presentations, Texas rigged crawfish type baits; drop shot; shaky head; Carolina rig; MOJO rig; Ned Rig; a jig and pig; and the Slider are good presentations for your pond in addition to your Senkos. Scale down the bait sizes, too. Sometimes being small is good.

 

You can order live crawfish from LA Crawfish in Louisiana. They are expensive but a 40-pound sack should be a good investment to get the crawfish started in your pond. They will need habitat so some wood for them to hide in plus grass in the pond for them to eat is necessary.

 

Just some suggestions for your consideration. There are many more that will be made so pleas give some a try.

 

Good luck and let us know what you do and the results.

 

Welcome to the Forum.

[RyanLC]

Thanks for all the input.  I really didn't think anyone would reply so fast. I live in east Tennessee litterly right on the Tennessee/Kentucky state line. There is probably 20 to 30 old trees that are in the pond . Some of them are pretty good size white oaks. I fished a couple of times during the fall at daylight. I used some square bills and I didn't have any luck.  My retrieve may be to fast though. Right before I moved back here ; I used to live right on the Tennessee River. Thats really when I got super into fishing. People would pass the dock all the time and share some knowledge with me , and boy do I sure miss that. So now I really don't know anyone around were I live now who actually knows what there they are doing. I try to go to the fishing section in Walmart and try to ask around , but I haven't got much valuable info out of that. Ive never kept a log , but I'm going to start..Thanks again for all the help.

[galyonj]

Howdy from Knoxville!

 

The water being clear is a pretty good sign for a pond. Means at least it's not getting choked out with weeds and slime.

 

@Sam has a bunch of great ideas for both presentations and helping the population. I especially like the thought of stocking it with additional (and more substantial) forage species, such as bluegill (honestly, just about any sunfish you like -- redears, shellcrackers, etc) and crawfish, all species that largemouth love to eat and provide lots of calories to help them get bigger.

 

TWRA has prepared a PDF that may be of interest to you. You can download it here.

[Bankc]

I'd try to dropshot a minnow colored fluke.  You say the water is pretty clear, but they don't seem to be too aggressive.  That's finesse fishing territory to me.  

 

Also, if the pond isn't near any roads or anything else that makes a lot of noise, then you'll probably need to be extremely silent and also might not want to get too close to the water.  Maybe even try to fish it when it's sprinkling or windy outside.  Something to mask your presence.  

[TnRiver46]

I’d keep throwing that worm! Every pond I’ve ever fished, a weightless worm is better than anything else 

[Koz]

I would start with a wacky rigged Senko, then maybe a Ned Rig. On days when there is a little chop on the water I would throw a buzzbait around grass lines and trees.

 

But definitely throw a wacky rigged Senko.

[the reel ess]

On 5/20/2021 at 2:03 AM, The Bassman said:

Welcome to these forums. Sounds to me like you're sitting on a gold mine. Telling us where you are will help. For one thing wind and low light would be a big help with your problem. A wacky rigged stick worm would be a good place to start. Lots to read up on and learn here. Enjoy

Yeah, I've been to many a pond in the middle of the day and would swear there were no fish in it. But they'll perk up about 2 hrs before sunset and 2 after sunrise. 

 

OP: I fish a lot of topwaters in smaller, shallow waters and it's hard to get a fish to take one in broad daylight unless it's schooling activity where the fish are chasing bait on the surface, and that's not usually a pond thing. By that I mean the sun is shining down on the bait. So go early and late or on overcast days or target the shady areas in the day with the topwaters. If you have lilies or some other emergent vegetation, I'd be targeting them with a frog. It's an exception to the broad daylight rule. Fish will bite it more during the day in weeds if they're there. As mentioned above, some breeze will help break up the intensity of the sun. Also, the stick worm is pretty much the next best thing to live bait. If the pond is full of small fish, you can try a Trick Worm, downsizing to a 4" finesse worm or a small lizard.

[BrianMDTX]

2 hours ago, Koz said:

But definitely throw a wacky rigged Senko.

^^^^This

 

I can think of two things. One, if your pond is that clear, if you're too close to the fish, they may see you and become spooky. Try to stay back and cast to the fish you know are there but can't see. Two, if they constantly swim up to the bait, check it out but don't bite, they sound like they're feeding well. You may need to fish baits that will trigger reaction strikes. A sinking wacky rig will do that. Try a Neko Macho as well. Either Neko rigged, or as a weightless Texas rig with a 3/0 EWG. I seem to get a lot of reaction strikes with that. 

[CrankFate]

22 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I’d keep throwing that worm! Every pond I’ve ever fished, a weightless worm is better than anything else 

Back when I had the kiddie pool in my backyard, all summer long, about 20 to 50 worms would drown themselves in the pool, every single night.