what about no wind, u can hear every sound, water like a sheet of glass?

[fishhugger]

howdy

fishing a small pond in northern california.  very often the entire pond is like a mirror (just about) and it is a very, very quiet scene. i've been very aware of the huge, to me, splash that my 1/2 oz jigs or lures make when they land.  should i be? i'm tossing lipless cranks, chatters, square bills, 1/4 oz to over 1/2 oz. to me, the little 1/4 ouncers make about as much noise as my bigger jigs... 

 

if so - i assume i'd have to change what i'm using, in favor of a much slower style of bait, or something that is much lighter, so less splash...

 

i'm unsure what to do in the shallow water (10' or less) since i'd be probably casting right into those smallish areas. wondering if i should switch to a spinning rod, and some sort of light bait... but don't know what type...

 

i fish off the bank...been fishing for lmb for several months.

 

thank you! have a good november....

 

 

[PBBrandon]

My favorite stealth presentation is the wacky rig for quiet, calm water. Those big splashes could spook the fish, especially if you are targeting a small area. From the bank just find some cover like a downed tree or a bush, drop it in next to it and let it sink. Give it a wiggle every once and a while and the bass won’t resist. A lot of people use Senkos but I find Dingers to be more durable and still have a nice action to them. Much cheaper too. 

[Scott F]

A lot of times, I’ve watched bass swim in from a distance to investigate what made the splash. If you drop a bait right on the fish, he might spook or might not. If loud splashes wreck your confidence, learn to cast so the lures land softly.  It’s a good skill to have. 

[Sphynx]

They CAN spook bass, certainly, on the other hand there are no shortage of reasons to argue that those splashes can be exactly what gets a bass to notice/investigate your lure in the first place, I'm not saying that doing a cannonball off the dock is going to have you petting a bass on the head, but a bit of noise can be a very good thing if your prospecting for aggressive fish. If your targeting a specific fish that you see, I usually prefer to be a bit more subtle about it, but that doesn't always work either honestly.

[T-Billy]

Underhand roll casts keeping the bait low to the water. Stop it with your thumb a little before it would land on it's own. It will land much softer this way.

[Catt]

Sometimes ya gotta raise a ruckus!

 

Dead calm water & I'll throw a popper that makes a lot of noise.

 

If I'm slowly fishing a Texas Rig, I'll start short stroking it.

 

And I'll dang sure ricochet it off everything!

[WRB]

Pond bass usually cruise the shore line perimeter and know every square foot of their ecosystem. Most of the prey is located near shore unless the pond has some off shore cover or structure. 

If this pond has good water clarity and not lots of surface cover the bass become very wary of large birds and people around the shore line, so keep a very low profile and your shadow off the water.

The Original jointed J11 silver Rapala Minnow is a excellent pond bass lure.

You can wake it, swim it, stop and go and jerk it. 

Fan cast starting about 3’ from the shore line and make a full half circle pattern, the move forward and replete covering the entire pond perimeter.

Tom

[GReb]

Throw a shallow crank (1ft diver) parallel to bank and cover 

[geo g]

Tough time to fish.  Be very quiet, move slowly, down size, light weight, and let it slowly fall through the water column.  Then slow jerks and let sit still, then repeat.  It’s like watching paint dry but you might get bit.

[papajoe222]

Calm and still conditions amplify disturbances both above the water, as the fish can see better, and below, as there is nothing to disturb the calm and mask any disturbance. 

Keep this in mind when approaching and standing near the shoreline. 

As for your lure's noisy entries, if they can't be avoided, give a long pause prior to starting your retrieve.  My dad use to say to let all the ripples die off before retrieving a topwater and I've found that under calm conditions, that works for sub-surface presentations.  The other thing you could do is cast well past your target. Bass become conditioned to their immediate surroundings and may not react negatively to something that happens 20ft. away, or a lure that lands on shore and is slid into the water.

[fishhugger]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

Sometimes ya gotta raise a ruckus!

 

Dead calm water & I'll throw a popper that makes a lot of noise.

 

If I'm slowly fishing a Texas Rig, I'll start short stroking it.

 

And I'll dang sure ricochet it off everything!

wow --- as al pacino said in 'scent of a woman' ---- Good Lord!

thanks so much for the great feedback, guys! i've been having a tuff go since the season turned... and had never heard of the roll cast, but i will definitely try it, along with all the other ideas...  waiting for the ripples to die off is interesting. they go on forever, the water is so still......

 

have a good november.......

[PhishLI]

Most of the water bodies closest to where I live are called lakes, but they're in fact ponds by any measure. With the exception of one 100 acre spot that pretty much sucks, these places are 9 to 25 acres. All are very shallow in general, but one place has a narrow 15' trench way out in the middle on one end. Other than that they generally range from 3-5 ft deep with occasional smallish deeper pockets of 6-10 feet deep.

 

In reference to your question, I've seen things work out differently at different times, so there's no hard fast rule. I agree with @papajoe222 that you should step softly while traversing the shoreline, and with @WRB that you should be aware of the light and the shadow you cast on the water. 

 

Aside from that good advice, you just never know how bass will react. I've been out on dead calm cold nights with several guys slinging swimbaits that sounded like dinner plates hitting the water, and everyone did quite well. In this case the bass were spaced together closer than usual, and being competitive the sound of baits hitting water resembled topwater killshots and called them in.

 

The opposite has happened too. In this case I'll change presentations. My smaller confidence baits are 4" paddle tail swimmers like a RI Little Dipper and MB Hazedong Shad. Neither makes a big splash, and both have gotten me a ton of pond bass including a few of my better fish from these places.

 

My point is that there's no right answer, and that you need to have options ready and you need to adapt. I've thrown wakes for an hour and blanked, but then switched to a crank down wake and blasted them. Making the bait run 6"-1ft beneath the surface was the difference maker as they weren't coming up top during that session, period. The upside of blanking is that it forces you to be creative and change things up, even if it's just subtly. It's the perfect time to experiment with things like retrieve speed, cadence, etc. It's pretty cool when you do something differently, it pays off, and you end up with a new angle to work with in the future.

[Catt]

If S.O.P. ain't working don't be afraid to change.

 

All of the talk about a quite approach is S.O.P., problem is bass don't read bassresource threads.

 

[Bankbeater]

I'd be casting past the target where I think the fish are then bring the bait toward it.  If you're fishing with a diving crankbait that floats you can hold off on the retrieve until the water around the bait settles back down like fishing a topwater.

[rtwvumtneer6]

16 hours ago, Scott F said:

A lot of times, I’ve watched bass swim in from a distance to investigate what made the splash.

I was going to say something very similar.  They each have their own personalty.  Some might spook, but it may also trigger a reaction strike. 

 

In close quarters a soft entry is desirable.  Keeping the lure low to the water and stopping your spool at the right time, but if I'm bomb casting across a pond I don't worry a ton about the entry when distance is my primary concern.  There are a lot of natural factors (weather, birds, trees, etc) that drop things in the water all the time.  I've got to think they are accustomed to it on some level.

[fishhugger]

2 hours ago, rtwvumtneer6 said:

I was going to say something very similar.  They each have their own personalty.  Some might spook, but it may also trigger a reaction strike. 

 

In close quarters a soft entry is desirable.  Keeping the lure low to the water and stopping your spool at the right time, but if I'm bomb casting across a pond I don't worry a ton about the entry when distance is my primary concern.  There are a lot of natural factors (weather, birds, trees, etc) that drop things in the water all the time.  I've got to think they are accustomed to it on some level.

thanks --- makes sense. this place is super quiet tho... it's in kind of a bowl, still as anything...super peaceful, at these times.  it just feels like my lure landing is really noticeable, and if i'm in one spot for awhile, seems counterproductive... i'll take all this advice and try different approaches... but this has all been really helpful...

 

 

[QED]

19 hours ago, T-Billy said:

Underhand roll casts keeping the bait low to the water. Stop it with your thumb a little before it would land on it's own. It will land much softer this way.

The roll cast works with spinning gear too.  Make sure you learn to feather the line with your forefinger to achieve the same results.  Light/UL baits help with a relatively quiet presentation.

[Luke Barnes]

To me I would pick up a ned rig with a minimum of a 1/10oz jighead, or lighter. Small splash, not much action, but fish eat them up. 

[MassYak85]

22 hours ago, PBBrandon said:

My favorite stealth presentation is the wacky rig for quiet, calm water. Those big splashes could spook the fish, especially if you are targeting a small area. From the bank just find some cover like a downed tree or a bush, drop it in next to it and let it sink. Give it a wiggle every once and a while and the bass won’t resist. A lot of people use Senkos but I find Dingers to be more durable and still have a nice action to them. Much cheaper too. 

Definitely my favorite mirror calm technique. Nothing like seeing the line jump and start swimming off on the surface of the water.

[cyclops2]

I have had good luck with my only old green frog in those conditions. He is  2 1/2" long with legs & arms that move on each pull. I toss him high and into 6" water FAR away from me and near the shore.

Everything picks on that frog. From big sunnies upward. It is fun to see the wake build up. I reel faster. The little guy gets hit by some big panfish multiple times. Then I leave.

[Raul]

I would pull a Jitterbug out of the t-box and cast n retrieve until my arm turns numb, why ?

 

1.- I've caught some very nice fish 

2.- I like the gurgling sound of the 'bug

3.- It's awesome to se a fish hit it like if there's no tomorrow

[J Francho]