Lure suggestions

[Jonas Staggs]

Short version: lure suggestion for small heavily pressured man made pond.

 

I have been fishing a local HOA pond/lake, its in a 17acre park, although the lake itself is not 17 acres, not sure how big it is, but probably more like a pond then a lake, I think maybe 10 ft deep at its max. It has a couple water fountains and small boat dock. The lake is heavily pressured, although Id say the majority of people fishing it are beginner anglers. I have no problem pulling plenty of dinks out of this place, maybe like 0.5-1lbs fish and like 10+ in a day on UL tackle. The only fish in the lake are bass, bluegill, and catfish, theres also a ton of turtles.  Ill typically fish a 1/16th oz jig with a small soft plastic and pull bass and bluegill all day. Given how easy the bass are too catch and the limited amount of bluegill (theres some pretty big bluegills) in there, I figure the bass are starving? I have never really expected to catch anything much bigger than a pound in there, however recently someone caught a 4 lbs bass there (saw it on fishbrain). I have no idea what the he used for bait or lure, and how many bigger bass are in there like that, however not much id guess. He may have caught one of the only few big fish in a small pond. Worth mentioning there really is no cover or structure in the lake aside from the fountains and docks. Its just a big bowl. Anyways, now that I know there bigger fish in there, I want to target them. I recently threw the weedless savage gear bluegill with no luck. Just looking for lure suggestions to try and catch one of these bigger bass, and maybe any other suggestions as well as to maybe location, time, or what not. The docks have heavy boat traffic because they rent out paddle boats and you cant fish from them. I figure the bass main forage is either bluegill or other small bass.

[Munkin]

I would try a Sleeper gill myself. 

 

Allen 

[JackstrawIII]

Hey, lots of options here. I love fishing ponds, so I’ll give it a shot. 
 

I feel like a broken record on this, but my favorite lure for pressured bodies of water is a Keitech Swing Impact fished on some sort of underspin. It’s subtle but very effective. Go with the chartreuse or bluegill colors. This will catch size and numbers. 
 

If you’re just trying to weed out small fish, try a big spinnerbait or chatterbait with a large trailer. 

[T-Billy]

Senko.

[papajoe222]

Not knowing where you are located, limits recommendations. One bait I'd try for sure would be a buzzbait, at least until water temps. drop to around 50. Another would be a jig/trailer combo. With the shallow water, I'd go with a 3.8oz. jig and a RageTail Craw, or Paca Craw for a big profile.

[GetFishorDieTryin]

For lakes that get loads of pressure, particularly from the bank being as stealthy as possible is essential to catching those bigger fish on any kind of consistent basis.   Be conscience of your foot falls and avoid walking directly on the shoreline if possible, when going from spot to spot.  Staying 12' or 15' off the shoreline when going from spot to spot should help a whole lot.

I've found the shoreline of most ponds and small lakes consistently hold more feeding fish then open water, barring structure or depth changes and cold water.  Make long casts parallel to the bank before fishing the deeper water in front of you as the fish in shallower water are more likely to spook first in my experience.

The majority of my biggest fish caught in small water are caught on hard bottom, like rocks or gravel or on a transition where soft mud gives way to gravel or rocks like a boat ramp. 

Avoid carrying too much gear.  Carrying extra rods and a big tackle bag is nice, but it causes you move more.  You have to put them down or pick them up every time you move which not only makes it easier for fish to pick you up, but it can also make you complacent.

Avoid wearing loud colors, particularly on bluebird days.  If you have ever looked at someone wearing a red or orange shirt or swim trunk while underwater in a pool you know how easy it is to pick that color up.  I imagine fish have much better recognition then we do because they count on it to survive.  So, I think wearing neutral colors can help minimize you're silhouette.

As far as baits go, the chatterbait still accounts for a healthy amount of my biggest pond fish.  The difference is in how you fish it.  A burn and kill retrieve seems to get the biggest fish to bite even when they aren't necessarily feeding.  I also trim and thin the skirt out to get a different profile then what they are used to seeing with that kind of vibration.  Blacking out the blade seems to help as well. 

Ive found that silent crankbaits consistently out fish those with rattles on highly pressured water, even in water that has an average viz of less than 18".  Swimjigs accel in water where shad are absent.  There seems to be a prime time for them which from spawn to late summer, where they not only produce numbers but quality fish as well.  They still catch fish throughout the year, so make sure to give them a shot as well.

[WRB]

The small lake more then likely doesn’t get a lot of skilled bass angler pressure.

Hopefully the 4 lber was released, not eaten.

The fountains are there to aerate the lake to prevent fish die off from low dissolved oxygen levels. Those fountains attract prey and bass. Fish around the fountains.

Pond bass use the shoreline to find prey by patrolling the perimeter. You want to make cast 3’ to 5’ parallel to the bank.

Lures vary seasonally. The Rapala J11 jointed floating minnow is a killer pond lure.

Tom 

[Darth-Baiter]

Jig.  I just find in general a jig weeds out the dinks.

 

well, maybe not a finesse jig on Lake Sonoma.   dink-ville.

[Jonas Staggs]

Thank you for the replies everyone. 

[PotatoLake]

30 minutes ago, Jonas Staggs said:

Thank you for the replies everyone. 

I have to add one more suggestion, April - October , a swimming worm, like a Zoom UltraVibe Speed worm, Strike King Cut-R-Worm or the Gambler version. That was a numbers and size lure for me. October - April, What Tom said, the original floater, or some type of floating or super shallow running jerkbait. Unless you have murky water conditions. Then I'd go with a bladed jig. Good luck.

[Aaron_H]

I fish smaller sub-10-acre ponds 99% of the time I bass fish, most get decent pressure. Small bass are a dime a dozen in them but they can hold some true giants. Bluegill and young bass are going to be the primary forage for larger bass there, focus on those presentations (prioritizing bluegill IMO). Lipless crankbait, squarebill, chatterbait, jerkbait, spinnerbait, etc. in darker colors will be the ticket to triggering some bigger bites. Like WRB said, target fountains (cover as well as more oxygenated water) and along the banks. Texas rigs, Carolina rigs, and jigs can all be useful not only for getting bites, but also dragging bottom to see if there is any structure along the bottom that could hold fish. A lot of ponds to end up having some decent ledges and dips away from the banks from where they were dug out and that will attract bait/bass.

[KP Duty]

Charlie Brewer's slider worm on a weedless slider head ?.

[JustJames]

14 hours ago, WRB said:

Pond bass use the shoreline to find prey by patrolling the perimeter. You want to make cast 3’ to 5’ parallel to the bank.

Tom 

I want you to read this three times before every trips. I’d bet you 80% of ppl try to cast as far by the time you get in strike zone 10’ off shoreline, they already tired and ready for next cast. 

[Jonas Staggs]

10 hours ago, KP Duty said:

Charlie Brewer's slider worm on a weedless slider head ?.

 

Heard great things about them but never tried them. 

This thread has got me thinking, I need to stop micro fishing this place and try and finesse fish in instead.

 

Side note, got my first BFS Fish and heddon tiny torpedo fish there the other day. 

 

 

 

 

[GetFishorDieTryin]

1 hour ago, Jonas Staggs said:

 

Heard great things about them but never tried them. 

This thread has got me thinking, I need to stop micro fishing this place and try and finesse fish in instead.

 

Side note, got my first BFS Fish and heddon tiny torpedo fish there the other day. 

 

 

 

 

IMO micro fishing is about as finesse as it gets, other then using a fly maybe.  A small swimbait or grub on a light jighead is extremely hard to beat as far as numbers go.  

[Hammer 4]

In addition to what Tom suggested, lure wise try a 2.8 kietech on a flashy swimmer, could even go to a 3.8 on a coolbaits jig head.