Small Pond Fishing

[BayouBassAssassin]

I love fishing, mainly for bass, but I don't have a boat or access to one. I have only a few spots available to fish and they are all small ponds with brown, muddy water. I have had little luck with anything but a Culprit Fire & Ice worm, and except for one 4lb bass they have been pretty small. What would be some good baits and good worm colors to use in these fishing spots? Thanks

[skillet]

You might try some spinner baits (gold colored Col. blades). They put off lot of flash and vibration. Use baits that depend on something other than sight on the fish's part. Baits that use sound (rattles), vibration (spinners) or move more water (larger baits). The last one might be considered vibration. Hope this helps some ...

skillet

[JiggaMan512]

I love fishing, mainly for bass, but I don't have a boat or access to one. I have only a few spots available to fish and they are all small ponds with brown, muddy water. I have had little luck with anything but a Culprit Fire & Ice worm, and except for one 4lb bass they have been pretty small. What would be some good baits and good worm colors to use in these fishing spots? Thanks

[TommyBass]

-Your fishing a good worm... but I think that color is terrible.  Try red shad or grape shad and it should help.  Try throwing weightless occaisionally or use a 1/16th oz weight, unless its windy, then you'll have to go bigger.

-Might also try fishing a black and blue jig, and possibly tip the trailer with some chartruese if its really muddy.

-Single colorado blade spinnerbait... black or white/chart.

-Some type of high vibration shallow crankbait in like a firetiger color... something like a Manns baby 1-, and Shhhhhhhhhhh but one of my most secret all time bass lures in ponds is a jointed Rapala.  Get one around 4 or 5" long and just work it slow.

-Topwater if your feeling crazy.

[retiredbosn]

Most ponds have little cover except for the edge cover of cattails, etc.  Concentrate on these areas, for the ponds I fish Junebug is the color,  sometimes a watermelon green and red flake, I have no idea how the fish even find these, as the green is the same color as the algae etc.  You probably have too much vegetation to throw a crankbait or a jig, so texas rig your worm throw it weightless and up to 1/2 ounce bullet weight.  Pond fishing can be alot of fun good luck and tight lines

[Albany]

Johnson Silver Minnow with a white curly tail grub. You will get alot of tail hit's from bluegill's, but I have caught alot of big bass with this in pond's.

[little_stephen]

Johnson Silver Minnow with a white curly tail grub.

Awesome lure!

I dont know where exactly youre from...... but the ponds up here have one major bass magnet.......... LILLY PADS!

Ive found my favorite bait for pond fishing is a Zoom Horny Toad. The small lakes and ponds i fish here in ohio are REALLY muddy. and mostly shallow.         Drag horny toads over the pads fast enough to keep it on the surface. I like to have a few colors handy. white, black, and watermelon with orange belly! Bass blast these things on the run so make sure ur using a tough rod and braided line(I like berkley fireline crystal)

and you cant go wrong with the silver minnow!  but i will admit i use a monster grub on mine for the bigger of the bass in my home lake (mind you the big ones are only 3-4 pounds)     I put a big 6inch monster grub in this wierd shade of neon green on and use the silver minnow with the green shiner like pattern.

let me know how it turns out

general rule to stick to in small ponds......... stay small. the smallest pond i fish in is a rinkydink little thing. i toss the smallest spinner baits ive got. the 3/16 ounce ones.........

[lineslinger]

Since having to sell my boat due to divorce, I've been forced to fish mostly small lakes and ponds, most of which have been heavily fished.  It has become quite a challenge for me and I hate to get skunked, SO, I've been forced to be creative, innovative and PATIENT!  Most of my fish are caught on a zoom 4" dead ringer in chartreuse pepper fished on braid with an 18" flourocarbon leader and a 1/0 or 2/0 Eagle Claw hook.  This has become my go to bait cause most people don't use them and I've never failed to score with this bait.  Fish it with as light a weight as you can and fish it SLOW with very sensitive rod and I will guarantee you will get bites and catch fish.  Also, try fishing parallel to bank, fishing all around the lake and you will be able to discover a lot of the structure and places that hold fish.  One more thing, I never leave home without Megastrike!  Hope this helps and wish you the very best of luck.

[BayouBassAssassin]

Thanks I will try all of these. I bought a black and blue jig today at bass pro with blue sapphire zoom salty chunk trailers. The man helping me said that it always worked for him. I also bought the supplies for a Carolina rig, which I have never used. Unfortunately, I won't be able to try these out until this weekend because of spring football but I will fish all weekend.

[Hammer 4]

Also, unless there's heavy cover, try a weightless senco, or other worm rigged wacky style. Any thing you can throw that others don't toss out is good, i.e. roboworm creatures for example, also try zoom's flukes, as a jerkbait w/o any weight..

[Btech]

I could be wrong but zoom cotton candy u tail works GREAT in my 12 acre community pond on a 2/O t-rig.

i use a yo-yo technique.

[Crestliner2008]

I agree that a wacky rigged Senko is/should be your go-to presentation. Try to match the color to the bottom color. In your case, probably green pumpkin would fit the bill.

And, if you haven't already tried it, use a drop shot from shore. Can be great when they're not co-operating!  

[BayouBassAssassin]

Ok but I don't have to worry about what the fish have seen or not...I'm the only one that fishes it

[roadwarrior]

The Guarantee:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1158577137

8-)

[ChiCityBasser]

I fish alot of small ponds/lakes myself and mostly from the shore. I also fish one small retention pond and my go to lure is a Strike King shallow diver crankbait in the black/white shad pattern. Either in the 1XS model or the 2-4ft model depending on the amount of vegetation. I caught a number yesterday with the largest being about 2lbs. I've also had success fishing a green pumpkin gary yamamoto senko worm very very slowly. Seems the fish in my pond were toward the end of the pond with heavy water flow due to a drainage ditch. All of them were caught making long casts into the area around the ditch and hitting after coming over the tops of the weeds and ripping the crankbait off the weed tops.

Good luck