The Shallows seem dead?

[Captian Planet]

Anybody have any advise on how to fish a pond around sixty acres for postspawn/ summer patern fish without a depth finder?.

I have already figured there aren't anybass of size in the shallows, and I suspect the big ones have gone deep. This pond averages fifteen feet deep without much bottom structure I can find. It has mostly a mud bottom and water clarity is around four feet.

Any help would be greatly apreciated thanks.

[DINK WHISPERER]

A while back i was faced with a similar situation. This advice is assuming you have a boat. I would get some buoy markers and estimate the depth you are in using them. It will take a while but you can get a pattern going eventually!

[Fishing Rhino]

Is the pond a bowl, or does it have a shelf which gradually drops from the shoreline, then at some point has a steeper dropoff?

The pond I regularly fish has a shelf.  The shallows are not truly shallow.  There are few places where you can get a boat close to the shore, even a canoe.  It is very rocky.  Where you cannot navigate a boat there are pockets two or three feet deep between the rocks.  Get away from that rocky area and there is two to three feet of water.  This gradually drops to four or five feet, then drops quickly to six feet.

A foot or two does not sound like much, but experience has taught me that foot or two can make all the difference in the world, in this pond.  The pond averages six feet deep away from the shelf.

When the fish are not biting in the shallows, I try the shelf.

Sometimes they are right at the edge of that dropoff, at other times they are in the six feet depth, right at the base of that dropoff.

[Captian Planet]

Thanks for the tip and I fish out of a conoe so ill try it next weekend.

Once I map the bottom how do you think I should go about fishing it?

[Captian Planet]

I guess the pond is a bowl it has about ten feet around the bank of lilly pads before slowly falling down to around fifteen. One end has pads out thirty feet from shore, and thick submerged grass once the pads end for another thirty feet.

[DINK WHISPERER]

Man, that sounds like a sweet spot if there is grassy bottoms! Once you have a general idea of the contour try and draw yourself a map just to have a mental reference to look back on. I would cast a Carolina rigged lizard to the deepest part and drag it up the slope than vise verse. Also try a drop shot rig right over them in the deepest parts. A deep crank can also be a great way at locating the fish quickly. BEST OF LUCK

[ChazfromVA]

Yea sounds like you pretty much have got it... just try to fish the drops because those bass are gonna relate to them.. those pad edges can be pretty good too.. i have had great success fishing the edges with a wacky -rigged senko.. seems to get em everytime.. anyways good luck to ya.. tight lines!  

[Captian Planet]

Thanks for all the help im looking forward to getting out there this weekend and trying everything.

[Shane J]

I was going to say exactly what Dink Whisperer said about the C rigged lizard. I have a local pond that is easy to launch my boat and have fished it for a couple years now, and really only ever caught 1 1/2-2 pounders by working the shallows, however, I recently discovered how to find them deep. This pond only gets to about 16', so "deep" has been 12-15'. Carolina rig a Rage Tail Lizard, and I would bet money you will get bit by bigger fish than ever before. I now regularly pull 4 pound bass from this place, and I'm sure you will too.

[bassman31783]

Totally agree with Dink whisperer on the C-rig or drop shot.  However I wouldn't pass up ripping a trap across the top of the submerged grass.  Also steadily reeling a spinnerbait so it ticks the top of the grass would be another go to for me.  & last but not least would be using a jig or T-rigged plastic to punch through any abnormal spots in the grass that I see.  Just trying to give you a few more options.  Good luck and let us know what worked.

[Paul Roberts]

You said it yourself: "The Shallows seem dead." Problem identified. Now what are you going to do different?

Don't worry about the lures -'till you find active fish. Will probably be a shift in timing and/or location.

[D4u2s0t]

You said it yourself: "The Shallows seem dead." Problem identified. Now what are you going to do different?

Don't worry about the lures -'till you find active fish. Will probably be a shift in timing and/or location.

in my lake as well, the fish seem to be moving out more.  we normally cruise along the shoreline, casting in towards shore, and work it back.  kills em.  Lately it's been a tougher bite.  For *** and giggles I started casting off the other side of the boat, away from the shore and towards the deeper water.  Started getting them that way.  Water is warming up, and more pressure along the shores from all the other fishermen.  What does tht mean?  Don't do what everyone else does.  Get out there a lil deeper!

[skeetermike]

Well if this helps when we were bow fishing the other night on the lake we never seen a bass.  We hit the shallows around grass beds with a 2million spot light.  It was mostly gar, carp and buffs.  We did see a few huge watermoccosins!   :-/

[Mottfia]

This can get tricky. If the pond is only a couple of acres larger then the oxygen level will dictate how deep the fish will get. Being he middle of the summer I wouldn't expect to find an large fish real deep. Most ponds only hold oxygen down to 6 feet. Plant growth deeper will increase the depth range. If I was under the same situation this time of year, I would fish any major structure from the bank to that deep and then swim the lure at that depth, such as points, ledges, etc.

If the main forage is bluegill then there is a good chance that the bass will suspend over the structure but they are still very catchable. Just match the prey and put it in their face. I hope this helps some.

Mottfia