fishin a pond with little cover

[sbfishySC]

What's the best way to go about bass fishin in a small farm pond with little cover for the bass?

The pond I fish, I'm not sure an exact size, but its bottom is as flat as it could be, with a slow slope down to about 12 feet, majority of the pond being about 3-6 feet deep. There are a few tree limbs that have fallen in around the sides, part of an old bridge sticking out of a small area, and a point with a rocky ledge going straight down. I can fish that rocky ledge off the point all day and catch only one bass. There are no weed beds, no lily pads, nothing like that. Its a pretty much open water pond, except for around some of the edges.

I'm considering building some of those 'porcupine fish attractor' things, homemade of course, and throwing a few of those in, but until then, theres not many places for the fish to hide and take cover. So I'm just curious how would yall go about fishing a place like that?

Attached a pic of part of the pond, not a great picture, doesn't show all of the pond, but you can see the point I was referring to right there on the left.

[aarogb]

    Fish that point with a light jig or a split-shot rig.

[Bass XL]

Fish that pond like you would anything else. Don't limit yourself. I have many ponds/small lakes around here that are just like that and we catch them on all sorts of lures. The best ones seem to be Trick Worms, shakey heads, jigs, and Power Worms. But like I said, dont limit yourself. Throw everything at em if you want.

[Bass Junkie]

  Try to make a LOW profile approach. I often crawl or scoot into position and try to be very quite. Make a soft presentation to those tree limbs, and that dock. Also, make the longest reasonable cast along those banks. There are irregularities along those banks that'll hold fish. But really, make a low profile approach, soft long casts, and hit the obvious structure. They will bite. Trust me. Also, try hopping a frog off the bank that you cast it onto is killer. Soft entry and VERY natural. You can even do it with t-rigged soft plastics( Like a Strike King Tube Technologies Wild Thang).

[Steven Ladner]

I would start with a w-rigged senko fished along the bank. If that doesn't work, then the next thing I would try is a shakey head with a trickworm on the back. These 2 lures never fail me when fishing new water

[mrlitetackle]

Posted by: Bass XL

Throw everything at em if you want.

thats how i would do it,

i have found with many small farm type ponds, most all lures work... and fish are willing to take anything that looks like food.  Though, day to day they may be choosy towards one type or another....overall, everything in the box will catch them over time.

[mrlitetackle]

on second thought........

how large would you at least guess the pond to be.....????

as in,

with my previous response, most of the small ponds that i fish regularly are quite small..... I can walk the entire perimeter in about 10 min give or take depending on location....

so as my original post went,

the fish i am relating yours to, really dont have anywhere to go.....

their always right under your nose, so to speak....

albeit, if your pond is substantially larger, this will affect my opinion on how to necessarily go about things.

[sbfishySC]

Thanks for the tips guys.

I've been fishing this pond for just under 20 years now, but I guess I've never really been as interested in my technique or lures as I am nowadays. I've usually just sort of thrown things out there, and only pull in one or two bass per weekend if I'm lucky, so I guess I'm trying to up that a little bit now.

mrlitetackle, pretty much what you see in the picture is the entire pond. During the fall/winter when I can actually walk the banks, I'd guess it would take me ~10 minutes to walk around. I'll have to find out the exact size this weekend for future reference.

Thanks again folks, I'll see what I can pull out this weekend.

[mrlitetackle]

well then,

my .02

early morning,   slow topwater.... slow buzzbaits, lightly popped pop-r's, or a stop and go with a spook, all around cover....

if the day is hot,

try to keep your baits deep

if the day is cold,

try to keep your baits slow

late evening....

large worms.... i prefer 10 in range fished along the shorelines...

im definitely not an expert, so by no means may i be considered correct in any sense...

its just how i would go about it..

hope it helps.

[mrlitetackle]

have you ever tried live shiners or live bait in general.....

just to get a good idea of the size and number of bass available in such a small area???

[sbfishySC]

I've tried crickets and Catalpa/Catawba (however its spelled) worms live, with the crickets catching a majority of bream. I haven't seen the catalpa worms on the trees in several years, and most of the time they'll catch bream, but they've caught more bass than crickets have. I'd use them if they were on the trees, but like I said, I haven't seen them in several years. Other than that, I've never tried live bait. Always been more of a fan of artificial bait and crickets.

The bass I have caught out of there in the past 7 or 8 years, have been 1 pounders or less. They seem to be somewhat long and skinny, which I think I read is a sign of not getting enough food or something? Which surprises me, because of the number of bream in there spawning and bugs I can find all over, it seems they would have plenty to eat. Because of the lack of rain here, the water level is fairly low now too, so maybe they can't get to as much as they used to.

I know there are plenty of bass in there, it's the size that has been concerning me lately. This past weekend, there were schools of baby bass swimming in the shallows, so I know theres some mature ones in there and I know theres some young ones in there. Seems only the "teens" want to bite, haha.

[mrlitetackle]

there is likely an overpopulation of dinks in there from what you say....

they will eat up all the food source, and not allow larger fish to grow...

and the  large ones will have big fat heads of a lunker, and the anorexic body of a cheerleader...

i have the same problem with one of the ponds that i fish.......

keep some of the dinks for food, as to free up a forage source for the larger fish.......

and, i suggest trying some JUMBO shiners to ***** how big some can get there....

whether you like live bait or not, it will give you a fair assessment of the fish in the pond..

(and live bait or not, their always fun to catch ;D ;D ;D)

[mrlitetackle]

and,

an overpopulation of BG, or any panfish for that matter.....

can be detrimental for growing large LM's IMO.

i have  a pond in my neighborhood that is TOTALLY OVERRUN  with BG......and all the bass, though numerous, are dinks....... but there are a handfull of topdogs still..... its just tough to come by them!!!

[Jig Thrower]

Just fish the heck out of it with everything...i would throw a senko off that point and maybe a jerkbait along the edges

[sbfishySC]

Seemed to be a slow weekend this past weekend for me. I tried a little bit of everything, mainly sticking to a t-rigged worm in the morning/afternoon and topwater (buzzbait and frog) at night. Had a few strikes on the frog but never got em hooked. Landed 2, 1/2 lb, bass with the worm right off the point.

I've got one more chance this weekend before my fishing days start to wind down for the fall/winter months while football season and classes start back. Hopefully I'll have some more luck this weekend. I think I'll dig deep into my tacklebox and see what I can scrounge up and work with the tips yall gave me more this weekend and see what I can do.

[Kingbass43]

At one farm pond i go to not alot of cover i fish up and down the bank when the fish are feeding usually about evening

[ilovefooffur]

Beautiful picture.  Looking at that made me feel all calm and cozy inside.  

[guitarkid]

Looks similar to my pond try spinnerbaits.

Another thing when there is little to no cover, find a flat, they are usually chasing minnows on the flat.

                       -gk

[LCpointerKILLA]

just a small but useful tip, do not stand right on the waters edge at first. Start about 10-15 yards from the bank to not spook any bass, and then move your way closer.

[NasTMcfingas]

I fish alot of ponds with the same basic look, depth.  I with usually use shallow jerkbaits and Ikas.  3-6ft of water IMO an Ikas is one of the best baits to use.  Try casting in any area that has shade and definetly hit all point and any flats.

[luckyfisher]

fist thing in the morning id fish the bank parallel with a topwater along the grass edges.then hit them with a t-rig blue flake worm.

[sbfishySC]

Decent weekend this weekend. I fished that point like crazy and ended up landing 6 bass with a weightless senko. It seemed to be a big hit. Nothing big, biggest one was 13" at 1 lb 3 oz.

I tried a topwater frog at night, and I'm surprised I didn't get more hits on it than I did (only about 2 hits), because when it gets dark, the frogs are everywhere, I figured they are a good meal for the bass.

Couple pics of some of the bass, sorry for quality, cell phone pic and I had to hold em myself. Sort of gives you a general idea of the size bass I'm workin with.

Thanks for the tips again guys, I'm tryin to work with every tip and see what happens.

[Hammer 4]

Looking at your pond pic..there has to be weeds in there..? If you can spot the weeds/weedline, that's where I'd toss a Senco, or a dropshot with a roboworm..Also try the Ragetail Toads, t rig weightless and drag it across the top of the weeds..Then again, you could always throw a 6" swimbait.. BTW, I'd use a spinning rig so you can cast with the best distance, my guess is the larger fish are out in deeper water, unless they are feeding.

Also, try not to lay the bass on the ground, could remove some of it's slime coat..wheich makes the bass more likely to contract parasites, and deseases.

[mrlitetackle]

bass are bass.....

good job man,

and keep up the good work!!!

[Bass Junkie]

Beautiful picture. Looking at that made me feel all calm and cozy inside.

 Only a true fisherman....................