How would y'all fish this pond?

[texanbassangler]

Howdy,

There's a small pond were I live, and I had a fine time catchin' good bass in the springtime. See, most of the pond is lilly pads, and I sight fished 'em all spring. Now, in late summer, I don't know where they went. There is an open section (no weeds) in one part and pockets of lilly pads all around one side. The other side is free of weeds and drops of steep. there's a "cattail island"in the middle. So, in late summer in Texas, how should I fish it?

[KingBass]

I'd try idling around the pond looking for deeper channels, humps and points. Try finding ones that has something different. A brush pile, rock pile, hydrilla, or even current! Once you find these, mark them on your GPS or use one of the buoy things (I forget what they're called ). Once you find them, try drop shotting, Jigs, c-rigs, or t-rigs there, I'd also give a deep diving crank bait a good run over.

If that don't work, I'd pitch to isolated lilly pad clumps with a lizard, worm, or jig (preferably the lizard). Also try a spinnerbait bait, or frog over the pads, slow it down a little when you come to a pocket.

Hook 'em hard!  

[Koop]

I'll give you a clue how I'd start out...

Ribbit.... ribbit...  ;D ;D

[Mottfia]

They are still there. The fish just aren't as active. Lake of depth or oxygen in deep water keeps the fish shallow. This forces them to deal with excess heat. In order to bare with prolonged exposure to heat they have to be inactive for much of the day.

  Koopa has the right idea. You can frog to pads or toss worms to the bottom of the pads. Alot of it would depend on how thick they are.

  Your best chance to catch em is to find them early and late. You can even fish over night. Basically low light periods are the best. rainy days can be awesome.

 Also look out at the middle of the pond for bream. I have on occasion saw bream swirling in the middle of the pond and caught some solid bass by swimming a jig out there. Find the bait, find the bass

Mottfia

[bigtimfish]

At least try the steep drops with a c rig lizard, and it would not hurt to throw a jig into and a spinnerbait around the cattails. I have seen it for myself this year on Toledo bend. We pulled up on these 2 gigantor bass ,they saw us and quickley darted into the middle of the cattails for cover.

[smallieking]

Try a buzzbait   thats a great pond killer. Also i find alot of luck on texas rig worms and crawbeavers. try worms in open water and throw the beaver to any piece of cover there is. even if its just a blade of grass.  good luck

[-FisherGal-]

I would get my FROG rod...with a frog on it of course, for Ponds, I am partial to my BPS Frog Kit and I would throw it right near those lilypads!!!  Why?  cause I have a pond close by that sounds similar. I also dropped a 10 inch June Bug Ole Monster by the cattails and landed a 4 1/2 lb large mouth....so just experiment.

[J P]

3/8oz black/blue jig with a paca chunk trailer and flip around every single pad. bring your big stick

[steezy]

texanbassangler, I dont know what part of TX you are in but in the ponds that I fish, whats hot right now are flukes/shad on a drop shot or zoom fenesse worms and craws fished along the edge of lilly pads or weeds in 12-18" of water.  The frog is always hot early morning and late evening.

[Paul Roberts]

Small pond? Fish everything.

[texanbassangler]

Thank y'all. I'm in central Texas, in San Saba County. I'll give these suggestions a try this weekend.

[texanbassangler]

Well, tried this weekend.

When I first got there, about 4 o'clock, I saw a nice bass and some bluegill on a sandy shallow bottom, but by the time I got my gear set up, he was gone. I fished the pads with a senko and then with a ribbit frog. I went to a split shot rig, thinkin' that some finesse might be what they need, but no avail. I'm shorebound right now, I think I'm gonna buy an inflatable boat soon and fish outta that. Any other suggestions/ critique is welcom.