To All My Memphis Pond Hoppers!

[Skeeter Dan]

You better take your rain gear.

[Mr. Ranger]

Merry Christmas!  I hope all of you get the rods/reels/tackle/Bass Pro gift cards that you all asked for.

[wdp]

Went to Halle Park yesterday & actually did pretty well. Caught 10 total in a couple of hours. Nothing big, but the biggest was about 2 lbs. 

[WDE]

43 minutes ago, wdp said:

Went to Halle Park yesterday & actually did pretty well. Caught 10 total in a couple of hours. Nothing big, but the biggest was about 2 lbs. 

 

What were you throwing?

 

I'm hoping to get out tomorrow after work, but I just saw that rain has moved into the forecast. 

 

I noticed a pond yesterday behind Covenant Church on Houston Levee. Might have to go check that one out soon. 

[wdp]

23 minutes ago, WDE said:

 

What were you throwing?

 

I'm hoping to get out tomorrow after work, but I just saw that rain has moved into the forecast. 

 

I noticed a pond yesterday behind Covenant Church on Houston Levee. Might have to go check that one out soon. 

I did most the damage with a little finesse swimbait - a 3.5" keitech easy shiner on a 1/8 oz round jig head. I'd just throw it out and swim it back to the bank with a slow & steady retrieve. Seemed to be what they wanted. Most bites were coming within bout 10 yards of the bank. 

 

I did catch 2 on a Strike king Redeye shad. 

[wdp]

Hey @WDE, I might try to head back out to Halle Park on Friday if you're in the neighborhood. Weather is supposed to be nicer, like 50 & sunny. I figure if the fishing stinks there might head to a few other spots in the area. Lemme know if you wanna meet up. 

[WDE]

10 hours ago, wdp said:

Hey @WDE, I might try to head back out to Halle Park on Friday if you're in the neighborhood. Weather is supposed to be nicer, like 50 & sunny. I figure if the fishing stinks there might head to a few other spots in the area. Lemme know if you wanna meet up. 

 

I gotta close that day and Saturday, so no fishing for me either of those days. But we could try to figure something out in he future. 

[wdp]

47 minutes ago, WDE said:

 

I gotta close that day and Saturday, so no fishing for me either of those days. But we could try to figure something out in he future. 

I hear ya. If I make it to the lake on Friday, I'll post another report. 

 

We'll catch up one of these days. 

[Skeeter Dan]

Happy New years every one

[WDE]

What's the deal with Johnson front pond lately? Past two times I've tried to go, there's been 7 or 8 people fishing it. Usually I have the whole area to myself. 

[wdp]

44 minutes ago, WDE said:

What's the deal with Johnson front pond lately? Past two times I've tried to go, there's been 7 or 8 people fishing it. Usually I have the whole area to myself. 

No idea. I haven't fished at Johnson in quite a while. 

 

Btw, you didn't miss much at Halle Park yesterday. Caught 2 dinks from 2 - 5 pm. ?

49 minutes ago, Skeeter Dan said:

Happy New years every one

Happy New Year!

[WDE]

3 hours ago, wdp said:

No idea. I haven't fished at Johnson in quite a while. 

 

Btw, you didn't miss much at Halle Park yesterday. Caught 2 dinks from 2 - 5 pm. ?

Happy New Year!

 

I got out to Grove for a little while on the 29th. All I managed was a crappie. And no, I wasn't handling the fish like this, just a frame grab  from the GoPro when he thrashed out from my other hand. 

 

Interesting hook set, however. 

 

[jcbendall]

On 12/31/2016 at 7:40 PM, WDE said:

What's the deal with Johnson front pond lately? Past two times I've tried to go, there's been 7 or 8 people fishing it. Usually I have the whole area to myself. 

 

stocked with Lake Trout this winter, also at Cameron Brown

 

https://www.tn.gov/assets/entities/twra/fish/attachments/wintertrout.pdf

[WDE]

On 1/1/2017 at 10:12 PM, jcbendall said:

 

stocked with Lake Trout this winter, also at Cameron Brown

 

https://www.tn.gov/assets/entities/twra/fish/attachments/wintertrout.pdf

 

Yep, I just saw the signs this afternoon. They were busting and jumping out of the water like crazy. The front ponds are way up right now too.

[WDE]

If I ever needed a sign to take a break from Grove again, I think this would be it. Oh, and losing two lures to hidden discarded Christmas tr--err structure. 

[Angry John]

The weather sucked today for obvious reasons so i ran over to the bass pro on 40 and sycamore view.  Found lucky craft square bill cranks for 6.99.  I got two but this is half price and they have some good colors left.  Checked and the SK KVD's i normally get are the same price.  

[roadwarrior]

Great post!

[WDE]

I guess I'm just going to have to look into a trout fishing rig and elbow my way into Johnson now. I can't begin to tell you how frustrated I've been, wanting to just hit a quick stop after work only to see a gang of people out there. A pond that I've had moderate success in, but I also appreciate my solitude--so I'm stuck playing around in Halle(which I truly cannot stand) or Grove until people get bored with Johnson. I did notice a day or two ago that there's a pond in the back by the boardwalk shielded by trees(not the one with the fountains), if the weather is okay tomorrow I'll have to check it out. 

 

And I know it's really not my place to gripe about a public pond and people wanting to take advantage of the recent stocking of it. Just venting because I haven't had much luck lately and with this schizophrenic weather--I'm just aggravated. 

[MFBAB]

You can fish the other 2 ponds behind the trout pond, and the one with the fountains is full of fish too

 

If you want to catch some trout, just take an ultralight and toss Rooster Tails or little Cleos, anything like that worked slowly close to the bottom should produce.  4 lb. test helps to keep them down.

 

If you've heard of Trout Magnets, they should be illegal.  1/64 Oz. jig w a tiny grub, 2 lb. test, reel it as slowly as you can stand-1-2 seconds per turn, and shake the rod tip sort of like when you test a rods action at a store

If you can imagine a stocker trout or a little bream trying to take the rod out of your hand, that's sort of what it feels like when they hit it!

[WDE]

1 hour ago, MFBAB said:

You can fish the other 2 ponds behind the trout pond, and the one with the fountains is full of fish too

 

If you want to catch some trout, just take an ultralight and toss Rooster Tails or little Cleos, anything like that worked slowly close to the bottom should produce.  4 lb. test helps to keep them down.

 

If you've heard of Trout Magnets, they should be illegal.  1/64 Oz. jig w a tiny grub, 2 lb. test, reel it as slowly as you can stand-1-2 seconds per turn, and shake the rod tip sort of like when you test a rods action at a store

If you can imagine a stocker trout or a little bream trying to take the rod out of your hand, that's sort of what it feels like when they hit it!

 

Yeah yeah, I'm just being bitter. I've tossed around in the furthest pond nearest the baseball field a couple times and yielded no bites. Bite also fell off at the middle pond. I had the one closest to the road dialed in, which is why I'm grumpy. I've got an old ultra light around here somewhere, but I'll wait to get my trout sticker or endorsement(I haven't even looked into it) when I renew my license next month. 

 

My luck at the pond with the fountains has really fallen off since my first few visits back in the late Summer. Haven't had many bites and no landed fish since. 

 

Have you checked out the pond by the boardwalk back in the trees(behind the fountain pond)? 

[MFBAB]

No, never tried that one. 

There is another one in the woods beyond the ball fields also, I haven't fished it either but there have been some reports on it within this thread that sounded positive. 

This is the time of year to fish those wooded ponds, the snakes and bugs are dormant!  The ones behind Nashoba and along Humphreys, etc. 

[wdp]

9 hours ago, WDE said:

Have you checked out the pond by the boardwalk back in the trees(behind the fountain pond)? 

I tried that pond once the year before last. It's super shallow. Biggest thing is it's really hard to fish. There really isn't any good bank access.

 

There is another lake out there that's located past the 3 ponds up front near the baseball fields where you've been mostly fishing. If you walk all the way down the walking track past those ponds thru a clearing in the woods, you'll run into that lake. That's where I've had the most luck at Johnson. 

[WDE]

6 hours ago, wdp said:

I tried that pond once the year before last. It's super shallow. Biggest thing is it's really hard to fish. There really isn't any good bank access.

 

There is another lake out there that's located past the 3 ponds up front near the baseball fields where you've been mostly fishing. If you walk all the way down the walking track past those ponds thru a clearing in the woods, you'll run into that lake. That's where I've had the most luck at Johnson. 

 

I always thought the river was back there. Never made my way back there. But I'm reminded of an encounter that I had with an older man that I would see on a semi regular basis. We always make small chat, what are they biting, how's it going sort of talk when we see each other. One day after our little chat, he let me be at the front pond and went back in he woods. About an hour later he came back out and had blood covering his forehead and neck and hewas soaking wet. Apparently he stepped out onto a log back there and smacked his head a couple times on the log or underwater. He had a nice gash on the crown of his head, so I asked him a few questions to make sure he wasn't concussed. He seemed fine, but that was the last time I saw him. 

[wdp]

On 1/11/2017 at 1:39 PM, WDE said:

 

I always thought the river was back there. Never made my way back there. But I'm reminded of an encounter that I had with an older man that I would see on a semi regular basis. We always make small chat, what are they biting, how's it going sort of talk when we see each other. One day after our little chat, he let me be at the front pond and went back in he woods. About an hour later he came back out and had blood covering his forehead and neck and hewas soaking wet. Apparently he stepped out onto a log back there and smacked his head a couple times on the log or underwater. He had a nice gash on the crown of his head, so I asked him a few questions to make sure he wasn't concussed. He seemed fine, but that was the last time I saw him. 

Dang. Yeah, that lake has a lot of timber in it in 2 different areas. 1st area you come to walking up to the lake is a shallow cove that has a bunch of logs in it. That area obviously gets hammered by fishermen. Lots of corks & line broken off in the cover. 

 

If you walk walk down to the left along the bank, there is another big area of stumps & laydowns. I've caught a few there with shallow cranks, wakebaits, flukes and buzzfrogs.

 

I've never fished going along the right side of the bank. And the bank on far side of lake is steep with limited access. 

 

You kinda gotta be careful walking the bank tho. Some areas are a bit dicey & steep. Plus, there's also a roped off area along the trail where there is a major erosion issue where it drops off very steep into a big culvert/ditch.

[WDE]

On 1/12/2017 at 9:16 PM, wdp said:

Dang. Yeah, that lake has a lot of timber in it in 2 different areas. 1st area you come to walking up to the lake is a shallow cove that has a bunch of logs in it. That area obviously gets hammered by fishermen. Lots of corks & line broken off in the cover. 

 

If you walk walk down to the left along the bank, there is another big area of stumps & laydowns. I've caught a few there with shallow cranks, wakebaits, flukes and buzzfrogs.

 

I've never fished going along the right side of the bank. And the bank on far side of lake is steep with limited access. 

 

You kinda gotta be careful walking the bank tho. Some areas are a bit dicey & steep. Plus, there's also a roped off area along the trail where there is a major erosion issue where it drops off very steep into a big culvert/ditch.

 

Yeah, I actually walked down there Wednesday and around the right side about half way for a few minutes. No bites(lipless crank and spinnerbait), but I wasn't fishing it hard. Just getting a feel. Definitely some sketchy bank angles and terrain. Has some promise, hoping for a sunny day without so much wind soon so I can go back and beat the left side of the bank.