New To Bass Fishing, What To Buy?

[Octopusfingers]

So I'm fairly new to bass fishing, and being young and all, I don't have access to a boat (or a car for that matter), and I don't actually get to fish all that often, besides at a not-so-good pond down the street. HOWEVER, one thing I hate is when I do go fishing, not having the bait for the situation. Right now, my tackle bag has Berkley power worms (red shad and blackish bluish purplish color), yum dingers (watermelon red and a blackish color with a blue tip) and zoom lizards (same a s dingers pretty much), and watermelon red baby brush hogs, along with a spinnerbait, buzzbait, or jig here and there.

Now I pretty much always just Texas rig these things, probably because I'm a lazy teenager (sometimes I even use snap swivels *gasp*). however, I'm looking to "expand my horizons" and start Carolina rigging, drop shotting and such. But I have some questions!

First off, is drop shotting kinda like backwards

Carolina rigging? That's how I interpreted it. Secondly, what situations would I use each rigging style in (I know I could find this elsewhere, but I've looked and really didnt understand).

And also, shaky heads. I've heard them mentioned in many a bass fishing video. I understand theyre like little jigheads, to "stand the bait up"? Is this right? What style/ size jighead with what type of plastic?

Lastly, so far, I've skimmed some other threads, been thinking I'll invest in a few more spinnerbaits, and some rage tail space monkeys. Maybe a crank or two (lot a weeds where I am, which deters me from wanting to use a crank).

Thanks very much in advance,

Octopusfingers

[ww2farmer]

First of all, the soft plastic baits you have are fine, they will work any where there are bass. Your color selection is fine too. Walk the pond fan casting with your spinnerbait, for a pond a 1/4 or 3/8 oz Chartreuse and white,tandem blade bait will be just fine. If they don't bite that, take those watermelon/red dingers, rig them weightless texas rig with a 2/0-3/0 EWG hook, if it's stained/dirty use your black ones. cast them next to any cover the pond has and let them sink. If you want to add something new, maybe get a top water bait like a Pop-R, crankbaits/jigs/c-rigs/drop shotting are all good techniques, but you don't need to bother with those right now, you should worry about pond fishing 101 first. If you can't get bit on that stuff, that pond stinks, find new water. Seriously, throwing a sporting goods store worth of tackle in the water won't make fish appear.

[Octopusfingers]

I've caught a couple there, on the dinger and the lizard (both bluish blackish color), and I bought some smaller dingers to try and see if they'll hit a smaller bait. The pond is quite small and I think fairly shallow. In the areas where I've caught bass, there's a mat of weeds about 15 feet wide, there's fish in it, but its easier to get bites out past it. I was just wondering if maybe different baits/techniques might work better.

[Marty]

Agree, you might want to add a topwater to your arsenal, but what you have will catch fish. I'd definitely work the edges of that weed mat with the soft plastics and if the mat has holes in it, for sure you should run the plastics over the mat and drop them into every hole that you can.

[Simp]

Well I have ton a ton of Pond fishing and I've enjoyed it as much if not more then from a boat. IMHO some things to avoid are firstly throwing a crankbait, because of the depth changes from deep to shallow causes it to be less effective for one. An example would be throwing a crank that is made to run 10FT deep. Well you cast it out and it takes 5yds to get to is proper depth. Then 5 yds later the pond gets shallow and suddenly your using a crankbait that is digging into the bottom. Many times this is great but you dont want a situation where you lure is constantly runing at a depth it wasnt made for. The lure may break, get snaged, and plain just not catch fish as well as intended. So if you want to use one stick to a squarebill that is designed to run shallow but be prepared to loose some.

The second thing to avoid is light line. Not all but most ponds where I'm from has a fair amount of grass in the summer. When you get a bass hooked up and he gets in the grass suddenly that bass adds about 2-5pds to itself. So imagine trying to land a 8pnder with 8lb line. I'd recommended you by a spool of braid and try it out. The line many seem expensive for how much you get but braid lasts for a very long time. You also will be able to avoid breaking off lures that often. Just simply pull the rod straight back at you when your hung rather then making a motion like you do when u hook a fish. Braid is often to strong you would break your rod first. So simply pull it straight back at you and if need be put you thumb on the spool when you pull so the drag doesnt engage. Most times that stick or grass will either break or be pulled in.

[Jake P]

If there are fish in there the dinger would get em no problem. like previously mentioned, your tackle is great for the pond. If you're fishing shallow you don't need a drop shot or c rig. if I'm throwing in shallow water I'm throwing Senko style bait like your dingers, spinnerbaits, worms. Get you some flukes and throw them weightless. That's a killer in shallow water.

[Octopusfingers]

Thank you so much for all the help. Funny story, today I fished the normal pond, but the power worm wasn't catching anything, so I figured, what the hell, and Carolina rigged a 4" dinger. Caught four bass, two of which were pretty decent (also set a personal best for smallest bass I've ever caught). Probably just a coincidence, and it was the bait not the rig that caused em to bite, but it definitely made me like the Carolina.

[detroit1]

3 of everything.

[buzzfrog]

throw a frog on top of the weedline, or a popper, get up early and topwater, my fav kinda fishing

[mrmacwvu1]

new name old poster

if you are pond fishing and not throwing an original floating rapala you are depriving yourself

[BassAssassin85]

try a topwater over the weeds like said above. smaller water i would probably go with a smaller spook especially if its more of a clear water situation. also if you can get a buzz bait with a clacker blade when you throw it over the weeds adds more sound for the fish to locate witch will never hurt either. all your plastics are good baits to throw and good colors as well. a good rule of thumb witch you may already know the darker the water go with a darker color, cleaner water go with a realistic color or a brighter color. also try a small jig with a small trailer on the tougher days when fish are more finicky. this is basically what i have picked up over the last couple years, and i would agree with the above no cranks would be pretty difficult if your snagged way out to get your bait back but if you do get a shallow crank i would go with a baby one minus or something of that nature. hope this helps

[Octopusfingers]

I picked up several cheap spinnerbaits yesterday- white (I think 1/4 and 3/8 oz.) white chart (1/4) and chart (1/4). I also forgot to mention I have a topwater spro-style frog, and a 1/2 (I think) oz. Chart buzzbait. I'll probably try the frog out pretty soon, but I might just stick with the carolina rig I have on for a while (laziness, and it catches fish, so why switch).

Also I have my pflueger president (forgot which size) spooled with 20lb powerpro (overkill for a spinning reel?). Any good <80$ spinning rod suggestions?

[buzzfrog]

If the president is a spinning reel, you are already in goods hands, if it the casting president just get the spinning version both good reels

[Edgy]

new name old poster

if you are pond fishing and not throwing an original floating rapala you are depriving yourself

Yea that is what i started out with. Cant even remember the number of fish i caught on that lure. Still use it from time to time. Also try to stay away from crankbaits for a while. If your lake you are fishing is like the numerous amount of ponds i fish in..the weeds are too thick and you end up hooking a bass and losing it in the weeds or just caught 5lbs of weeds yourself. I stick to wacky rigged senkos, or dingers in your case, i use waveworm tiki stiks, the occasional top water. If i am at a semi weed free pond i throw a rattle trap, or idiot's bait, you just cast it and reel it in. Try putting a bullet weight maybe 1/4 oz on a powerworm to help punch through weeds etc.

[Octopusfingers]

I have a tiny torpedo, would you still recommend the rapala? I do get a couple oppurtunities to fish lakes (from shore) each year, so a couple crank suggestions would be marvelous. Any opinions on my space monkey idea?

[auburn5]

Try out some shallow diving bandit crankbaits they work great in small ponds.

[Vinny Chase]

Along with the great advice already given, try fishing jigs. They are very hard to mess up, most consistant way to catch fish, and there is a jig type for any fishing situation.

I would start out with a black/blue and watermelon color NorthStar Custom Baits premier jig in a few different sizes

[JigMe]

Trustfully, Jig (northstar) and senko is all you need. Get some swim Jigs, football Jigs, and finesse Jigs. Then buy some Trailers, and you are set. I have tons of other lure in my Plano box, and most productivity lures are Jig and Senko. Keep it simple.

[Octopusfingers]

Today I ordered two KVD 1.5 cranks, sexy shad and one other color, along with another crank and a terminator jig in black and blue. Was this a good buy?

[Gardnaaa]

Im somewhat new to bass fishing also, but i tend to stick to soft baits. i use the zoom baby brush hogs, and my favorite is the lake fork ring fry. i rig them weedless on a j style hook. buy the ring frys!

[BannedForSpamming-974325]

Hey Octopus check out bustembaits. Just google the name and you will find us. We make a wide variety of baits and would be more than glad to help you out. If you mention you seen us on Bass Resouce we will throw some extra baits in. This goes for anyone on this forum.

Thanks guys,

CJ from Bustem Baits

[BannedForSpamming-974325]

You need to buy some senkos i live off of them for small ponds. wacky never fails!!!!

We make some Senkos if you are referring to me. The is one of our best selling products on our site. If you click on the Work on the home page you will see our senkos.

[Octopusfingers]

So i went fishing today. I caught one maybe 3/4 pounder on a wacky rigged dinger, but no other luck. So I have a question. What's the best Carolina rig retrieve in shallow fairly clear water? I also picked up some owner shaky head jigs, gonna try those out this weekend, any tips, tricks?

[mrmacwvu1]

I have a tiny torpedo, would you still recommend the rapala? I do get a couple oppurtunities to fish lakes (from shore) each year, so a couple crank suggestions would be marvelous. Any opinions on my space monkey idea?

absolutly the rapala can be fished in many different applications. It can be twitched on top, used like a jerkbait, or use it on a steady retrieve. Silver and Black seem to work the best for me.