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POND FISHING FOR BASS
By Ron Wilson
August 29, 2005.... If you are looking to
do some productive fishing. You
know, catching fish instead of just fishing, then the early fall months on
a pond can produce some fantastic fishing.
You can go pay big bucks to fish on one of
those private lakes that charge for fishing access, or you can go to
somebody’s farm or ranch pond, of course you always need permission to be
there. Pond fishing is usually local and so much the better with the high
price of gas these days. It is a low cost way of fishing. You may or may
not need a boat. The best part is there rarely is heavy fishing pressure
on a private pond.
Pond fishing for bass, crappie and bluegill
can be very rewarding during the fall months, while everyone else is busy
rocking and rolling you can enjoy the piece and quiet and catch fish!
Farm ponds are relatively small and you can
usually fish them in an hour or so and completely fish a larger one in a
days time and know almost every nook and cranny of the area and where all
the big ones should be hiding. Ponds are usually shallow but some are up
to 25 feet deep or more.
Most ponds are weedy, warm bodies of water.
Most of the ponds are stocked with the Florida strain largemouth bass or a
mixed strain of Northern and Florida largemouth. Most of our lakes are so
cross bred that one can’t be sure if the fish they caught is a purebred or
not.
 These
bass average around 2 pounds and grow as large 15 pounds or more. If the
ponds have crappie and bluegill in them for the bigger black bass to feed
on who knows how big the lunkers could be that might be living there.
The bass and other species of fish feed on
smaller type minnows, perch, crappy, pollywogs, frogs, toads, snails,
grasshoppers, dragon flies, lizards, snakes, smaller bass, small birds,
and other small living creatures. If it gets in the water and a bass is
hungry it could end up being food. That’s why they make buzz baits, it’s a
duckling imitation, another big bass favorite snack!
When fishing release the larger fish. They
are the spawner's that have the good genes to carry on the larger and
healthier strain of fish.
If the water is fairly open you can use an
assortment of top water woodchoppers, poppers, buzz baits, frogs, etc.
Crankbaits like rattle traps or even swimming worms, flukes or grubs, work
for the more active fish. For the inactive, fish the bottom with worms,
lizards and other plastic baits. You can tie the lures on direct, Texas
rig or Carolina rig the baits. Carolina rigging is one of the best because
the weight settles in the weeds and the lure flutters above the weeds.
If the water is weedy, you probably will
have to fish weed less top water and mid range baits. However a heavy hook
like a 5 or 6 O with a senko style bait will work real well. It gives you
a slow fall and will reach the bottom in 15 feet of water in a matter of
seconds.
Color is essential in a lake, fishing ponds
are no different. The fish like certain colors at certain times and the
angler who feeds the fish the color bait they want is the one who catches
the most fish!
Farm pond fish can stand the warmer water
but bass anywhere can adapt. I have seen bass pros in New Orleans
catch black bass out of 100 degree water. I try to look for shaded areas,
like under and beside weeds and tules, underwater breaks, anything that
the bass can hide near for an ambush point. Even though the water may be
warm, there is shade around the plant life and the fish can be in the very
shallow water and receive coolness and oxygen from them.
Sometimes the fish are suspended over the
deeper weed beds. You just have to work around a pond to figure out a fish
catching pattern. Once you find the fish, they will be there on other
visits to the pond.
After you have fished a pond, especially in
a boat with good electronics you should know where most of the fish are
holding. You best use some heavy line, nothing smaller than 15# and at
times I wish I had used at least 20 when I have had some of those 10
pounders chew up the 15# test lines when the fish used the weeds as
leverage to bust it! There have been countless times when I have reeled in
a two or three pound fish and ten pounds or more of weeds.
The best part of pond fishing for me other
than catching fish and the rocking and rolling and lack of fishermen is
watching wildlife. I've seen coyotes, deer, ducks, geese, turkeys, hawks,
bald eagles, osprey take fish on the water and countless other species of
birds and mammals going about there everyday life in the wild! |
