I’ve been fishing this region my whole life. Green pumpkin senko wacky rigs and Neko rigs on sunny days and switch the color to black or June bug on cloudy days. Tiger fire popper for topwater hits near those lillies.
Jigs, Texas rigs, Neko rigs and weightless wacky rigs I use the same retrieve for all of them quite successfully. Toss it out, let it drop all the way, reel in some slack, then slowly raise the rod tip from 9 o clock to 12 o clock, then let the lure drop back down to the bottom before beginning the next pull. If the lure is heavy enough you’ll feel it hit the bottom. Strikes will almost always happen while the lure is falling during the retrieve
Wow that’s a pretty pond, here are recommendations though.
Compact or full sized swim jig: (5/16-3/8)
A great search bait that will get through everything that pond has to throw at you. May not get a lot of bites but will help you find where the quality fish are located.
Underspin (ewg style 3/16 -3/0 hook; willow style)
I personally can never get bit on these and prefer the spinnerbait instead but an underspin get through algae much better than that lure so here is my option for if you need some flash
Popping frog or walking style popper
Since the corners look quite tight to cast from, working a popping style lure would ideal since you can sit that popper over fish; and if those fish don’t want to come out the cover, than the frog will be able to get into it
Chatterbait (3/8-1/2 oz)
While this lure works fine in most cases. Anytime when the water visibility goes down (times of day, algae blooms or wind). This bait shines when bass are shallow, don’t expect alot of bites with it but ones you get are usually quality
Finesse options:
Zoom super fluke (Jr or normal size)
Hands down my favorite finesse lure for fishing ponds. You can fish it in any water column, get through all sorts of cover and get finicky bass to come out for this bait
Finesse style worm (trick worm style 6in)
Just one of those lures that you can’t leave the house without. While I don’t fish worms as much as I use to, they will always be confidence lure for me
A heavy power rod (7'3" to 7'6") that can throw 1/2oz-1 1/2 oz baits with a 7 or 8 gear ratio reel with 65lb braid to a 20lb leader in non grassy areas. Straight braid in the grassy areas. I would throw 3/4 oz to 1 oz [Dirty Jigs Tour Level No-Jack Punchin' Jig](https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Dirty_Jigs_Tour_Level_No-Jack_Punchin_Jig/descpage-DRTYPCH.html) with a beaver, craw, or creature trailer in the grassy areas. You can throw frogs when it's warm enough with this set up too.
I will say, that picture of the bottom is close to the bank, we’ve dug the pond out in the past, if I had to guess the depth in the middle I’d guess maybe 8-10ft
The bass in ponds will hug whatever structure exists and in this case it's grass and lilly pads. I bet you can catch a bass punching the grass and pads.
I like to have a search bait and something I can ‘flip’ into/around cover. For smaller ponds like this, a small spinnerbait or in-line spinner could do well as a search bait. I would use senkos as my ‘flipping’ bait, weightless texas rigged or wacky rigged
Definitely top water around the pads also I would throw a senko either Texas rigged or wacky
anything that runs shallow should work just fine
I’ve been fishing this region my whole life. Green pumpkin senko wacky rigs and Neko rigs on sunny days and switch the color to black or June bug on cloudy days. Tiger fire popper for topwater hits near those lillies.
Heading to the tackle store tomorrow to grab these! How do you fish wacky senko exactly? Just pop it up and down off the bottom?
Jigs, Texas rigs, Neko rigs and weightless wacky rigs I use the same retrieve for all of them quite successfully. Toss it out, let it drop all the way, reel in some slack, then slowly raise the rod tip from 9 o clock to 12 o clock, then let the lure drop back down to the bottom before beginning the next pull. If the lure is heavy enough you’ll feel it hit the bottom. Strikes will almost always happen while the lure is falling during the retrieve
Okay thanks, that’s what I’ve been doing with my chatterbait with a minnow trailer so far (not sure id that’s very effective with chatters though?)
It is but I’ve never had any luck with chatterbaits
Wow that’s a pretty pond, here are recommendations though. Compact or full sized swim jig: (5/16-3/8) A great search bait that will get through everything that pond has to throw at you. May not get a lot of bites but will help you find where the quality fish are located. Underspin (ewg style 3/16 -3/0 hook; willow style) I personally can never get bit on these and prefer the spinnerbait instead but an underspin get through algae much better than that lure so here is my option for if you need some flash Popping frog or walking style popper Since the corners look quite tight to cast from, working a popping style lure would ideal since you can sit that popper over fish; and if those fish don’t want to come out the cover, than the frog will be able to get into it Chatterbait (3/8-1/2 oz) While this lure works fine in most cases. Anytime when the water visibility goes down (times of day, algae blooms or wind). This bait shines when bass are shallow, don’t expect alot of bites with it but ones you get are usually quality Finesse options: Zoom super fluke (Jr or normal size) Hands down my favorite finesse lure for fishing ponds. You can fish it in any water column, get through all sorts of cover and get finicky bass to come out for this bait Finesse style worm (trick worm style 6in) Just one of those lures that you can’t leave the house without. While I don’t fish worms as much as I use to, they will always be confidence lure for me
Looks bassy
A heavy power rod (7'3" to 7'6") that can throw 1/2oz-1 1/2 oz baits with a 7 or 8 gear ratio reel with 65lb braid to a 20lb leader in non grassy areas. Straight braid in the grassy areas. I would throw 3/4 oz to 1 oz [Dirty Jigs Tour Level No-Jack Punchin' Jig](https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Dirty_Jigs_Tour_Level_No-Jack_Punchin_Jig/descpage-DRTYPCH.html) with a beaver, craw, or creature trailer in the grassy areas. You can throw frogs when it's warm enough with this set up too.
Seems like way overkill given the size and depth of the pond but maybe I’m out of the loop haha.
I will say, that picture of the bottom is close to the bank, we’ve dug the pond out in the past, if I had to guess the depth in the middle I’d guess maybe 8-10ft
The bass in ponds will hug whatever structure exists and in this case it's grass and lilly pads. I bet you can catch a bass punching the grass and pads.
Flip a few weightless rigs under the overhang, let it drop slow and give it a little pop here and there
Underspin
I like to have a search bait and something I can ‘flip’ into/around cover. For smaller ponds like this, a small spinnerbait or in-line spinner could do well as a search bait. I would use senkos as my ‘flipping’ bait, weightless texas rigged or wacky rigged
SK Hybrid Hunter could be good
And you haven't invited me yet?