Big Fish in Small Ponds

There is nothing quite like the experience of fishing from a small farm pond.  Some of my fondest memories from my childhood were following my father and brothers and occasionally my cousins to the pond to fish for bass, bluegill, catfish or whatever else was biting including a few snapping turtles. My late father?s largest bass of more than ten pounds was harvested from a small farm pond. And this can be said for many of the larger bass and other fish caught in the Southeastern United States.  In this post, at the request of my nephew Sonny Farley, an avid pond fisherman, I would like to take a look at fishing for big fish in small ponds.       

 Pan fish such as bream, bluegill and sunfish thrive in small ponds. There is nothing better to keep kids out of trouble than to give them a rod and reel, some hooks and bobbers and a can of worms and send them to the pond fishing. There is not a better way to introduce kids to our sport. If they are the hyper type and watching a bobber is too boring, the bitsy pond minnow by strike king is a great lure for pan fish.  These small crankbaits catch fish when nothing else will.

 Catfish can be caught using night crawlers on the bottom, but chicken liver or cut bait and other things that stink seem to be the favorite food of the whisker fish. They can be caught on artificial baits, but there beady little eyes tell us that they hunt by smell more than sight.        

 And for the bass many of the common bass fishing techniques will work when pond fishing, but presentations may need to vary according to the temperature of the water and the season.  For the most part, the same techniques will work all year, however top water presentations are best suited for water temperatures above sixty-five degrees, but now with summer quickly approaching, the bass have already moved to the shallows and completed the spawn in much of North America. The unusually warm winter and spring has left anglers working a few weeks ahead of normal and selecting fast moving lures such as spinnerbaits (Bionic) and soft plastic worms and lizards.

From the end of May and on through June crawfish (Storm, Rebel) and minnow imitation lures  will do very well. For the morning, evening and overcast days buzz baits, (Bionic) frogs (Rebel) and other top water lures will prevail.      

  The rapidly approaching heat of summer will mean early pond stratification and an abundance of growth in aquatic vegetation. The bass will be seeking shaded areas and shallow cover. Largemouth bass become extremely aggressive in the warmer temperatures making the top water bite even more fun. Weedless frogs are among the best summer baits for fishing in the vegetation. Insect baits such as a grasshopper or a cicada do very well.  The summer heat often has the same effect on anglers as it does on the bass; they just want to stay in the shade and rest. This makes night fishing a productive option for summer pond fishing.      


  Largemouth bass can be one of the easiest pond fish to catch and this makes it too easy to overharvest bass in small ponds. An angler can actually catch enough bass in a one acre pond in a single afternoon of fishing to harm the balance of the small echo system.  Proper pond management and good fishing ethics is needed to keep a pond productive and healthy.  Be sure to talk to the landowner for permission if fishing on someone else?s property. Ask before keeping any fish you catch, and offer part of your catch to the landowner as a thank you. If you own a pond, your local wild life management agency can offer advice for stocking and managing small ponds to larger private lakes. 

  Happy Fishing!  



For information in building your own pond refer to this blog:

http://www.worldfishingnetwork.com/users/SkipperMark/blog/Building-Your-Own-Fishing-Pond-236985.aspx