gbull87

So there is a small pond (maybe a couple of acres) in my neighborhood. I have been fishing there for over a decade and have probably spent hundreds of hours fishing it. The bass are very overpopulated and skinny and seem to cap out at around 12 inches. There are also healthy bluegill and crappie populations, but no small baitfish really at all. The biggest bass I have caught in there was probably about a pound. However, just today I had a moderately sized bluegill hooked (maybe 5-6 in) and as I was bringing it in a huge bass grabbed it (my best guess is 5-6 lbs), lost it, and went for it again unsuccessfully. Of course, now I have to catch this bass, but I am not sure how: it seems like if I were going to catch it I would have done so by now. I have used pretty much every bass pattern there is out there in this pond, but crayfish patterns, topwater (especially frogs, but poppers too), and medium soft plastics (worms, super flukes are the best) tend to work best in there. There is essentially no structure in the pond, except for a dam and a feeder creek. It is shallow: maybe 4-5 ft in the middle. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to catch this guy. I haven't really tried live bait before, so maybe that would work? Idk. Thanks!