Hey guys, new to the forum here. I grew up saltwater fishing and fishing for catfish, so bass fishing is kinda new to me. I've done decent so far this year fishing in Kurth Lake and Sam Rayburn, catching bass on 5" senkos and a white H&H, but now I have a new situation that I'm not sure how to approach. I am visiting my parents and while home I recieved permission to fish a private 6 acre lake down the road from my house that I normally duck hunt. It doesn't get fished too much and has been stocked several years ago with many bass, several of which have been over 8 lbs and one i know of that is in the double digits. There are also catfish, bluegills and sunfish here, including these minnows that I'm not able to identify. I fished there two days ago and yesterday and caught a total of around 20 bass, but none of them exceeding 1.5 lbs. The place has stumps hidden in the middle and a deep end on one side that drops off quick from a shallow bank and a shallow end on the other side with hanging trees right over the water and trees that are actually in the water. The sides of this oval-ish pond are grassy and shallow, falling into deeper water, althought I am not sure exaclty how deep. There are also 3 or 4 pockets cut into one of the sides that are relatively small and shallow with some grass in them. I was told that there is an old creek channel running in the middle of the pond parrelling the elongated banks. I think some of the stumps might be either mixed in with the channel or are right on the edges of it. The dam side also has one culvert in the middle, altough I'm not sure if it's flowing or not. The soil is silty and vegetaded in most of the pond. I am plenty happy to be catching bass, but as any angler who grew up coastal fishing, I definitely want to up my game and try to snag some bigger fish in the 5+ lb range while I have the opportunity at such an awesome place. The fish I caught primarily came off of 5" senkos, either watermelon red flaked or watermelon purple flaked. They don't seem to want 6" ones and never hit Texas rigged worms, only weightless. I also caught a couple off of a Hula Popper, although I'm not 100% sure I'm using that lure completely correctly. So here's my delimma. That last two days that I got to fish here, I was limited to fishing from the bank without a boat and due to thick woods and brush on many sides of the banks, I have not been able to access most of the pond, so I've been very limited on where I could go, so I was stuck fishing the shallow end and parts of the dam side. I also have fished most of the pockets already. Tomorrow is the last day I am here before I go home and I just happened to get access to a small boat with a trolling motor, perfect for this small lake. I am able to fish tomorrow from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. The weather here is supposed to be sunny with a few afternoon clouds and a high of 79 with 5-10 mph winds. The water is typically clear. I'll be the only one there. That's my window of opportunity. Where should I focus my 5 hours tomorrow on this private lake considering those times, conditions and description to help me have the best chance possible at catching bigger bass? And since I'm new to bass fishing, what lures should I throw considering these conditions and time of year that will best enhance my odds? I have a bunch of lures, so I may have what you suggest. Any other advice on how to fish this place? I know the big fish are here, I just need to get on them. This is my last time here for a good while, so I really want to make it count. I'm sorry for the long write-up. I just assumed a good description would better help you help me. Thanks in advace guys. I really appreciate any help I can get.

Also, I hooked several bass on 5" senkos with 4/0 (maybe 3/0, but I think it was 4/0) offset hooks, but as I was reeling them in, they'd come right off. This happened several times. Was I not setting the hook hard enough? Maybe setting it too soon or too late? Were the fish just too small? Basically, how do I go about preventing that better?

Throw a jig with the biggest trailer you have ( trailer can be a beaver style bait to a craw bait honestly anything that displaces a lot of water and moves) try and hit the stumps and wait for a bite and slam the hook home. Honestly the reason why you miss the fish on the senkos is either a slack line or a hookset with too much slack. Reel down the slack and slam the hook home and keep the tension on the fish. Turn your rod sideways and keep it low.  If all else fails throw a crankbait and see what color catches fish. Once you get the numbers pick up a bigger crankbait and go for size. Chances are that your bigger fish are only interested in a big easy meal.  Also if noone manages the pond there could be a high population of small bass , no medium sized bass and a good number of large bass. 

Depending on where that pond is and what the water temp is I would consider a Jerk bait this time of year or even a big spinner bait. Usually pond bass will hit almost anything if there is no fishing pressure there as you mentioned. I would probably stick with a spinner bait though, you can cover a lot of water and around here anyway they produce pretty big fish.

 

Jay-

I used a space monkey by rage, rigged weightless texas style and they crushed it!! they were in the pre-spawn, suspended.