I hit the local municipal park pond this morning.  Conditions weren't exactly conducive to serious action: We had a cold front push through in the wee hours of the morning that dumped 2" of rain on us.  It was overcast when I got there, but skies were totally clear within an hour.  Nevertheless, I still managed to catch one little guy (roughly a 12" fish, I think).  I was using a Carolina rigged Zoom U-Tale, which is quickly becoming my go-to bait.

 

 

Hey, your doin better than me.. Iv never had luck with a c-rig.

Hey, your doin better than me.. Iv never had luck with a c-rig.

Don't give up. It took me a while to seal the deal. The things I've learned so far: an erratic retrieve works pretty well - throwing a few pauses in will give finicky fish time to make up their minds. a little weight goes a long way - go a little on the light side and you can fish it slower. If you put on a lot of weight, you're gonna be pegged to the bottom unless you retrieve it pretty fast. And lastly, the leader doesn't have to be super long. In fact, leader length is something you can play with to change the presentation of our bait a little bit.

Keep at it and you'll get there before you know it!