Hey so I’m fishing a pond near a college campus. The air temps have been hovering around 45° for about a week now and when it’s not too windy I’m able to get out for an hour or two. Unfortunately this pond is fished by any and all anglers on campus because it is the only pond nearby. That means the fish have probably seen anything and everything imaginable. I’ve been to it 3 times and got skunked each time. Do you guys have any tactics that you use for VERY heavily fished ponds? 

 

PS. The pond is basically a big shallow  circle with its deepest point in the center. It’s small too. Small enough to walk around the pond in under 10 minutes. 

 

 

When I face ponds like that, mine are often subdivision retention ponds, my go-to bait is a Ned Rig. 

 

Downsize your line if you're able to - go to a light line and use a Ned Rig with the best color for your water clarity. 

 

Then look for literally anything that might make the shoreline, underwater terrain (structure), or submerged debris (cover) different than anywhere else in the pond, then focus on that. 

 

I'll admit, unless you get some nice, calm, sunny days - 45F is definitely going to make things harder since the fishing will require a slow presentation....very slow. But the Ned Rig is easy enough to fish painfully slow. 

I think many of us have experienced this.

For me, I go to extremes.

Ned and whopper plopped gets the call, but since it is still cold, Hair jigs and under spins.

good luck

Fish early and late on Wednesdays, and maybe put a fake 1/2 off at the weed dispensary Facebook post.

 

Since posting this -  MI C & R for bass has been opened up to all season.

As soon as the ice is out here - I'll be doing this again.

A-Jay

 

What types of techniques have you tried?

My go to for high pressured ponds is a shaky head. It's small, natural, and can be used in all structure and cover.

 

Since the water is still cold, I would attempt to locate structure in the middle of the pond and work the heck out of it. When the water warms up the fish will probably move to the edges of the bank because it will provide them with adequate structure. 

 

Those fish have probably seen a zillion senkos and pretty much any other traditional bait so try varying it up. 

 

Also fish right at the crack of dawn and right before dusk, the fish tend to be more aggressive at those times 

I know this scenario very well.  Next time you're on this pond look to see what the other anglers are using.  Then use something different. 

 

 

This time of year, it's been a timing thing for me. I've been catching fish during the highest temperature of the day. Anywhere from 53degrees down to 35 degrees. It's always the highest temperature of the day. Like others have stated, I too am using a ned rig, dragging it on the bottom really really slow!! Hope this helps. 

There's a very similar situation near me. The pond is right near the nearby campus and practically smack dab in the middle of the downtown area. There are signs pointing to it saying to come fish it, it's catch and release only, and they do free fishing days at this pond. But, it's also the pond that holds the record for my personal best bass. The thing that keeps me from getting skunked at that pond practically every time is a chatterbait. Maybe in my area nobody throws chatterbaits, or maybe it's just so different that it makes bass strike, but I can always count on it to get me out of a skunk. Give it a shot! 3/8 ounce green pumpkin with a matching paddletail swimbait is my go-to

10 hours ago, BigMinnow said:

The pond is basically a big shallow  circle

 

Quote

It's small too.

Haha I feel like you contradicted yourself here. 

 

Since the pond is pressured, I would think to try any type of finesse presentation and fish it really slow. Also you can try using blade baits or spoons, because I doubt many other anglers there would be using such lures. I've personally never used them, but they can come in handy in pressured situations. 

 

I humbly submit...the 4" worm:

 

 

 

Cast and crawl....cast and crawl...

Do you see any surface activity or bluegill warming in the shallows ? If not, I would definitely comb over the deepest water with a 3 or 4 inch Suspending JerkBait. If no success , then slowly crawl a 1/4oz Bitsy Bug or Baby Boo jig with a Jr sized claw trailer, until you find bottom irregularities or drop offs. These two lures should clue you in to something. 

I used to fish city park pond where is very pressure and small. I got skunked a lot more than I could count. The rig that worked for me would be drop shot 4" worm. If you don't mind 6" bass, you can down side to powerbait trout worm on live worm hook with split shot about 6 - 12", drag it very slow with light spinning tackle.

5” Senko wacky rigged 

So since it’s so cold still and my ultra light is still in the repair shop, I think I’m going to have to find a different pond to fish. The pond I made this post about is little, but not so little that I can cast to the deepest part from the shore. There’s no signs of life in shallows yet so even if I wanted to chuck my Ned Rig as far as I could  I don’t think I’d get anything. Thanks for the input though, once it warms up and the bluegill start showing up in the shallows I’ll definitley be trying more finesse tactics!

9 hours ago, Shak Muscles said:

Haha I feel like you contradicted yourself here. 

Whoops I didn’t even realize. Haha but fisherman are notorious for having a different definition of the word “big”

18 hours ago, CroakHunter said:

What types of techniques have you tried?

I’ve tried a few,

- t-rigged plastics

- lipless cranks

- spinner baits

- jigs

- dropshot with a 6 inch worm 

 

Not a single bite on any of them, but I usually can’t stay out for more than an hour at a time though. It’s cold and I have classes 

 

1/16 Ned head with a ZMan California Craw or Green Pumpkin Finesse TRD Drag it slow with an occasional jerk. 

Water temperature? (If you don't have a pool thermometer with a string attached please get one)

 

The bass react to water temperatures.

 

If the water temperature is in the 40's, the bass will just hover in place. They will not move unless they are extremely hungry or get aggravated at your bait.

 

The bass will be deep and then travel to any warm spots they can find to sit and enjoy the sun during the day.

 

As the guys stated above, fish plastics s-l-o-w. And then s-l-o-w-e-r if possible. It's called "dead sticking."

 

Go with a finesse worm of your choice and color. Use a spinning rig with no more than 8-pound fluorocarbon line. 6-pound line would be even better.

 

Use a 1/8 bullet sinker or a 1/8 jig head and rig the worm Texas style.

 

Bundle up. Put on your headphones and listen to your favorite music. Keep finger on line at all times. Cast and let it sit for about five minutes or until you can't stand it anymore.

 

Move worm very slowly every five minutes or so. Be patient.

 

You will either catch some fish or a cold. Probably a cold. But you just got to keep trying.

 

Let us know if you catch anything.  

 

And remember chicken soup. Great for colds.

Ned rig

Drop shot

Texas rigged trick worm

 

Slow it down. Water is cold, fish won't chase anything down just yet. Slow and methodical. 

Super Dupers, and Panther Martins.  I caught more bass by leaps and bounds in January/February here in Texas in 40-50 degree waters than I have in the Fall or Spring with anything, and on just these 2 lures.  1/8 & 1/4 oz panther martins and 1/6 oz super dupers on an ultra light rod.