I am having some trouble catching fish in the ponds local to my house. I went to my parents house and fished in my cousins pond and had very good success. The ponds here I believe are just heavily pressured, but are the only choices I have without my boat within 30-45 min. I have had some success with some shad raps right during the fall/winter transition, and I caught a 3 pder last July on a wacky rigged senko. But the bites are very sporadic. Really the only cover the pond has is around the banks , there is about 2ft of grass cover coming off the banks and a few bushes overhanging the edges. My confidence bait has recently became a finesse wrom on a spot remover jig head.

At first I thought I was doing something wrong with my presentation, but after fishing back at my cousins pond and having such a good week catching fish I think that its the pressure that the local ponds are under. My question is, what advice do you all have that I may use to coerce these fish into biting. There are some decent fish in this pond ( 6-7pds) and I get really frustrated at them getting skunked time after time. If you can name it I have probably thrown it, some stuff has worked, but not often. I would appreciate any advice you all may have. Thanks.

I am having some trouble catching fish in the ponds local to my house. I went to my parents house and fished in my cousins pond and had very good success. The ponds here I believe are just heavily pressured, but are the only choices I have without my boat within 30-45 min. I have had some success with some shad raps right during the fall/winter transition, and I caught a 3 pder last July on a wacky rigged senko. But the bites are very sporadic. Really the only cover the pond has is around the banks , there is about 2ft of grass cover coming off the banks and a few bushes overhanging the edges. My confidence bait has recently became a finesse wrom on a spot remover jig head.

 At first I thought I was doing something wrong with my presentation, but after fishing back at my cousins pond and having such a good week catching fish I think that its the pressure that the local ponds are under. My question is, what advice do you all have that I may use to coerce these fish into biting. There are some decent fish in this pond ( 6-7pds) and I get really frustrated at them getting skunked time after time. If you can name it I have probably thrown it, some stuff has worked, but not often. I would appreciate any advice you all may have. Thanks.

Try to throw baits the fish haven't seen and try to get reaction strikes. my 2cents

I have a pond by my house that sounds pretty much just like this one. I have 1 bait, yes only 1 bait that I can catch fish and ALWAYS catch BIG fish!!!!

Try a renagade worm, a purple/black 4" curl-tail worm. rig it Texas style with NO weight.

Let it free fall and when you move it bounce it either VERY QUICKLY or VERY SLOWLY. Don't just reel it in you must work it.

Remember bass are naturally lazy, so you must leave the bait in the strike zone as long as possible. If you know the area holds fish don't just cast once cast numerous amounts of time.

I hope this helps you out alot!!!

Good Luck!!!

Go out in the early AM before sunrise and throw a topwater like a buzzbait, Pop-R, Spook, frog or a rat.

Go out in the late PM at or after sunset and throw a topwater like a buzzbait, Pop-R, Spook, frog or a rat.

Tried a pink or white trick worm?  They are fun to fish and you can see the bass inhale them.  Use a weedless hook.

Then keep throwing those Senkos but scale down to the four (4) inch size and fish it wacky and the finesse worms with a light bullet weight.

Ever heard of "dead sticking"? This is a technique where you throw out the plastic and just let it sit for one or two minutes before you move it.  Give this a try, too.

For the larger bass, try a 10-inch blue neon worm with a 1/4 ounce sinker rigged Texas style using a weedless hook and bounce it in and around the grass.  Larger plastics attract larger bass.

Don't know if you can throw a jig and pig but if so, give that a shot. Same with a tube.

For smaller bass try a Roostertail or a small one or two-inch white grub on a light jig head, like 1/64 ounce. All bass, crappie and bluegills will hit these lures.

A 1/4 ounce chrome with blue back (sunny) or black back (cloudy) Rat-L-Trap may produce strikes if they like moving baits.

If the bass are holding deep go with a split-shot rig with a small, jiggly worm in watermealon or if the water is stained, pumpkinseed. Black flake in either may not be a bad idea.

You may have to scale down your bait size, too, to entice more strikes.

Experimentation is the name of the game and finding the "honey hole" in the pond will also be of importance.  Be sure to fish the deep end, that is where either the dam or drain is located.

You can also throw spinnerbaits and crankbaits.  The Mann's Minus One is a good choice for topwater action.

And if you can, this Christmas season take a few old Christmas trees and sink them in the pond in a spot that only you know.  Then come back in the spring and summer and have some fun.  

This might help:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1158577137

8-)

Have you tried night fishing?

Perhaps if the ponds are heavily pressured you are throwing the same/similar baits as everyone else.  

You could do some recon and see what others are throwing and then use what they aren't.