Hey guys, I know at least a few of you out there fish ponds or very small lakes. Im very curious to see what your top baits and techniques are. Make a list of your 3 best baits and techniques that catch you fish on small lakes.

rapala DT-- slow steady retrieve

trick stick-- slow, twitching along the bottom

ripper worm-- crawled along bottom

where i live and fish

Zara Spook - walking the dog but i call mines running with the dog since they like it fast

Spro Bronze Eye Frogs - slow and steady wins the race

Ragetail Anaconda 10' - along the bottom

10 inch Gambler ribbontail worm junebug T-rigged with little to no weight and deadsticked with 11/0 owner

Gambler Canetoad in Firetoad or Green pumpkin swirl 5/0 Monster hook by gamakatsu

Zoom Trickworm junebug w/ 1/16 oz weight and 3/0 straight shank deadsticked

The obvious choice is senkos or whatever brand you use

next would be spinnerbaits and buzzbaits 1/8 and 1/4 oz.

rapala dt series 4 and 6

small jigs 1/4 oz

zara spook puppys

heddon torpedo

oops, thats more than 3 but these are great for samll ponds especially if you are walking the bank

Obviously, small ponds have different depths and other characteristics. My ponds are shallow and weedy and the vast majority of my fish come on topwaters. Other than that, in no particular order, are shallow cranks, Chatterbait-style lures and soft plastics.

Senko: Wacky rigged or texas rigged, reel in slow then pause and allow for sink, that always gets them

Shallow Crank: I use Lucky crafts,rapalas, bandit. but most decent brands of shallow cranks would work. Fished with a medium speed constant retrieve.

Spro Frog: Fished slow with a occasional pops.

this year the best for me has been a lake fork live magic shad, 4", i cast it to any kind of cover i can see or just run it along the shoreline. i use it on a weighted wide gap hook, and run it steady, pretty fast, just under the surface.

i do well with jigs too, pitch to cover or work slowly in the deepest water you can find.

t-rigged worms are the next best thing.  i work them the same as i do the jigs.

Senko- Texas rigged

Culprit worm- Texas rigged with screw-in bullet weight

Manns Baby 1-minus

Booyah pond magic spinner bait -- work it so the blade pops out of the water andlet it sink a few seconds.

Stanly ribbit frog -- just like you would any other frog

super flukes -- jerk it stop it, bring it up to the top let it sink 5 -6 ft.

Ok I'm gonna have to break the rules and go with 4 lures

Zoom ring tail -- use a light weight

I have a pond across the street from me that I've fished the last 21 yrs. Its very shallow(about 15 ft)and a lot of weeds, pads, and fallen trees. What I have had success the most with jigs, zoom 5' fat albert with 1/8 ounce jig head, rapala floating minnows, spinnerbaits, and of course a 7" texas rigged worm.

I haven't fished ponds in a few years but my top producers had to be a Zoom Super Fluke w/ a 5/0 hook and a 3/8 oz double willowleaf spinnerbait.  If those did not produce I would throw a small texas rigged 4" worm w/ a 1/8 oz sinker (probably would do good with a shakey head in the same situations now)

I did pretty well with solid body frogs on my ponds this year. I second the Stanley Ribbit. Probably for the same reason, buzzbaits worked great for me too. In fact, by the end of the season (I'm in MN) I was throwing buzzbaits all the time. My new favorite bait is now the Vision Lures Honeybuzz. It's Awesome. And then, like most everyone else, an unweighted Senko or Reaction Innovations Dominator Worm. But, I did try out that *** shop, you see on here a lot, and I'm glad I did. I was pleasantly surprised and will definitely stick with them for a while. Their stick worm is excellent.

senko and many other plastics, bomber long a, and a boo yah or terminator spinnerbait

99% of my bass fishing is done from banks in small local ponds. I have alot more productive baits then just 3, so asking me to name 3, is very difficult, although I'll give it a shot.

1. Jigs (only if theres some sort of cover) (Preferably booyah baby boo 5/16oz, or 5/16 oz eakins jig.

2. Frogs (preferably Original Scumfrog or Bobbys Perfect Frog. And for softplastic frogs; Stanley ribbits)

3. Spinnerbaits (preferably Terminator 1/4 oz or Booyah 1/4 oz)

1. stickbait is a staple, probably the easiest bait to use to catch pond bass. I have come to prefer wacky rigging with a 1/0 Owner wacky hook.

2. hollow frogs in the summer on my weedy ponds. Sometimes I'll for a walk with one rod, one frog, and a pair of pliers. Its a great way to spend a couple hours.

3. Terminator 3/8 double willow leaf spinnerbait. Great around the weeds or really anywhere.

In the early spring I like jerkbaits and inline spinners around the emergent weeds, water temps from the high 30's into the low 50's. Early spring jerkbait fishing is a great way to catch tons of fish.

1. Zoom SuperFluke

2. Shallow crankbaits

3. Deep crankbaits

Of course this all depends on many factors including weather and the makeup of the pond.

My 2 perssonal best bass have come from ponds.  A 9lb 13oz and a 7lb 8oz.

1. Jackall Yammy 500 or Flick Shake rigged wacky +, water clarity determines.

2. Megabass Pop-X, OSP Blitz Max or OSP HPF Crank, water clarity or structure depending.

3. OSP Zero 1 jig w/trailer or Yamamoto 6" Grub, structure depending.

Apologies for the multiple suggestions.  There are quite a few small ponds in my area, each with quite different conditions

1. Zoom Fluke-Watermelon

2. 1/4 oz KVD Swimming Jig-Bluegill-with Zoomwatermelon swimming chuck

3. 5in Watermelon senko

The Fluke is the gold standard in ponds. Thats often all you need. The Swimming Jig is new to me but it can replace a spinnerbait and crankbait and doesnt get hung up hardly ever. The Senko is the best bait for slowing down. Fish are rarely on the bottom in ponds so a slow sink is critical. Also its more weedless than a weighted bait. These 3 will catch fish anywhere.

This should help:

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

8-)

1. senko (you pick color)

2.7" power worm junebug

3. zara puppy shad color

Rapala super shad in shad or baby bass slow steady retrive

Trick worms alabama craw texas rigged wieghtless Slow retrive with small twitches or rips to make it look like a small snake

Tubes awasome bait at night Or evening They just crush it ;) Work like a jig with Some big twitches and then walk it across the bottem Make sure you shove the jig head in the body it works best that way 1/8 to 1/4 oz jig head