I've recently discovered a new pond in my area. It belongs to the city and was once a rock quarry pit. I'd say it's about 1 acre and almost perfectly round. Three quarters of the pond are surrounded by steep rocks. The remaining one quarter of the pond is about 4 feet thick with cat tails around the edge. I fished it for the first time on Monday. I tried everything; plastics, cranks, spinners, jigs you name I chucked it. I didn't catch any bass but got followed and nibbled on by a lot of blue gill. I fished all the rock walls but none of the cat tails because I wasn't able to get there without getting scratched up by blackberry vines. After spending 3 hours at the pond a family showed up out of nowhere and decided that the best place to jump in would be from the top of a tree right damned next to me. At that point I decided to leave. While driving out I stopped and talked to a man working on his truck. I asked him about the quarry and he said that there are bass in it they are just "really hard to catch". He assured me they were in there. One thing is for sure, it's loaded with blue gill. I'd like to go back and fish the side with cat tails. I'd also like to try to use some of the baby blue gill as bait.

I've seen people bass fish using shiners. They'll tie on a bobber anywhere between 18 24 inches above the hook and let the distressed fish call the bass. My question is; how do I hook them? Spine? Through the eye sockets? Lip? Any other suggestions (rigging or otherwise) would be greatly appreciated!

Okay, I've just read the 'shiner' post below.   :

Hookhead, I've used and continue to use live bluegil from time to time and they will catch bass if there are bass in the pond.  The way I rig them is to have them weightless without a bobber.  I hook the bluegill in the lips, usally starting in the nose hole going trough the bottom lip, this method keeps your hook from pullin out.  You can allow the fish to swim free but I've found that the bass around here hit them fast and hard when the bluegil are fished distressed and erratic around cover or structure.  And size does matter, try to keep them bewteen 2 and 4 ins and make sure its legal in your state to use them.

Hope this helps....

Alfred

Thanks alhuff!  The pond is already loaded with 'em so I assume I can use them to fish it.

Anytime man, and remeber to let them run with it so you get a good hook set.

Alfred

A pond I fish a lot has cattails totally surrounding it, and a lot of times the bass will be either right on the edge of the cattails or no more than 3-5 feet away from it.  The way this pond is situated allows one bank to stay completely shaded from cattails and tree's for most of the day because the cattail mass is about 6 feet thick and very hardy.  I usually fish weighted plastics around the cattails along with Manns 1- cranks, a few spinnerbaits from time to time, and a spook.

That's just the info I was looking for. Thanks a TON. I hope to hit that pond again in a few days if not sooner. I'll post my findings. ;D  

     Try your best to fish the cattails. Thats were the bass will be. A live bluegill free lined should do the trick. Use a size 8 or 10 hook to catch the small bluegill. Also try 4inch stick baits rigged weadless without a weight. You could also try a road runner spinner along the rocks.  Small T-rigged baits should also produce bass for you. Good Luck!

Best check your state regulations for using panfish as bait some states don't allow it there was a post sometime ago here about that can't recall what state though.

Chow

The Pa Angler

I forgot to mention that I also fish weightless plastics, too.  It depends on the day and what kind of mood I determine the fish to be in, really.  

Downsize, downsize, downsize. Try some small 4" weightless worms, rebel crickhoppers or frogs or even small inline spinners such as Mepps or rooster tails. They will catch bass in ponds who otherwise won't bite larger conventional bass baits.

And PA angler, hope you don't take offense, but I noticed that you close your posts with "chow". You are like my mom, always telling me to eat!! ;D I am just joshin' you man, but the term you are looking for to say "see ya" is CIAO which is Italian. Chow is for dogs!!

Heading out tomorrow to fish those cat tailes.  As I mentioned before, I'll post my findings.  Thanks again to all for some good advice!