i recently got permision to fish three small ponds on the golf course that i live on.  they are all three choked not only with weeds but bass.  they are completely unfished except for a few employees who mainly fish with worms or dough baits for carp and an occasional curly tail worm for bass.  these are some real honey holes.  anyways, i want them to stay that way and for the bass to not become to pressured and conditioned to lures, especially the ones i consistently like to use (and as completely filled with weeds as this lake is the options are fairly limited).

so, how often would you fish each one and feel comforatable that you are not going to be putting too much pressure on these fish.  i want the fishing to remain as good as it has been these last few times ive gone.  if it wouldnt hurt the fishing id probally fish them every evening but im sure that the quality would go down if i did that.  its fortunate that their are 3 ponds and instead of hopping around to all of them im going to just go to one of them each outing.  

so this is a longwinded way of asking, how often and hard do you guys fish your small ponds and what is the effect of fishing pressure on these small bodies of water?

thx,

matt

I don't know how large these ponds are, but I would not be afraid to fish a different one each day, especially if you vary you spot.  Go gett'em and let us know how it goes!

I have a little pond right next to my house that I fish every day, usually from the same three spots.  I thought that I had been "over fishing" the area, but the last few days I can't say that's been affecting the bass.  I've been catching 5-10 fish a day since Sunday, and it doesn't seem to be letting up.  I am 100% sure that many of these fish have ben caught before and yet they'll still take a bait.  My advice is find something that works, use it for a couple a times, and when it slows down, change your lure/presentation.  For instance, I was catching very well but I got caught in a tree limb and had to cut my line.  When I went back, I used the same lure (3" zoom tube worm), but in my haste I tied the hook without a bullet weight as I had been using.  The result?  More fish, and at the same time, better sized fish.  In a nut shell, if you change things up fairly frequently, I don't think the bass will get too much of a chance to get used to them and you'll be able to catch there for the whole year.

I try not to fish a pond too hard, but it helps in the area I fish I have around 50 ponds I have access to.  Choosing a fishing spot though is dependent on if there are crops up, how hard it gets fished, the quality of fish, and also the ease of fishing.  I dont stay too long at one pond if the fish arent biting, HawgHunter can attest to that.  That is more a lack of patience than not wanting to over fish them though.  One piece of advice I would give is vary your appraoch, fish different ponds and fish different baits.  Alot of the ponds I can fish, the fish there are very wary of a spinnerbait because of the overuse of them.  Otherwise just go catch some fish.

Corey

For me, good ponds are hard to come by and I'll fish them as often as possible. I don't think the pressure I generate has much effect, but small ponds can be ruined by just one person if he keeps his catch consistently.

I agree with Marty, smaller ecosystems are much more delicate than say a lake.  Selective harvest does need to be practiced eventually so that a pond doesnt become overpopulated and stunted.  Ive seen some awesome ponds turn into ones where all you catch is 8-10 inch fish.

Corey

The pond I fish almost everyday is right down a hill from my house. I will go there probablly 3 times a day, and come up for lunch and dinner. I find that I consistenly catch fish on the first casts of the day and a few more after that. I can quickly  catch 2 or 3 in the same spot in about 15 minutes. But then, I will stay in that smae spot for a half an hour more with no bites. I then move to a new spot and get a bite on the fist cast, then its slow from there on. The next spot, bite on first couple casts, tough there on. I find when I leave the fish arent usually hitting that well or else I'd be staying there, and when I get back they are hitting hard again? I think I have caught every fish in that pond at least once and theres probablly about 60 or 70 bass in a little half acre pond. I don't know why but I think I have completely messed it up with how many times I fish there and how often. Just yesterday I went to a spot that I had thought was a "dead spot of the pond" and caught ten fish in a half an hour. So the answer to your question is, I will fish a pond VERY hard, almost too hard.

One thing to remember,there are people playing golf there that also like to fish,

with your presense,they also may ask permission to fish.I would fish the ponds early in the morning before the golfers get to that hole the ponds near,if that makes sense.

Exactly how small are the ponds? like they said, rotating from hole to hole should give your fish enough of a break

From my experience in small waters, if you fish them day after day, the fish will definitely become lure shy.  If you fish hard a couple of days, take a week or two off, then come back, it's like the fish have never seen a lure.  I've fished a small farm pond for five or six years and it's always been like that.

I agree with the guy who said that if you fish a pond every evening you wil soon have much more company while fishing. Fish it in the morning when no one is around and occasionally fish it during the evening.  

My experiences have shown me that no matter how pressured a pond is, you will still always catch bass because every year there are new ones. The only problem is that eventually you will only catch small bass because the bigger ones have grown wise to most lures and presentations. The end result: A pond loaded with trophy bass that are practically uncatchable. If this happens at your golf ponds, you can always use live bait. Even the wisest bass won't turn down real food.

thanks guys.  yeah if you read my other thread you can see how worried i am about others joining me.  i can only fish there before 7 am and at twilight so im hoping that helps with attracting company.  im starting to feel self confident walking to the ponds with my rod like im attracting attention.  this is so funny how protective im getting over these little ponds.  they were just a good find basically in my back yard.

thx for input,

matt

As long as you release the fish unharmed and vary your approach, you can fish a pond several times a weak and catch fish every time.