Since last June I've been fishing a 4 acre pond in my neighborhood.  Last summer and fall I was catching a lot of fish but mostly small ones.  About 10-12" was the average size.  I did occassionally get a keeper and a buddy caught a 20" bass once in late June or early July.  

I've been fishing there since ice out this year.  I'm still catching them, but only dinks, less than 8".  Everytime I go, I start out with a spinnerbait, senko, fluke, t-rigged worm, etc.  All these baits worked for me last summer.  But now I can't catch a thing on those.  I'll typically spend about an hour with these typical baits and get nothing.  I'm trying everything from right up on the bank to as far out as I can cast (no boats allowed on the pond).  THEN, after an hour of trying, I switch over to a little rooster tail and start catching the dinks.  I can average 3-4 fish an hour on those.  

So here's my question:  Where are the bigger bass?  Will they stay out in the deeper water til the water gets warmer while the dinks move up to the shallows?  

Here in central illinois the water is still cool.  The spawn hasn't really started yet as far as I can tell.  But I expected to have better luck on the pre-spawn fish.  

A possibility? could the pond be over crowded? fish won't grow well under those conditions. just a thought.

I'm pretty sure it is overcrowded.  That explains why I caught so many 12" fish last year and so few keepers.  But that doesn't explain why the fish I'm catching are even smaller this spring.

We have that issue in my neighborhood pond.  It's an overcrowding issue.

I ran it by a fisheries biologist and he instructed me to remove 25 fish per acre, and when I thought I'd taken out too many take out 25 more.  (Only fish 10" or smaller)

Essentially it'd thin out the population significantly and allow for the fish to grow.  

We did it by having a fishing derby (for the kids, took the fish to the river) and things haven't improved DRAMATICALLY (it's only been a season) but we already see bigger fish.

-JC

yeah if this is a pond you care enough about to be willing to put some work into id start keeping all those dinks pronto.  also make sure that there is enough of a forage base for the pond, which kinda goes hand in hand with the overcrowding.

uhm... apparently there are SOME big fish in there, over crowding and all.  MY suggestion is tie on a jig with a crawfish trailer (YUM makes the best) and fish it with SLOW, short hops along the bottom.  A jig will generally catch bigger fish than a worm or others.  You will sacrifice numbers, but its kind of a must if you want to catch bigger fish.  But i do agree with all the above.  Take a cooler to the lake, put some lake water in it, catch 20 or so dinks and drive them to another pond, lake, stream, or river.  Just dont kill them.  Those 10 inch fish have worked hard to become 10 inches in that over crowded lake.

Take a cooler to the lake, put some lake water in it, catch 20 or so dinks and drive them to another pond, lake, stream, or river. Just dont kill them. Those 10 inch fish have worked hard to become 10 inches in that over crowded lake.

Good idea in theory but...

It's most likely illegal in your state and what if all the bass are small because they have a disease?

You just moved the disease from one body of water to another. The only way I would recommend moving fish is if it is from one private body of water to another and you have both owner's permission to do so.

I'm all for sparing the fish but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

Take a cooler of ice with you and toss in the dinks, I know it sounds cruel but icing fish is an approved method to kill them quickly, and toss them in the woods. Hey, if you have to kill them, might as well feed the other wildlife around.

I would recommend checking with the local DNR before doing anything.

It definitly sounds like some culling is in order

but before I would do anything drastic why not try the same

roostertail your having success with but go to the two next bigger sizes?

It definitly sounds like some culling is in order

but before I would do anything drastic why not try the same

roostertail your having success with but go to the two next bigger sizes?

Hey Avid, that's a good idea.  I'm already using the 1/6 and 1/4 oz versions.  Not sure that they make a bigger rooster tail.  But there are other inline spinners.  Also, I'll be a little bit surprised if bigger bass will hit a bigger rooster tail when they wouldn't hit a regular SB.  But you never know.  

And hey everybody: Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything about keeping fish or moving them to other water until I get some professional advice.  I've already contacted the DNR and got the name of the people I need to talk to.  

I do most of my fishing with a buddy on a pond about the same size. We catch our share of dinks and nice fish. What really works at this time of year are poprs and beetle spins. We throw the 1/4 oz and larger poprs and the largest beetlespin (1/4 oz?). I almost always catch the big fish of the day on a beetlespin. Colors for the popr are silver/black back and g-fleck/rainbow. For the beetlespins; green or orange/chartruese works the best. Just last weekend I landed 2 4lb+ fish back to back on the orange/chartruese beetlespin.  Also, at this time of year we catch most of the bigger fish in the middle so having an 8' jonboat really helps. One more thing that my buddy does well with is swimming a t-rigged worm (7.5-10" Culprit original/tomato color); he retrieves it kind of like a slow roll with a spinnerbait. It really works. Also, I feel like this is cheating but, minnows are the deal on ponds. If the fishing is really tough one day we'll go get a couple dozen to keep from going crazy.

water quality may be poor-may need fertilization and/or ph change.  

I have a 5 acre pond that I raise ph and fertilize every year

check with your local biologist - he should be able to help