I have two ponds that I am curious about what is going on with them......One is around 15 years old, stocked with bream,bass,catfish.... about 6 or 7 acres...water from 3-18ft deep....Alot of bottom structure and enough shallow cover for the size lake..but not alot of hard bottom. It produces lots of monster bream....So forage isnt a problem.... The biggest bass I have caught in 7 or 8 years of fishing is 2lbs or so.... I am about the only one that fishes there and have been removing the small bass periodically as suggested by DNR.... Think there are bigger bass????

Pond #2:

15 acres or so, 30-50 yrs old, some vegation and a some man made structure..soft bottom.. Never gotten many bites, is full of small crappie,  big bowl shaped pond....But I know for a fact a 12lb largemouth was taken out 2 or 3 years ago.....No real points or anything, so its a big open piece of plain looking water.... worst part is it is surrounded by irrigated fields, which causes cattle waste runoff....

Are these waters out of whack or worth fishing???

Any place that has bass in it is worth fishing! If there are small one's, mommy and daddy can't be far!

I don't think either pond is worth fishing. The first pond lacks balance and will never produce good bass.

The second pond has probably been fished out or the bass have died off. I wouldn't spend any time on these waters.

The keys to selecting a pond to fish are age, original and/or supplimental stocking, forage and the water flow or consitancy of water levels. Surprisingly, ponds with little or no cover and nominal structure can still produce big bass. (I happen to fish a couple of ponds that fit that description). However, the ideal pond would have lots of structure which promotes the recruitment of various baits; deep pockets or pools and  relatively shallow flats. (This describes my most productive pond). Still, regardless of how a pond was built or how it looks now, stocking and maintnace will determine the long-term bounty.

RW, I have thought the same about #1 for a while......#2 I still dont know about, There could be alot there, that isnt visible on the surface, I did fish a similar pond for a long time, it does have a little visible wood cover...Yet I have caught alot of fish from 3-6 lbs and had a couple break me off that were really large. But thanks to treaspassers, its no longer an option.... After seeing the pic of the 12, i think there might be a few good fish.....yet the only fish i have caught from the 100acre lake where I caught my PB 10+, was the 10lber.....

Its starting to look bleak........seeing i can afford to pull and run my bass boat right now.... :'(

Pond #1 : I am not really sure why your biggest bass from this pond is just 2 pounds.  Maybe keaping some of the large bluegill would help. Also you could try catfishing this pond and see what happens.  I would fish this pond, 1 to 2 pound bass are a fun to catch!

Pond #2 : Fish this pond when you are willing to sacrifice quantity for quality. If there was a 12 pound bass caught there, I would say the pond is definetley worth fishing.  One pond I fish only has like 4 mature bass in it, but they are big for up here.

GOOD LUCK!!!!