In my nieghborhood there is a small 10 acre pond stocked with bass, bluegill, grass carp, catfish, and several crappie. I'm convinced the lake is overpopulated with bass and underpopulated with bait because I catch small bass all the time and TONS of them. I do see large bass, but only during the spawn, I can't find them any other time. I know big bass are caught in deep water and the pond goes to about 30 feet at deepest, but I fish from a paddleboat, I have no electronics so I can't locate fish or structure therefore I am totally lost when it comes to fishing deeper water. What should I do?

One quick suggestion:Throw a carolina rig around.It will at least tell you what the bottom is like and if there are any humps or steep ledges.

eat some of the smaller bass.

I've always wanted to eat 'em, but my dad won't let me cuz he says they'll be loaded with fertilizers and pesticides and junk.  I've actually NEVER thrown a c-rig in my life... never needed to cuz the t-rig worked so well for me.  I'll try it I guess

well trey, i guess my suggestion would be this.  when you fish the deep water, cover the entire water column.  for some reason, a lot of fishermen make the mistake of bottom fishin' only when they fish deeper water.  yeah, you wanna make sure you cover that, BUT do not forget the rest of the water column.  just because the water is 30 feet deep don't mean the fish are 30 feet deep.   fishing below the fish in 10 ft or less is not that big a deal as they can usually see your bait anyway.  if you are fishin' below 'em in 30 ft. of water, you might not even be in the game.  divide the water column into thirds.  use baits that will thoroughly cover the top third (0-10ft) (including topwater believe it or not), the middle third (10-20 ft) and the bottom third (20-30 ft).  i'm just using 30 ft as an example here, but this strategy will work in a variety of water depth.  by doing this, if the fish are feeding, you will eliminate options and eventually find not only a bait that they like, but more importantly the depth they are using.  you can fine tune from there.  since visibility is less in deeper water, i tend to use bigger baits and/or baits fish can locate by noise or vibration also.

since you are using this as a strategy to catch big fish, you will have to be patient.  the cali guys on here will tell ya that a lot of times, it's a waiting game with big fish.  if you have confidence that an area holds big fish (deep or shallow) sometimes you have no choice but to wait until they decide to eat.  hope this helps buddy and best of luck to ya in your never-ending quest for the bigguns this year.      

well trey, i guess my suggestion would be this. when you fish the deep water, cover the entire water column. for some reason, a lot of fishermen make the mistake of bottom fishin' only when they fish deeper water. yeah, you wanna make sure you cover that, BUT do not forget the rest of the water column. just because the water is 30 feet deep don't mean the fish are 30 feet deep. fishing below the fish in 10 ft or less is not that big a deal as they can usually see your bait anyway. if you are fishin' below 'em in 30 ft. of water, you might not even be in the game. divide the water column into thirds. use baits that will thoroughly cover the top third (0-10ft) (including topwater believe it or not), the middle third (10-20 ft) and the bottom third (20-30 ft). i'm just using 30 ft as an example here, but this strategy will work in a variety of water depth. by doing this, if the fish are feeding, you will eliminate options and eventually find not only a bait that they like, but more importantly the depth they are using. you can fine tune from there. since visibility is less in deeper water, i tend to use bigger baits and/or baits fish can locate by noise or vibration also.

since you are using this as a strategy to catch big fish, you will have to be patient. the cali guys on here will tell ya that a lot of times, it's a waiting game with big fish. if you have confidence that an area holds big fish (deep or shallow) sometimes you have no choice but to wait until they decide to eat. hope this helps buddy and best of luck to ya in your never-ending quest for the bigguns this year.      

X2  

eat some of the smaller bass.

I agree, you don't actually have to eat them, just remove them. It will help the pond greatly in the long run.

One thing you could do is go get you one of those portable depth finders.  Keep a few bass of course.  Just be careful though cause maybe you are only catching the small ones cause that is what is in the areas you are fishing.

thanks for the responses guys.  I do throw out a few small few every other time I go and stuff... but I can't do it alone.  I got one of those lil depth finders that you tow behind your boat and it shows up on a watch, but it aint very good and i'm not to keen on reading stuff like that anyway... i don't really get why it is constantly moving and I'm not quite sure what I'm looking at

The image on the screen is constantly moving because data is constantly being sent from the transducer (thing you are towing behind your boat). This happens even when your boat is sitting still. The transducer will be sending the same reading over and over again untill you move the boat. Once you start moving the data being sent changes and new information scrolls across your screen. Hope this helps you out a little. Being able to understand your depth finder is huge key to finding fish that other people are missing.

well trey, i guess my suggestion would be this. when you fish the deep water, cover the entire water column. for some reason, a lot of fishermen make the mistake of bottom fishin' only when they fish deeper water. yeah, you wanna make sure you cover that, BUT do not forget the rest of the water column. just because the water is 30 feet deep don't mean the fish are 30 feet deep. fishing below the fish in 10 ft or less is not that big a deal as they can usually see your bait anyway. if you are fishin' below 'em in 30 ft. of water, you might not even be in the game. divide the water column into thirds. use baits that will thoroughly cover the top third (0-10ft) (including topwater believe it or not), the middle third (10-20 ft) and the bottom third (20-30 ft). i'm just using 30 ft as an example here, but this strategy will work in a variety of water depth. by doing this, if the fish are feeding, you will eliminate options and eventually find not only a bait that they like, but more importantly the depth they are using. you can fine tune from there. since visibility is less in deeper water, i tend to use bigger baits and/or baits fish can locate by noise or vibration also.

since you are using this as a strategy to catch big fish, you will have to be patient. the cali guys on here will tell ya that a lot of times, it's a waiting game with big fish. if you have confidence that an area holds big fish (deep or shallow) sometimes you have no choice but to wait until they decide to eat. hope this helps buddy and best of luck to ya in your never-ending quest for the bigguns this year.      

You make an excellent point (three-zone coverage) and one that isn't mentioned nearly enough

Roger

i HIGHLY reccomend you get an eagle cuda 168 portable it comes with a suction cup transducer which you can just suction to the bottom of your paddleboat. You can put these on any watercraft. And for 100 bucks the quality is great!