Hey guys I figured with the immense plethera of knowledge here someone may have some good tips for me. Here is the scenario;

There is a farm pond where I live that is enormous (forgot to take a picture today). The last time we fished this place was two years ago and it was just beautiful. The old man who owns it spent 2 Mil putting the pond in and stocking it. My friend was actually trespassing, was caught, and given permission for being so respectful. Come to find out this place is so far in the sticks he is the only person who has permission to fish it. He will only let my friend and I go fishing out there maybe four times a year because he dosen't like his fish being stressed. (right?) According to him at the dam it is about 70-80 feet deep. He dosen't allow boats and at his age he can't keep the tall weeds down around the edges so you can only fish from the dam.

This place is simply loaded. In one day 2 years ago we caught 2 catfish over 20 lbs, 7 over 10lbs and about a dozen around 5lbs. The old timer has a couple of pictures of him with multiple 10 lb bass out of there.

So, the d**n has heavy moss on the edge of the dam which itself is composed of large white boulders. The weeds are about 10 feet tall around the edges and water visibility is about 5-7 feet easily. Today we did a bit of testing and we had;

One 2lber - FireTiger 3/8 Double Willow Spinner (Multiple Short Hits)

Seven 1lbs - ExCalibur Trout 7-10' Crankbait

And one huge miss on a black spro frog. The fish jumped out of the water and missed. Guessing it in at around 3-4 lbs.

We know from catfishing the bottom is loaded with JUNK and we lost a ton of rigs off the bottom. The weeds are merciless, but we can't gauge if it's only 10' deep or really 70-80.

Long read but thanks for sticking with it and I look forward to seeing what ya'll have to say. I'll have pictures up in the outing section tomorrow...if we catch anything

Quick edit: Tried multiple colors on the Spinners and trailers to see if it would help the short strikes but hey only went after the FireTiger. I tried probably 10-12 different cranks, but again they would follow it in and some would just swat at it. My buddy caught all the small ones on my trout colored crank. I was thinking of trying some plastics but I'm a little concerned about losing large amounts of line.

You are very limited. The one advantage you have is that those fish haven't seen many lures, but that doesn't mean they can't detect phoniness (hence the ones that followed today).

The keys for your success are mostly out of your hands. You have a limited area to fish, so that means the bigger bass need to end up down by you (which they may not be within your reach). Then those better bass need to be active or within the reaction-bite strike-zone. Then your presentation has to be enticing to them. Those factors alone are the equivalent of going on a lake, picking a point and staying there all day without moving. Sounds negative, doesn't it? That's the key. Let the negatives give you a positive mind set. Be realistic with the negatives and plan around them!

I would cover every inch of that water I could both with a reaction baits and feeding baits. Try the spinnerbait. Flutter it, burn it, slow roll it. Then if that doesn't work, you will need to try soft plastics to try and get a bite. Don't worry about your line. Bumping cover and/or the bottom gives you the best chance at catching bigger bass! Buy extra hooks and baits and line if need be, just so those factors don't mess with your mental game. Those factors can destroy confidence, and you will need confidence especially if after 4 hours you haven't had a quality bite.

I'm sure others will offer some good tips as well. Hope this helps and good luck. Let us know what happens.

70-80ft deep? seems a little to deep 4 a farm pond. Anyway, throw your reaction strike baits. If they aren't working slow it down with finesse plastics or jigs. Have you tried running a frog or something over the weeds.

Thanks for the input guys, gettin ready to head out there in a few minutes. I know 70-80 sounds pretty ridiculous but the guy who owns it swears up and down thats how deep it is /shrug.

Yeah I had a real nice blow up on a frog over the weeds yesterday so I'll give it another try today.

Perfect idea..get yourself a hoe.. No.. A garden hoe. Trim the old mans weeds. He's given you permission to fish trophy waters, bro. Don't take it for granted. Trim the weeds. You'll both benefit.

Yeah we have offered multiple times to help him out and trim things back but since nobody fishes it but us on the rare occasion he lets us, he just tells us not to bother. It is pretty frustrating but what can ya do.

Anyways we got out there today and he was waiting for us and told us to come back another day that today just wasn't a good day >_>.