Hi,I am just wondering how you can tell if there are any bass in a farm pond without fishing it.

Ask the farm owner if there are bass in it, then ask to fish it.

It is my farm.

Unless you can see a bass in the water, then there is no way to tell unless you fish it. If it has never been stocked then it is highly unlikely that it has bass in it.

Ok then i will try to fish it tomorrow....What lures/baits should i try to use?

If is there fish there or not and that is the question?

I would go there with livebait like live minnows first to see whats in it. Then i would try lures next. If you don't want to use livebait first i would throw a 2" rapala blue or black floating minnow(rapala or rebel) in it and see what hits it. My second pick would be an inline spinner like a number #3 mepps silver blade with a brown bucktail or a blackgnat 1/4oz joesfly super striker silver blade with a black fly. If its cloudy i'd use a joesfly firetiger apache 1/4 oz bass size super striker. I'm positive the rapala/rebel or an inline spinner will show you whats in the place.

Fishing an untouched/unfish spot can be awesome they have turned out to be my best places to fish.  Just remember to be very stealthy and quiet because the fish are sensitive to new noises.  Don't step on any rocks and walk softly while approaching the place too.  Put your tackle box down softly and open it very quiet.  Make no noise at all.

The fish eggs travel by the ducks and geese from place to place. I've seen small drainage catch basins have 3lb bass in them. Don't pass up throwing a line in the small man made places too.

if you have a private pond that hasn't been fished, the fish will most likely hit anything that passes by.  try a variety of baits, and see what works.

if you have a private pond that hasn't been fished, the fish will most likely hit anything that passes by. try a variety of baits, and see what works.

Yeah, if it has bass in it and it hasn't been fished in ages you should know quickly that they are there.  They are unconditioned to any lures and will probably bite about anything.

The quickest way to find would probably be live bait. If you don't have access to any live minnows or other small fish (I've caught largemouth bass off more species of livebait than I can count, many of them saltwater species!!), I'd use some soft plastics. If there is little vegetation, wacky rig a "stick" worm like a Senko or Yum Dinger (you can also wacky rig skinnier worms like a zoom trick worm or berkley shakey worm just fine) toss it near some cover, wait a good 10-15 seconds for it to drop down, and gently twitch it at a slow to moderate pace. If the vegetation is thick and you don't have any weedless wide gab hooks for wacky rigging, I'd texas rig a culprit 7.5" curl tail worm or a zoom 6" lizard and cast it into the thickest of cover. Good luck!

Nothing sort of fishing it is the only way to tell if anything is in it.I have an small pond at work and it's loaded with some of the biggest Bluegills I have seen in my life. I've caught 2 bass in it so far as well.

Kalin 3" grubs,Inline spinners and stickbaits/senkos has been the ticket in finding out what's all in there.

If is there fish there or not and that is the question?

I would go there with livebait like live minnows first to see whats in it. Then i would try lures next. If you don't want to use livebait first i would throw a 2" rapala blue or black floating minnow(rapala or rebel) in it and see what hits it. My second pick would be an inline spinner like a number #3 mepps silver blade with a brown bucktail or a blackgnat 1/4oz joesfly super striker silver blade with a black fly. If its cloudy i'd use a joesfly firetiger apache 1/4 oz bass size super striker. I'm positive the rapala/rebel or an inline spinner will show you whats in the place.

Fishing an untouched/unfish spot can be awesome they have turned out to be my best places to fish. Just remember to be very stealthy and quiet because the fish are sensitive to new noises. Don't step on any rocks and walk softly while approaching the place too. Put your tackle box down softly and open it very quiet. Make no noise at all

The fish eggs travel by the ducks and geese from place to place.  I've seen small drainage catch basins have 3lb bass in them.  Don't pass up throwing a line in the small man made places too.

Bill I believe studies have shown that is a myth, the eggs cannot survive out of the water. Fish get in bodies of water by people placing them there and high water situations.

Rubber worms or slug-gos have never failed me in farm ponds.

Fishing is the best bet, but I suppose you could put a minnow trap in it also.

If is there fish there or not and that is the question?

I would go there with livebait like live minnows first to see whats in it. Then i would try lures next. If you don't want to use livebait first i would throw a 2" rapala blue or black floating minnow(rapala or rebel) in it and see what hits it. My second pick would be an inline spinner like a number #3 mepps silver blade with a brown bucktail or a blackgnat 1/4oz joesfly super striker silver blade with a black fly. If its cloudy i'd use a joesfly firetiger apache 1/4 oz bass size super striker. I'm positive the rapala/rebel or an inline spinner will show you whats in the place.

Fishing an untouched/unfish spot can be awesome they have turned out to be my best places to fish. Just remember to be very stealthy and quiet because the fish are sensitive to new noises. Don't step on any rocks and walk softly while approaching the place too. Put your tackle box down softly and open it very quiet. Make no noise at all

The fish eggs travel by the ducks and geese from place to place. I've seen small drainage catch basins have 3lb bass in them. Don't pass up throwing a line in the small man made places too.

Bill I believe studies have shown that is a myth, the eggs cannot survive out of the water. Fish get in bodies of water by people placing them there and high water situations.

I heave heard that Bullhead can, but never any other species of fish. For instance, i fished about an acre pond close to my house last year that had no other fish in it other that Bullhead. Now what would someone only stock a pond will Bullhead?  :-?

Senko slayer I would believe that bullheads and other types of hardy fish are capable of that. I was coonhunting one night in a river bottum and found half a dozen eels crawling around in the woods! I did a little research and have read of accounts of other people finding them doing the same.

I have a pond that i think is just over a 1/4 acre . At the beginning of may the only thing swimming around was a single large orange Carp and some newts . 
 Dunked some worms and no interest from anything . Two weeks later now all bluegills swimming all around very aggressive hitting anything that moves . Lots of fun ! 
this is my first spring here and hope to stir up some other species . Bass, trout ? 
wondering if they will appear suddenly just as the bluegill did 

spring fed pond , cold water , with a spillway 

would trout stay in this type of pond ?

The bluegill are small do you think maybe over populated ?

On 6/1/2010 at 7:10 PM, buzzbait4me said:

Hi,I am just wondering how you can tell if there are any bass in a farm pond without fishing it.

This time of year, look for the beds.

On 6/2/2010 at 8:10 AM, senile1 said:

Yeah, if it has bass in it and it hasn't been fished in ages you should know quickly that they are there.  They are unconditioned to any lures and will probably bite about anything.

fish with any thing if this pond has never been fished. they will eat what ever you throw because they have never seen it before

On 6/1/2010 at 7:21 PM, buzzbait4me said:

It is my farm.

So, did you giver yourself permission? ?

 

Grab a couple of rods. Through artificial baits on one and on the other bobber fish with nightcrawlers.