This has been bugging me for a long time, so I finally decided to ask about it.

When I first started bass fishing about five or six years ago, I began fishing a 2 acre neighborhood lake (I had some very gracious neighbors).  I was a complete newbie, and was using my grandfather's old tackle.  Typical gear from the eighties.  ;D  Even with little experience, I would catch fish left and right from the spawn to the start of winter.

These were great times.  I started learning new techniques with new tackle, and, during the early summer, would catch several five pounders every outing.  I would be out there three times a week.  It was a fisherman's paradise.  Nothing could prevent me from catching fish, not even the constantly muddy, shallow water.

Fast forward to the present day.  Now, the fishing is nonexistent.  The action began slowing down about two years ago, and now, I catch nothing.  If I catch anything at all, it might be two dinks at the most. 

The water has cleared up quite a bit, but it has a slightly emerald tint, and a lot of debris seems to have gathered up in certain areas.

The lake I knew six years ago no longer exists.  Any thoughts on why this would be?  :-/

Neighborhood lakes are very fragile. Overfishing them can kill the fishing. Personally, I have overfished one killer pond. Now I have to work really hard to catch a good fish, but they are still there. Try spots you never really put alot of time into, with different techniques.

The fishing could probably come back, but it would take a lot of time with little or no fishing pressure.

So many things could have caused this.

Disease , over fished , chemical runoff are just a few.

Well, you haven't mentioned anything environmental, or any fish kills. How is it that the water became clear? Had it always been stained or dirty before? Did you keep the fish you caught? Is it highly pressured? Where do you live? Try this...no body really fished this pond for a while, until you came along? You've caught all the fish that are going to be easy to catch. There are easy to catch fish, and not so easy to catch fish. Sometimes, especially in a small pond, the only fish left are of the smart, hard to catch variety, and they produce more hard to catch fish. A pond can get filled with very hard to catch fish, if more stupid fish are not introduced from the outside. Can you get a jon boat with a fish finder on it into the pond?

if they fish are still alive try finnesse.  They may have gotten used to what you were throwing and now they need to see something new and small.

The water has always been a reddish mud color.  It still is murky, but, as I said, more dirty emerald now.  I cannot explain the change in water color.

Others fished it before I did.  There are about twenty five houses on the lake, and no outsiders fish it, to my knowledge.  Therefore, not highly pressured.

I certainly don't keep any of the fish I catch, nor do the residents who I talk to.

I COULD get a jon boat on the lake, if I wanted to steal from one of the residents.   

I shall try going finnesse, but the poor visibility concerns me.  Maybe adding some beads to the soft plastics would work....

Well, you haven't mentioned anything environmental, or any fish kills. How is it that the water became clear? Had it always been stained or dirty before? Did you keep the fish you caught? Is it highly pressured? Where do you live? Try this...no body really fished this pond for a while, until you came along? You've caught all the fish that are going to be easy to catch. There are easy to catch fish, and not so easy to catch fish. Sometimes, especially in a small pond, the only fish left are of the smart, hard to catch variety, and they produce more hard to catch fish. A pond can get filled with very hard to catch fish, if more stupid fish are not introduced from the outside. Can you get a jon boat with a fish finder on it into the pond?

ive read about this, it sounds a little far fetched, but its true.

dont add beads to the finnesee, go truly finnesse.  Just try it.

Carrington - I'll try that next time I go out and report back.  Thanks!!  It may be a while since we are about to have a blizzard here.

Bill - It is totally private, and no river feeds into it.  I am in the great Sooner State. 

anytime, and since it is very cold where you are at, dont give up.  You may not catch anything till it warms up some so dont give up on the finnesse fishing.

I gather the following from the posts so far:  (1)The lake is two acres, (2)You fish it three times a week on average, and (3)Other people in the neighborhood fish it also.  Bass can be classically conditioned to refuse to bite specific lures if they experience them often.  They can learn to associate them with a bad experience.  I thing one person fishing a two acre pond three times a week is enough to cause this conditioning.  You need to try something new to get them to bite. As suggested, finesse techniques may be useful here if you haven't used them too much. 

There are other possible causes.  Other anglers could be keeping fish for the table so there may not be many fish left.  The change in water color obviously indicates that something has changed.  Water doesn't just change color without an environmental alteration of some kind.  If changing techniques and lures doesn't yield benefits I'd find new water. 

Have you ever seen any otters in the pond? They have a tendency to wipe out a pond or small lake in pretty quick timing. Happens around here quite often.

Pretty much sucks when it happens..

Will your county or state Extension Service sample the water and give you a report?

Sounds like lack of oxygen or a chemical attack that could have killed the fish.

Any baitfish, like minnows, bream, perch or bluegills still in the pond? If so, there is enough oxygen to support life.

Just a thought. 

Try fishing with live bait once or twice if it is permissible just to see if there are still fish in the pond.

"emerald green" water?

I'm thinking fertilizer run-off caused an algae bloom, often seen as a green tint. Once the algae starts to die and decay it uses much of the available oxygen during the process. This can, at best, cause fish to be difficult to catch due to stress and at worst can kill the entire fish population due to lack of oxygen. :'(

If all the homes around the pond have lush green, weed free grass, that is a pretty good indicator that run off is a factor.

As to smart, hard to catch fish and dumb, easy to catch fish. There have been at least two studies on the subject I know of, one done at Auburn University when I was teaching there back in the 70s, and I just saw where someone else did the same study with the same results, recently...University of Oklahoma? They stocked ponds with bass. I don't know where the bass came from, but they were not screened in any way. They waited a while and then started fishing. Every fish they caught, they threw into a second pond. After a while, they ended up with one pond filled with fish that were easy to catch, and the original pond filled with difficult to catch fish. When the fish in the two ponds spawned, their progeny behaved just like their parents, easy to catch or hard to catch. I relate that to bass intelligence, which is probably wrong at their level, it is most likely a strong genetic marker some fish get, and others don't.