When High Water Gets You Down ... Do A Little Pond Fishing

[OzarkFishman]

I am lucky and have been spared any personal damage from the high water. To all of you effected, my thoughts are with you.

Since most rivers are still flowing at a good pace, I decided to hit a local pond. Started throwing a carolina rig, but there was too much stirred up on the bottom and I was picking up stuff about every 3rd cast. Decided to switch to a white chatterbait, with a hint of red (paired with a white lake fork shad swimbait). Fished for about 45 minutes. Only had 2 fish, but neither were dinks. The smaller one hit when the bait hit the water and fought like nobodies business for a bass that small. The bigger one measured 19 inches and I am guessing somewhere around 4 pounds. I caught her right at last light. It was good to feel that weight at the end of the line.

Hope all is well,

OzarkFishman

[troutman11]

thats awesome theres a pond practically in my front yard about a 30 second walk and whenever im bored after school or just wanna be alone i just walk down there and fish and the bass are always biting down there and i fish it probably every other day in the summer. i caught this five pounder about 3 weeks ago i was amazed there were even fish that big in my neighborhood pond!!

[T Hood]

I am lucky and have been spared any personal damage from the high water. To all of you effected, my thoughts are with you.

Since most rivers are still flowing at a good pace, I decided to hit a local pond. Started throwing a carolina rig, but there was too much stirred up on the bottom and I was picking up stuff about every 3rd cast. Decided to switch to a white chatterbait, with a hint of red (paired with a white lake fork shad swimbait). Fished for about 45 minutes. Only had 2 fish, but neither were dinks. The smaller one hit when the bait hit the water and fought like nobodies business for a bass that small. The bigger one measured 19 inches and I am guessing somewhere around 4 pounds. I caught her right at last light. It was good to feel that weight at the end of the line.

Hope all is well,

OzarkFishman

I hadn't thought of putting that combo together. I have a mini-chatterbait (white skirt); I'll give it a try with a grub. Thanks for the tip. I'm focusing on the ponds as well. Having fun with the crappie, but, would rather give the bass a try.

Troy

[T Hood]

More good things coming out of small ponds. There's a nice little pond at the school where I coach. The keep it stocked and have created their own little "eco-trail" on campus.

I found a use for a Heddon Teeny Torpedo (their smallest). These guys don't get pressure at all. Anything cool sounding that hits the water gets nailed. Not big but fun. Also, I'm a huge fan of inline spinners. The small PMs and Tru-Tungstens I use for trout are paying dividends with bass. The larger Mepps, Terminators, and PMs are gathering attention from larger bass. Plus, I've been making it fun by using an ultralight.

[jdmidwest]

Funny you mention this, that is where I have been getting the old fishing fix too lately. Last weekend, after chasing turkeys, I hit the pond on the farm and caught over a dozen nice bluegill and 9 bass on a white woolie. This week, city lake and a bead head nymph have been producing bluegill out of the chocolate waters.

Hopefully the creek at the farm will be down this weekend and I will get some stream fishing in. Duck Creek on Sunday, wind and weather permitting.

[ozark trout fisher]

Pond fishing is where it's at now for sure. I got out both last night and tonight. Last night it was raining pretty hard, but I actually had the best bass fishing that I've gotten into this year. The lucky fly was a #8 Beadhead Black Woolly. Tonight, the weather was nicer and I decided to stick to dry fly fishing, with a Dave's Hopper (I realize that it's not hopper season yet but the bluegill don't care.)It was a clear, calm, warm evening that just made me think it would be a good night for that. I didn't catch as many fish as last night, and they were all sunfish, but in all it was a lot more fun. I love catching them on top.

[stlfisher]

I fly fish often for both bass and bluegill and offcourse the redear. They are a blast this time of year and you catch boatloads of them. Anything with rubber legs seems to drive the Bluegill nuts.