baitfish?

[fishing man]

hey everyone, i have a major question. how can i figure out what baitfish is in this pond i fish in? it is pretty much private and i know there is bluegill in the pond, but i have been trying to find out if there is shad or crayfish in there. thanks for any help

[ESipes_89]

If it's a privately owned pond you can take shad out of the equation all together. They will not survive being stocked in a pond.

Crayfish are a given, they're in everything from pond to lakes and from creeks to puddles. If you want to know for sure try a tieing a piece of bacon to the end of a string and throw it out there. (in the summer) I you start to feel a light tug, pull it in and you'll have a crawdad on the end of it.

If there are sunfish, there are creek chubs (minnows) and if you have a small jig, try fishing for crappie. I'll bet you anything they're in there.

Also, don't forget to check each bass's throat for either antenna or a fin. I've learned what the bass like in every single pond I fish by doing this. It's increased my catch ratio by 3 fold in some places.

-Eric

[lunker-lander]

I, too, have had trouble figuring this out in some of my local lakes I fish. One thing I found that is good to tell what your baitfish are is figuring out if the lake or body of water is ogliotrohic, eutrophic, etc. If I remember correctly, the eutrophic lakes(Northern waters), mainly conatin bluegill, perch, walleye, crappie, etc.

If you can figure all this out, match it up with 89's description. and you'll have it figured out in one summer!

-Lunk-

[Raul]

There may not be any baitfish at all.

You approach the pond, throw in a slice of white bread and wait to see what comes and eats it, if after a while nobody has paid attention to your offering then most probably the pond has no baitfish in it.

[3dkicker]

Um, how about a minnow or crayfish trap??? They're the same thing and catch both.
Google either and look at the pictures. Both cost around $10 and you'll catch bait you can fish with.

[pig n jig]

Don't exclude shad colored baits , because there aren't any in your waters.There isn't any here in my area, but yet the shad colored baits work very well. P N J

[senko]

Originally Posted by 3dkicker

Um, how about a minnow or crayfish trap??? They're the same thing and catch both.
Google either and look at the pictures. Both cost around $10 and you'll catch bait you can fish with.

just about to say lol...... yeah the traps work great just stick a piece of some kinda food in there.

[BigBassin144]

There will be catfish in almost any pond. My guess would be that bluegill, crappie or some other sort of sunfish are the main forage of bass. Just my guess though.

BB