Fishing a New Pond

[BillyGoat]

Hey guys, been a "looker" on here for awhile but now need some advice. Got permission to fish a pond a few weeks ago but am having trouble locking down any sort of pattern to the fish. Some specifics about the pond.... ultra clear water (can see the bottom 6-7 feet down around the edges), corners and edges are pretty spotted up with mats of thick green "duckweed" as i know it and stuff the owner has put in i guess for the fish to use for cover (tires and old blocks), middle is 15- 18 feet deep with flat bottom. My problem is this; in doing some research on here i found all kinds of suggestions as to how to fish grass mats with frogs and running senkos and flukes round the edges of the mats but none of them seem to work with any regularity. Anybody got any suggestions for a guy trying to get a bite?

[WaffleJaw]

Depending on what time your fishing the pond,I would say the fish are probably hanging in the deep, cooler water with the summer heat.
You can probably catch em shallow in the mornings and evenings...But I would concentrate deep during the day with slow moving jigs and T-rigs
Maybe run a deep crank to search for structure and pick off more active bass..Then move to a slow presentation with heavier jigs,ad T-rigs.

And welcome to the site!!

[Jim80]

You could also chuck a spinnerbait and slow roll it back to you . What have you been catching them on there? Or have you just had no luck at this place? If they are biting on one lure just change up your presentation a bit or maybe switch colors to see if that will make the difference you need .

and welcome to the site



Jim

[WTL]

Hi, welcome aboard.

Where is this pond in the country, and how warm has it been? Does it receive any inflow of water? Are there any springs that you know of? Are you fishing from the bank, with no hope of getting out on the pond in a boat or kayak?

[walkeraviator]

If all else fails... live bait... (ducks to avoid rocks)

[Rebbasser]

Welcome to the forum!

I agree wit the early/late idea-this time of year bass are like people-they look for comfort, in this case being cooler temperatures so they go deep. In clear water like that I use natural colors-shad and crawfish for hard baits, green pumpkin/watermelon/watermelon red/baby bass for soft plastics.

Another thing to try is to throw a weedless, weightless soft plastic up on the mat and drag it across it. In addition to going deep they will bury themselves in the thick stuff during the heat of the day, and you can get some hard hits doing this. A frog is a great bait to throw in this situation.

[bamabassman]

i too say welcome ! glad you came aboard bud. if it were me and since this is the "DOG" days of summer, i would conentrate ont he structure instead of the mats. the bigger ones will be there i think.
if oyu insist on fishing the mats, try a jig or paca craw or sweet beaver. fish it like oyu would a worm. or better yet, use a worm.

but really think in this heat that they will be down in cooler water. jsut my 2 cents worth.

[Cavs1123]

I would bomb a deeper diving crank out there if possible...

[basshunter21]

I was fishing a pond earlier today with the similar matted grass on the surface. I put a spro frog on my rod and was casting it out on the grass. I would would reel it in slow and once in a while twitch the rod and the frog would slide across the grass. I caught a LM doing that.

[keithdog]

Originally Posted by bamabassman

i too say welcome ! glad you came aboard bud. if it were me and since this is the "DOG" days of summer, i would conentrate ont he structure instead of the mats. the bigger ones will be there i think.
if oyu insist on fishing the mats, try a jig or paca craw or sweet beaver. fish it like oyu would a worm. or better yet, use a worm.

but really think in this heat that they will be down in cooler water. jsut my 2 cents worth.

I'd have to agree with Bama here. A weighted t-rigged Beaver or Paca Craw punched right through the matted vegitation and worked down below is how I would go. Peg your weight for sure to keep it tight against the hook. And don't be afraid to go with a heavy weight if need be to get the bait through the mat and down to the bottom. I find that a heavy weighted Beaver shooting past a bass will draw a strong reation bite. The 3/8 weight works for me up here most of the time, but 3/4-1oz will sometimes be needed to get that bait down there.