Hi guys, this little pond i fish which is only about 3 acres, has gin clear water, i’m talking just like tap water. Only time i have any success at all at this little pond is during low light conditions, like at dawn or dusk or windy, cloudy, rainy days. I have limited success with a chatterbait then.
I have downsized my line and lures and limited the amount of flash the lures produce. how can i catch fish here when it is sunny?
“REMEMBER: i am fishing from the bank and no boats are allowed”
I want to fish this place because it gets the least amount of fishing pressure and is fairly easy to get to and navigate around the bank. How do i fish this pond and be successful when it’s sunny and clear? Because of the long, cold, wet spring the weeds are way down this year.
I would imagine the major sense the bass uses is his eyesight in this pond, although i try to appeal to his other senses, taste, smell, hearing and lateral line as well with motion, vibration and noise and scent. Is it to much and i’m spooking the fish.
I think the bass population is pretty low, hardly ever see any bass cruising and again this is tap water so i can see a long way in the water. Is this worth my time to fish? Thanks for your help!
In clear water bass primarily use their sight to feed. You do not want anything that is putting out lots of noise and vibration. I would recommend fishing a senko, jig, and texas riggged finesse worm. These lures are great for gin clear water. If you are wanting to fish fast then I would use a swim jig and burn it because you son’t want to have the bass get a good look at it.
In clear water bass primarily use their sight to feed. You do not want anything that is putting out lots of noise and vibration. I would recommend fishing a senko, jig, and texas riggged finesse worm. These lures are great for gin clear water. If you are wanting to fish fast then I would use a swim jig and burn it because you son’t want to have the bass get a good look at it.
Remember, i’m fishing from the bank not out of a boat, and need to make long casts, hard to do that with an unweighted four inch worm. i have tried the swim jig with no success. tried sluggos, flukes, creature baits no success. A texas rigged 7 or 10” worm with a 3/8 oz pegged bullet weight might work.
This is not just clear water this is tap water, there is no color to it at all. it’s just a hole dug out and rain water filled it up, no water coming in and they have a culvert to the river if it overfills. so there is no movement, just tap water.
everything i have caught out of this pond in the last 2 years is either with a chatterbait or spinnerbait or a spin jig i built myself. I just don’t think there are many bass in this pond and people keep everything they catch so that lowers the population even more.
i never see anyone else catch anything either. There is forage, i see bluegills swimming along the shore. just not sure it is worth the effort to fish this place. in 2 years i’ve only caught 4 bass, although i haven’t fished it a whole lot, i fish the other 3 ponds more. it is just a tough situation but i want to fish this place, it’s a challenge and i don’t have to fight all the people to get bank space to fish.
I do have some bluegill colored swimbaits i can use, only problem is i can’t cast them very far, i’ll give that a try with a lot of scent.
all good suggestions thanks guys, i’ll put all these suggestions in the vault.
i’m just not good at bottom bouncing baits, i know i need to get the patience to do it but right now i have no patience, maybe next year when i am retired i can aquire some. thanks
I have a 7’ m/l spinning rod with a 20 series reel i can use for lighter baits and that is what i am going to use for the bluegill swimbait. spool it with 6 or 8 lb silver thread excalibur. thanks
I could use a drop shot but from the bank and for a long cast i would have to have a 6 or 7 foot tag end to put the weight on. it won’t be str8 up and down, it will be almost sideways, it will be sort of like a crappie rig. i don’t know if i can get the bait above the weeds growing on the bottom be a mess to try and cast with 6 foot weeds all around me. but i might be able to rig up something, there is a rock ledge that is 5 to 10 feet off the bank all around this pond but it is heavy with weeds right now, i’ll give the drop shot a try down this ledge, don’t really have any drop shot stuff but i can rig something up, i got a feeling the weeds are going to screw me up, worth a try though thanks.
I have tried carolina rig with no success.
i normally buy stuff i can use from the bank and some stuff is more for being on a boat so i don’t buy it. i don’t have many crank baits because of the weeds and if i get snagged on something i’m probably going to lose it. hard to drop shot from the bank.
I just might give up on this little pond, it needs stocked but they won’t do it because it is so small. i only saw one bass on a bed during spawning season
Kevin showed me what he used tho drop shot in the weeds. (He pullled the rod out of his boat and he had it still rigged) He used a XPS floro no swivel and a small l (1/O maybe) worm hook with a Texas rigged (weedless) small caffeine shad I think it was KVD Magic color and about a 3/8oz tungsten weight. 3ft between the weight and the hook with be fine don’t worry about the angle… If you are really worried add a very small swivel (good quality..don’t buy a cheap brass Berkley one) that will make sure the caffiene shad will stay up and level.
thanks for all your suggestions. I just read an article in BassMaster magazine by John Crews and Elite Pro who is a gin clear water expert. of course he is writing this article for guys with boats.
Drop shotting: for suspended bass was 1 suggestion. The weeds are up and i may have waited to long to do that now but will next year, the weeds are at least 5 or 6’ deep now, especially we have had sun all week and i haven’t been there for a couple of weeks, i will look to see if it is doable.
carolina rigging: and he uses a 5 or 6 ’ leader with a 5” lizard, might be tough to cast that from the bank surrounded by weeds, cross that one off.
topwater: he said sunny or overcast doesn’t make any difference, says they’ll come from 25 feet away or longer, i imagine you work it pretty fast, he uses a popper or walker but said any topwater should work. i’ll use a buzzbait and some sort of a prop bait or spook, doable
Spinnerbait etc.. on overcast day: he said burn it, if you think you are cranking fast, crank faster, don’t let em get a good look at it. doable
i think the bluegill swimbait is doable.
And he likes baits that make noise but u have to work them pretty fast don’t you?
I can’t remember what the last tip was but he gave 5, i’ll have to reread the article. Thanks guys for all your suggestion, i’m forming a game plan to attack with, but i can only carry so much tackle to the bank. and i am trying to weed that down to 2 combos plus a back pack. i found more combos gives me to many choices and i don’t fish them as effectively as i should, when i’m going to a pond to frog fish, that is all i take, my frog gear. maybe that is why i catch more in the summer on a frog.
Would a lipless crank work? i got a new blue and chrome, 1/2 oz, hot spot i’ve been itching to try.
i fish super clear water allll the time, and its not a wonder you caught those fish on fast moving baits like a chatterbait or spinnerbait, i do much of my damage on these. http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/BORN2FISH001/Photo435.jpg (heres one i love)
Throw a gold blade on a 3/8 oz spinnerbait with a white/grey skirt, and your in good shape. I always burn mine in and pop the rod tip so the skirt will flare to get a reaction strike.
another thing to keep in mind is on overcast/rainy days with clear water go chartreuse with your color, it always gets me fish. Both LM and SM.
other than that, these guys all hit it on the head. drop shot it up…you can do that from the bank, i do it when im pond fishing. The fish more than likely dont see a drop shot very much so thats ups your chances. and try a senko, i like a 4 or 5 inch yamasenko in chart/shad when im fishing clear water, but sometimes i use black in clear water even though that should make no sense, ive caught a few fish on it when they wont hit other colors. hope this helps!
i fish super clear water allll the time, and its not a wonder you caught those fish on fast moving baits like a chatterbait or spinnerbait, i do much of my damage on these. http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/BORN2FISH001/Photo435.jpg (heres one i love)
Throw a gold blade on a 3/8 oz spinnerbait with a white/grey skirt, and your in good shape. I always burn mine in and pop the rod tip so the skirt will flare to get a reaction strike.
another thing to keep in mind is on overcast/rainy days with clear water go chartreuse with your color, it always gets me fish. Both LM and SM.
other than that, these guys all hit it on the head. drop shot it up…you can do that from the bank, i do it when im pond fishing. The fish more than likely dont see a drop shot very much so thats ups your chances. and try a senko, i like a 4 or 5 inch yamasenko in chart/shad when im fishing clear water, but sometimes i use black in clear water even though that should make no sense, ive caught a few fish on it when they wont hit other colors. hope this helps!
Thanks man, i use a 1/2 oz. white spinnerbait with a 1 colorado and a #3 gold indiana, i can really burn this spinnerbait everything else i can’t fish as fast or i will get rollover even the SK burner baits rollover and all baits are perfectly tuned, i stop and go and pop it once in a while to get the skirt to flair and a white and chartreuse chatterbait most of the time flairing the skirt.
i don’t think i can drop shot now because the weeds are to high and i can only effectively cast maybe a 2’ tag end, got major weeds and bushes at my back now, so that is for next year, plus i have never drop shotted anything and have no confidence in it. it is on my todo list. i have never had any luck with senkos maybe because i have no confidence in them either and i just don’t like to fish slow. if and when i ever get any patience slower fishing will be more enjoyable right now i have fun fishing fast and don’t have fun fishing slow. i’ve got a limited amount of time i can fish and i want to cover as much water as i can in that time.
cool beans, it took me forever to like fishing slow. Now i would rather catch one on a plastic than a crank or spinnerbait. To me it brings better fish and its more satisfying. best thing that helped me with that was taking one rod, and a pack of the bait i want to learn better.
cool beans, it took me forever to like fishing slow. Now i would rather catch one on a plastic than a crank or spinnerbait. To me it brings better fish and its more satisfying. best thing that helped me with that was taking one rod, and a pack of the bait i want to learn better.
I hear you, i tell myself to do the same things but i’m to old. i got into bass fishing this way to late. just started fishing with artificials last 2 or 3 years, before that it was a minnow under a boober till the price of minnows got to high.
right now i’m stockpiling rods and reels and baits so i won’t need to buy anything for when i retire and my income is cut in half and I won’t have the money to buy much. maybe after i retire and the stress level drops i’ll be able to fish slower,
right now i just don’t have the patience or the want to, to do it. i just love the spinnerbaits and chatterbait, topwater, buzzbaits and frogs and that’s all i want to fish. i force myself to throw other things but my heart is just not in it. in the last 2 years i’ve caught 4 5lbers, 1 6 lber and 1 nine pounder fishing this way. living in a cold climate of chicago area i don’t think that is to bad.
I would be using 10lb fluoro and a 5” senko in green pumpkin. I have a lake just like that here and that is where I have caught my personal best and lost two that were bigger.
From my experience with the clear pond here, spinnerbaits, crank, and chatters scare them away. They are used to it being calm and quite and I think all that noise scares them, which is why I go stealthy with a senko worked very slow. Often the fish are way out in the middle, and if they are up shallow they will spot you walking before you ever see them.
