9/17/12 small pond bass

[buzzbaiter]

Hit a small public pond near me and did fairly well despite bluebird skies and high pressure. Caught a decent amount of bass in the 8 to 17" range with the four below being the largest. Nothing huge but some solid, healthy fish. It was 50/50 split with some bass on buzzbaits and others on a inline spinner of all things.


http://i1060.photobucket.com/albums/t455/Buzzbaiter/5373b25f.jpg
http://i1060.photobucket.com/albums/t455/Buzzbaiter/e5eb4422.jpg
http://i1060.photobucket.com/albums/t455/Buzzbaiter/c32319fa.jpg
http://i1060.photobucket.com/albums/t455/Buzzbaiter/a0ed502e.jpg

[tycomps]

small pond, nice bass. looks like they've been eating :)

[AndyS]

Def some solid, healthy fish.

[Eskimo]

Nice bass.
Always keep your small ponds a secret. It takes relatively little pressure to ruin them.

There used to be a nice little pond I used to fish that somebody had stocked with bass and sunfish. Catching big bass in the little pond was like shooting fish in a barrel. A lot of locals fished there, but they always released their bass. Every time they fished there, they caught the same bass and released them again.

Eventually the 'non-locals' found the pond and couldn't believe their luck! They set up huge family picnics on the banks of the pond and took EVERY #%$&*# bass they caught home with them. They left NOTHING behind but food wrappers, napkins, and diapers.

It really broke my heart. :-(

[buzzbaiter]

Been there, seen that - on many small ponds. Although word of mouth spreading among individuals can hurt the fishing, its the groups that show up in vans with 6 people and 15 poles between them that really ruin spots. The garbage I can deal with, the taking of every legal-size fish I cannot. Although what they do is legal, our culture seems to be the only ones that understand C&R. I work with people from russia, bulgaria, romania, peru and china. When I show them pics of big fish(like the pike) they all ask the same thing: how did it taste? I try to explain the C&R policy and its benefits but they still say letting them go is dumb since they'll die anyways:rolleyes: Anyhow, I never say where I go unless its well known. The fact is there are no secret places - just places. As popular as say Spruce Run Reservoir is, I've had plenty of 3,4,even 5 hr trips where I saw one or two boats. I've had other trips where within 10 minutes of being there, I've already seen 15-20 boats. Just like catching fish, its all about luck and timing.