re: Anyone on the board fish ponds?

Interestingly, I almost never use crankbaits, jerkbaits, or spinnerbaits in ponds. The trebles in the first two get caught up in grass too often and controlling the depth to avoid that issue is a pain. Instead, I’ll you a lipless crank occasionally but the fish need to be feeding heavily for that kind of reaction bite.

Because ponds are pretty small and I’m making a lot of casts in generally the same area, I’ve found that moving baits create too much noise and eventually turns off the bite (unless I get them on the first cast or two). Whereas, soft plastics I can continuously fish slowly throughout the area.

I use drop shots in the dead of summer when the grass gets really thick. The weight gets in the grass but the bait suspends above it better than most. I’ll also use it when the temperatures get cold and the fish slow down. Ned rig, drop shots, and shakey heads are basically all I throw in the winter. My ponds are heavily pressured so I finesse fish year around. I catch large and small with these techniques and I appreciate the greater number of bites they provide.

Surprisingly, I rarely fish a straight Texas Rig soft plastic. I think one poster who said “throw something different than everyone else” is very accurate for ponds. Senkos and texas rigged craws and creature baits are what I see others fishing so I venture away from those most of the time.