anyone ever fish neighborhood ponds?

[inlovewithsurfin]

i have heard that there are "monster" crappie and bass in my neighborhood pond... i fished there as a kid but never caught anything but small catfish? well a few weeks back i bought a 12ft V-hull with a 9.9 and trolling motor and figured it would be great for pond prowling (minus the 9.9). so i figured i would give it a try tonight. i only fished for an hour and with the help of a neighborhood kid we carried the boat across my street and into the water. i dont have a depth/fish finder on the boat yet however even with fishing blind i was able to pull in two very nice sized crappie! these were the only two fish i caught... but id say this pond has some potential! no-one ever fishes the pond and unless you live here you wouldnt even know it existed! im gonna have to get in there and start figuring the fish out! im pretty excited about it.


here is a pic of the new boat


its definitely too heavy for one person to carry it. so i will need to build some sort of dolly system so i can fish anytime i want.

here are a few pics of the two fish i caught!





both caught with different color jigs



anyone else fish small local ponds? id love to hear some great stories and see any pictures if youve got them!

[Boscoe]

Way to go. You're on to something. A lot of little bodies of water like that go unfished. Back in the 80's my old fishing buddyand his stepson used to fish the lake at Bayville Park which was full os stunted crappie, load up a cooler and just ride around till they found one of those ponds and dump them. I bet they did that a hundred times. they might have hit the one you are fishing. There is one I fish sometimes that has a healthy population of crappies that I can catch from shore, fished it as a kid there were never any crappie in it till he stocked it.

[Corker]

Those little places can be gems! I'd try every one I could get into. Since most fresh water anglers chase greenies and very few will bother to put a boat into a small neighborhood pond, you could find some old unmolested freckles.

[inlovewithsurfin]

ok so here is another question... in a murky neighborhood pond that has a maximum depth of 5-6 feet (and pretty much the same depth everywhere) no visible structure besides small backyard docks and bulkheads... what are you looking for in targeting crappie? everything looks the same out there. and like i said i havent put on a depth/fish finder yet...

[Boscoe]

ok so here is another question... in a murky neighborhood pond that has a maximum depth of 5-6 feet (and pretty much the same depth everywhere) no visible structure besides small backyard docks and bulkheads... what are you looking for in targeting crappie? everything looks the same out there. and like i said i havent put on a depth/fish finder yet...

Most of those ponds were constructed as retention ponds for runoff or as borrow areas for sand and don't have a lot of depth or structure. Some have a deeper hole that was used as sump during the excavation that might hold more fish. Once you get a finder you could look for those or blowdowns of limbs that collect from storms, check the south and west sides as thats where stuff collects from the stronger north and east winds. It doesn't take much cover to hold fish when there's only a litttle of it available. That pond might be a good spot for couple of Christmas trees!

[inlovewithsurfin]

Most of those ponds were constructed as retention ponds for runoff or as borrow areas for sand and don't have a lot of depth or structure. Some have a deeper hole that was used as sump during the excavation that might hold more fish. Once you get a finder you could look for those or blowdowns of limbs that collect from storms, check the south and west sides as thats where stuff collects from the stronger north and east winds. It doesn't take much cover to hold fish when there's only a litttle of it available. That pond might be a good spot for couple of Christmas trees!

already have two christmas trees waiting for me to sink them!

[Percidae_Papermouth]

Cool post, Ive got a small hole I fish just like that, only its full of Bass and white perch. Feast or famine my friend...Either they are red hot, catching 3 lbers every cast or lockjaw not even a peck...Same murky green water with a max depth of around 7-8 ft. Had three consectutive days a few years ago me and my father had 84 Bass smallest was 3lbs biggest was 9lbs... Id fish the heck out of it because once the water warms it will shut em down.

remember cloudy dark water warms faster than clear water, and shallow as well, a good 3 day warming trend should have that place prime for big slab crappies

[jim.b]

i also live on one of these drainage ponds. i used to stock it every year with bream and crappie. i did this for years and i see people catch fish all the time. the guy that lives next to me has caught crappie up to 1 1/2 pounds which he releases all the fish he catches. i used to fish it myself when i had my friends canoe in my back yard. i have not fished the pond in years. every place i have lived over the years i have stocked with crappie.

[Corker]

no visible structure

There's bound to be a few lawn chairs, trash barrels, and old tires in there.

[undertheradar]

There's bound to be a few lawn chairs, trash barrels, and old tires in there.

Exactly. Also SOMEONE has thrown the occasional downed tree limb in. I'd start of by working the middle. maybe longline troll. If its too shallow, get some pencil corks and set it for the deepest depth of the pond. Then Id take my long pole and work out to the side of the boat to parallel the shore.