I grew up fishing these small, square, pan shaped, ponds. These ponds are designed to retain rain water, to seep into the underground water table, before rolling downstream in creeks. Almost every urban area has some within reach. They might not have names but are attributed to the water district of the city or county. There may be a dozen or so ponds linking along a creek or river which their water is diverted. They will all hold pan fish, bass, carp, suckers and even a few trout that make the creek their home. Some ponds will be more productive than others due to size discrepancies. They usually will have tules growing all around them with various open pockets which you access the water, and inlet and outlet spillways or pipes.
At first glance, it can be difficult to identify where to fish in them. The spillway inlet and outlets are usually the best places but anywhere you can gain access to the water may hold the large, loner, type bass. Most people generally associate these ponds with only small bass but know that each pond will house one or two big bass that rule the roost.
Many first time fishermen got hooked at these ponds, you'll see evidence of this at the popular spots. Always leave them in better condition than when you came, to ensure a lifelong semi-secret spot to fix a bass jones when needed.
While you'll never call them aesthetically pleasing, these productive ponds will grow on you and show their hidden beauty.
Here's some stuff that evolved from decades of fishing at these ponds.
When super-lines just came out, I knew it was what I needed to make my ultra light spinning/small worm set up work. The small diameter of Fireline enabled me to upsize the pound test, to keep from breaking off on a short line. The suppleness was key as well. At night the visibility wasn't a factor and the non-stretch property gave unbelievable sensitivity and hook setting power.
4" Worm- In the summertime, weeds will choke these ponds making it difficult to fish. Small 4" worms rigged Texas with a old style 1/0 worm hook. This enables you to fish on top of the weeds that can cover the entire bottom. The top of the round worm head will grab the weeds or bottom, allowing the bait to sit with slight line tension. When the worm finally slips off the bottom towards you, lower the rod and give the handle a spin to take up the slack. Gently raise the rod tip until contact is again made.
When there aren't any weeds covering the bottom, a small split shot can be used aprox. 8-12" above the worm. For this I like the removable type of shot. The little wings aid in the weight catching on small pebbles or crevices, enabling slight contact to be kept before slipping, where a handle spin and lowering then raising the rod tip until tension is again established.
This technique, while extremely slow and tedious, has accounted for some of my biggest fish. Both in the middle of summer and dead of winter, at night. I'd be half asleep, fishing on auto pilot because of the slow night. The rod tip will slowly bend under the weight of the fish which gently picked up the worm. I found myself suddenly jolted back into reality with a giant fish splashing me on only about ten feet of line.
Senko- Weightless Texas Rig. Cast into current seam and let sink to the bottom. Reel up the slack until the bowed line enables contact with the bait and hold it there as long as you can stand. Slightly raising the rod tip to keep contact, when the bait finally slips towards you, lower the rod tip and give the reel handle a spin and lift until contact is established again.
Whacky Rigged, I like a weighted, weedless, jig head. Cast close to the tules and let sink on a semi slack line. After it has sat for a spell, I'll give it a small jerk to lift the bait and get the ends to flutter. Give the handle a spin raise the tip till contact is made again.
When a bite is felt, wait for your rod tip to be pulled down before coming back with the hook set. This gives them time to get the hook portion into their mouth and the hook up percentage climbs.
Drop Shot craw or lizard-The drop shot enabled me to give the bait action without pulling it out of the strike zone. The idea was to have the bait "lie in wait" for the fish to come up upon it. A slight twitch action would let the fish believe that it found the bait, instead of having the bait come to the fish. It also lets the split shot I used snag the weeds while leaving the bait clean.
Flippin' the bird-The tules that lined to shoreline would have gaps where animals had gotten a drink. I could walk behind the tules undetected and flip the blackbird over the tules and have the line come through the small space in the line of tules. This was always fun because you would get a close up look at the fish taking the bird off the surface.
Twice, I've had real red winged black birds attacking me because they thought I had one of their own on the end of my line. I would even put the lure on the path, so they could see that it wasn't real. They couldn't comprehend so I would have to put the lure away instead of freaking them out more than they already were.
Weedless Shad or Grass Minnow -The Huddleston weedless baits are perfect at the Perc ponds when the ponds are left in there natural weedy state. The last few years though, they have introduced Signet Select blue toilet dye to kill the natural weeds. ( Don't get me started on how I feel about that stuff.)
Wakebait- Black Dog Baits G2 Shell Cracker Bluegill or Live Target green pumpkinseed wake bait. Either are a great bait to throw at night. Slowly waked along like a struggling Bluegill, along the shoreline or out in deeper water reeled back to the inlet, always seems to get bit.
Original floating Rapala - This was one of the first lures that could actually rival live bait. We would cast out and wait for the rings to dissipate, then "pop the top". We would catch literally hundreds of fish the first day but that would quickly taper off once the fish started to catch on. Information must get passed on inherently because even today this will no not work anymore like it once did.
Huddy 6" or 8" - I'm always amazed at how well these baits will work at perc ponds. The fish will follow the bait all the way until they are forced to decide to strike or let it get away when it runs out of water. I've had fish hit as the bait was coming out of the water. So always anticipate a late hit. I think the 8" size works better than the smaller 6. I guess the greed factor plays into them being unable to resist. Stealth is the key.
Spro BBZ1 6" or 8" floater. Casting parellel to the shore and slowly swimming it past any anomaly that sticks out, providing an ambush point, is the way to fish this lure. It's like the closer you pass the object, the higher the strike percentage. I got hooked on Swimbait's the very first time I tried one, using this method. It resulted in catching the biggest fish in the pond. It's my favorite way to fool a fish into a vicious strike, you can predict. They'll either pounce on it or "power suck" it. I can't see anything ever beating the excitement of this technique. I believe the 8" works better again.
The ponds were so conveniently close, I could pop in anytime I needed a quick fix. Unfortunately the water district drained all 15 or 16 ponds last season. It's going to take a while for them to come back. They might not ever be as good as they once were. Fortunately, they're not the only ones around.
