Small lake fishing?

[123chris]

What is the major food source for B****in small lakes? I have several near home that I like to fish, but I dont belive there are shad or bait fish in them. All the major magazines describe fishing in large lakes and finding the bait fish with electronics and fish for the b****deep when it is cold? What do you do if you fish small lakes(250acres) with no shad or bait fish(when I say bait fish I am leaving out bream). The lakes I fish are no deeper than 25 feet at the most, and most water is 10 feet or shallower.Any information would be helpful.

[Kent]

Chris-
We fish lots of small ponds here around LaGrange and at Callaway Gardens. Hooker can probably give you a lot of the science, but my experience is that small pond fish eat flys imitating damselfly nymphs, leeches, sculpins, and small fish (though there may not be a lot of baitfish, b****love smaller b****& bream). My favorite is a pea*****sparkle wooly bugger with a bead head and olive/black maribou tail. I also like lead-eyed muddlers and clousers.

In cold weather especially, presentation is usually much more important than fly selection. And that mean slow and deep - slower and deeper, slowest and deepest. Long leaders or sink tips, countdown time, and jerky strips not 3", not 2", but more like 1/2", with lots of hesitations). These fish get very laid back in cool weather and will seldom chase a fly. But if the weather warms and the sun comes out, always try the shallow spots with a topwater - it's surprising how shallow the big fish will come sometimes.

You should check the fairly new magazine, "Warmwater Fly Fishing" - some pretty good stuff there.

Catch `em this winter and then spring'll be a blast!

Kent
Flyfishing West Georgia & Beyond
kje.home.mindspring.com (http://kje.home.mindspring.com)

[Jeff Jones]

Hey Chris,
This may not sound like fun, but if you trade your long rod for a spinning ree and 6lb. test, small (straight) worms and a LIGHT bullet weight, you can have a blast with cold water bass. You just have to locate them by trial and error which is diffucult at best and impossible often. I've got one pond figured out near my home, but the fish only run a pound on average. I'd rather catch a 9 inch trout than a 12 inch b*** to tell you the truth. Try one of the new LONG worm imitating flies if you must. They look like they would simul. a plastic worm pretty well.
J.J.

[Hooker]

Chris,
Winter time on small ponds is big fish time. The forage base for b a s s in these ponds is bream, other b a s s, crawfish, frogs, snakes, and any terrestrial that drops in the water. If there is a significant creek that enters the pond, than there will also be several species of creek minnows present like silver sides and yellow tails.
During the winter, the smaller b a s s are almost totaly inactive, but the larger fish will still bite larger baits like jig and pigs, spinnerbaits, and cranbits. There are certain areas on ponds that are very productive because of underwater structure that you probably can't see. However, the places you caught fish in the summer are probably the same place you'll catch them in the winter. On ponds, the best place to start is the dam. If you're in a boat, tie on a deep diving Shad Rap and work it about every five feet down the bank. If there is any exposed structure like a stump or a dock, bounce the bait off of it. Fish tend to orient to structure rather than suspend in the winter. If your not getting any action on the Shad Rap, switch to a chartruse spinner bait. most ponds are small enough to work the entire bank structure in a short time. Water temperature is also critical. Don't fish small ponds until mid afternoon, and fish the sunny bank. The water temperature here will actually rise a few degrees during the day, and make the minnows and crawfish more active which in turn will attract and hold the major predators.
I never had much luck flyfishing in the winter in ponds. That is a spring/summer activity with poppers and wooley buggers.

Merry Christms!

Hooker

[Hooker]

Chris,
Winter time on small ponds is big fish time. The forage base for b a s s in these ponds is bream, other b a s s, crawfish, frogs, snakes, and any terrestrial that drops in the water. If there is a significant creek that enters the pond, than there will also be several species of creek minnows present like silver sides and yellow tails.
During the winter, the smaller b a s s are almost totaly inactive, but the larger fish will still bite larger baits like jig and pigs, spinnerbaits, and cranbits. There are certain areas on ponds that are very productive because of underwater structure that you probably can't see. However, the places you caught fish in the summer are probably the same place you'll catch them in the winter. On ponds, the best place to start is the dam. If you're in a boat, tie on a deep diving Shad Rap and work it about every five feet down the bank. If there is any exposed structure like a stump or a dock, bounce the bait off of it. Fish tend to orient to structure rather than suspend in the winter. If your not getting any action on the Shad Rap, switch to a chartruse spinner bait. most ponds are small enough to work the entire bank structure in a short time. Water temperature is also critical. Don't fish small ponds until mid afternoon, and fish the sunny bank. The water temperature here will actually rise a few degrees during the day, and make the minnows and crawfish more active which in turn will attract and hold the major predators.
I never had much luck flyfishing in the winter in ponds. That is a spring/summer activity with poppers and wooley buggers.

Merry Christmas!

Hooker

[Hooker]

Chris,
Winter time on small ponds is big fish time. The forage base for b a s s in these ponds is bream, other b a s s, crawfish, frogs, snakes, and any terrestrial that drops in the water. If there is a significant creek that enters the pond, than there will also be several species of creek minnows present like silver sides and yellow tails.
During the winter, the smaller b a s s are almost totaly inactive, but the larger fish will still bite larger baits like jig and pigs, spinnerbaits, and cranbits. There are certain areas on ponds that are very productive because of underwater structure that you probably can't see. However, the places you caught fish in the summer are probably the same place you'll catch them in the winter. On ponds, the best place to start is the dam. If you're in a boat, tie on a deep diving Shad Rap and work it about every five feet down the bank. If there is any exposed structure like a stump or a dock, bounce the bait off of it. Fish tend to orient to structure rather than suspend in the winter. If your not getting any action on the Shad Rap, switch to a chartruse spinner bait. most ponds are small enough to work the entire bank structure in a short time. Water temperature is also critical. Don't fish small ponds until mid afternoon, and fish the sunny bank. The water temperature here will actually rise a few degrees during the day, and make the minnows and crawfish more active which in turn will attract and hold the major predators.
I never had much luck flyfishing in the winter in ponds. That is a spring/summer activity with poppers and wooley buggers.

Merry Christmas!

Hooker