In an angler’s life, there are memories that remain forever, coming back sparked by a sound, a combination of fog and light, or even the smell of certain lure. These memories take us back to our fishing roots, when we were little, usually fishing with family and friends in our local ponds. This is probably the reason why we go back to these familiar places year after year.
Enjoy the Simple Pleasures of Pond Fishing
It’s not always possible to go after big fish in remote locations, so smaller waters often provide us with a fishing opportunity that is easy to access and cheap. However, these day trips don’t have to be substitutes or second options. They can be an opportunity to keep your fishing skills sharp, try new lures or gear for an upcoming tournament, or simply relax and let off some stress. You probably won’t lose sleep the night before thinking of what lures to use to catch that monster, but you will surely relax after a few hours of easy paddling and fishing.
Where to Find the Best Spots
Small wetlands are usually shallow, and bass tend to congregate towards the banks, regardless of the season. This is where you should focus on fishing first. It also presents an opportunity to fish from the bank, so taking your kids is always fun as they can practice fishing both from the boat and from land. As always, try to find irregularities in shoreline contour, depth, or substrate.
If emergent vegetation is present—such as cattails or bulrush—so much better. If your local pond also boasts expanses of floating or rooted floating vegetation such as water hyacinth or lilies, be sure to fish them as well. Regularly, there is not much shade in these ponds, so bass will seize the opportunity of hiding from sunlight under the pads. In these pads, we can definitely have an advantage over bank or boat fishermen, as we kayak anglers can access areas that cannot be reached otherwise.
Local anglers can easily overfish local ponds, particularly if they’re unmanaged; these hideouts, accessible only to paddling anglers, can give you that fish to break the local record.
A good approach to prioritize fishing spots is to look for isolated structure. These are totally different from what we normally find in larger lakes. There are no big drop-offs, humps or submerged points. But we can find the odd fence posts, a small streambed or channel, or even small rock piles or single large rocks scattered throughout the lake. Basically we have to look for anything different that can be used by bass as cover from the elements or to chase prey.
The best way to find these structures is by using a fish finder. Mark these spots in your fish finder unit or use a separate GPS unit, so you are aware of the precise location. For those wetlands that have fluctuating water levels throughout the year, we can visit them when they’re low and try to locate these structures if they’re above the waterline. In any case, it is important to know where these isolated structures are, because they will hold bass year round; knowing this will give you an advantage over other anglers.
Effective Fishing Tackle for Small Ponds
Keep your lure and tackle selection small. I mentally dissect water into three sections—surface, water column and bottom—and choose lures accordingly.
Surface lures: I usually take a popper, a small frog (there are excellent scaled-down versions for smaller bass, I use white and dark green), a propbait and a buzzbait (3/8-oz for longer casts, 1/4 for very shallow water or slower retrieves); I prefer white with a gold blade.
Water column lures: A small shallow crankbait or two (craw or chartreuse-colored work well most of the time, as water is not as clear as in larger lakes), a small jerkbait, a small single-bladed spinnerbait (you can switch the skirt for a grub if you like for a slimmer profile), and a pack or two of soft 4” jerkbaits (nose-hook them with a wide gap finesse hook). There is no need for deep or medium diving crankbaits, as local ponds are usually shallow. If you’re fishing a deeper pond (or a gravel pit for instance), also take a couple of these deep divers.
Bottom lures: Light Texas rigs (1/16 & 1/8-oz), split shot rigs and slider heads (1/16 and 1/8) work best. You can use the same soft jerkbaits for weightless and for bottom fishing to keep your tackle box small. Alternatively you can choose any small soft plastic of your preference, finesse worms and small craws are particularly productive. Take one color for stained water (black/blue flake always works) and another for clearer water (watermelon red is an excellent choice).
Medium-powered rods will do fine, I favor spinning setups for pond fishing, as they allow me to throw much lighter lures than with baitcasting gear. 1000- to 2500-sized reels are excellent, I prefer braid as a main line for all my fishing, so I spool them with 15-lb braid and change leaders according to what I’m using that particular day.
Fluorocarbon leaders ranging from 8 to 12 lbs are the norm for water column and bottom lures, and 10- to 15-lb monofilament leaders for surface fishing. For frogs, I just tie the braid directly with a double Palomar knot (this is important, as you will be using thin braid, so the knot will not slip).
Pond Fishing Techniques
If targeting the banks, I usually start with a buzzbait, casting towards shore and retrieving as slow as possible (while keeping it buzzing it on top) all the way to the kayak, bumping into isolated cover if possible. This will fire up other bass and usually you will catch several on the same spot. This is a good search bait. You can alternate with a small, shallow crankbait as you are casting towards the bank.
If you find that bass are positioned at a certain depth or distance from the shoreline, you can position your kayak and make parallel casts.
When fishing laydowns in shallow ponds, I use a hard jerkbait on the outer edges, and this will usually pull them out from the laydown. You can also fish your propbait to the sides or on top of a submerged tree, and it will call them from the bottom of the cover.
For lily pads and sparse cattail and bulrush patches, a small frog is hard to beat. You will be fishing in very shallow water (usually less than a foot deep), particularly if away from shore, so this may be a good place to fish those bass that have never been reached before. Bass, regardless of size, will hit a frog any time of year and be very aggressive in their attack. Frogs are a normal occurrence in small ponds so they’re used to attacking them with energy.
If you’re using a fish finder, a retractable or movable transducer arm is useful, to avoid damaging it or entangling it in the weeds. Some kayaks have recessed scupper holes for transducers, or have pontoon-shaped hulls that protect the transducer, but if not, use an inside-the-hull installation or opt for a movable transducer arm.
A popper is deadly on targeting the edges of exposed structure, such as wire fences, or cover such as lily pad edges. Be sure to try them out. If you have a rainy day, poppers will produce explosive strikes immediately after the rain has passed.
For isolated, submerged structure or cover, I use bottom baits. Texas rigs are always good, and split shot rigs are wonderful over rock piles and small brush. If targeting docks or old pilings, a slider head or a weightless soft jerkbait will work for you.
If bass are sluggish that particular day, try dead-sticking a Senko over isolated structure. This is one of the best techniques I’ve used in small ponds when bass are not being aggressive. I caught my biggest bass in my local pond by dead-sticking a watermelon Senko while eating a sandwich. So, you never know!
If you like fishing for other species, carp, catfish and panfish are very likely to abound in your local pond. Bring some bait and inline spinners to spice up your bass fishing day and bring the dinner home.
Keeping It Simple
Kayak pond fishing is as simple as it gets. Unearth that old or small kayak that you are reluctant to use anymore. Choose one or two rods and a small tackle box. Pack your lunch and be ready to enjoy a nice day out on the water.
You will again experience the kayak fishing experience with the simplicity with which it all started. Evolution is great and we should embrace it, but sometimes, it just feels good to go back to the roots.
Alejandro Pérez-Arteaga is a Wilderness Systems pro, as well as Adventure Technology Paddles, Kistler Rods, YakAttack, RAM Mounts and a member of the HOOK1 Crew. He lives and fishes in central Mexico.
Pond fishing helps keep your skills sharp, lets you try new lures or gear for an upcoming tournament, or simply relax and let off some stress. | Feature photo: Alejandro Pérez-Arteaga
