Small Pond

[sean kerley]

I bought an inflatable boat the other day to try to get out after some of the bigger fish that I'm guessing are away from the shoreline here in August. (really shallow pond, maybe 4 acres, a couple of 7 foot holes, but mostly about 3-5 feet. Been catching a TON of tiny 'gills, redear and yellow perch on the shoreline).

I spent a whole day out on the pond in my little boat. Fished downed limbs, submerged points, and the deepest holes I could find with ice jigs tipped with worm and sometimes using 1 inch tubes. Still ended up catching a bunch of little ones, but I know from seeing other folks come off the water (and rare catches I've made from shore) there is a good population of really big bream and crappie in that pond. The only two decent fish I caught actually came from about 2 feet of water, right up against the shore. A fat redbreast was hanging out under the boughs of a tree and a 10 inch redear was in some slop right by a downed limb.

Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong? I'm not used to fishing from a boat in freshwater, so ANY advice is greatly appreciated!

[carl hendrix]

just saw this post Sean;; usually the bigger ones like to hang around close to the bottom;  and like Jim Gronaw says;; early morning; late evening can be your best time to go fishing !  one way to find some ; is to cast just a worm and hook;; crawl it across the bottom..     good luck to ya !!

[Gary Boysen]

Sean, two rigs to consider trying. A slip bobber and drop-shot. Try fishing different depths to find out where the fish are hanging out. If they are there, you'll find them eventually.

[Jim Gronaw]

Sean...you might want to try fishing during low light periods, dawn or dusk and see if that doesn't make a differance in the summer heat. Also, just try live bait by itself and see what happens.