Large (5+ lb) bass in ponds? 2025
Joshua Kang reply :
So here in Georgia (little bit north of Atlanta), I like to pond hop a lot, fishing a lot of the ponds and smaller lakes near my neighborhood. Nearly every lake I go to I see or have heard of people catching large bass there. The question is how should I specifically target these fish? I usually only catch the *** pounders, but I have heard big worms or jigs with craw trailers catch the bigger ones. Any lures that you would recommend?
IndianaFinesse reply :
I would suggest you take people's claims of "5 pounders" with a grain of salt. Many people will claim they caught a five pounder, when it was really just a three pounder that they didn't weigh.
david in va reply :
I have never seen a bass fisherman that wouldn't stretch it a bit to make the story a bit better
Like we caught them yesterday.
WRB reply :
If you want to catch big bass you need to fish for them.
It's summer period now so night fishing is a good idea. 2 lures come to mine for shore fishing ponds; 9"-12" soft plastic worms T-rigged with 3/16 oz sliding bullet weight, 4/0 #5103 owner hook or equal on 15 lb Big Game mono, baitcasting reel, MH fast rod.
Black buzz bait using the same tackle.
Tom
bigbill reply :
I fish from shore and pond, lake, river hop too. Let's get serious about bass fishing. I stayed going, stayed motivated and focus on just catching bass. I caught all sizes and was having a blast. That's many bass between 1lb to 6lbs and many inbetween. The more baits and different presentations I learned the more knowledge I learned the better fisherman I became. We don't target big bass. They target us through our skills on how to use baits and presentations. Skill catches fish not luck.
now I figured out that I was fishing in the evenings and the place was crowded at one of my spots. I caught bass but nothing over 5 to 6 lbs, I wasn't looking for big bass I'm more interested in the number of bass I was catching. Then I figured out to give up evening fishing and fish in the early am when the place is quiet with no one there. I wanted peace and quiet no one chucking salt water rigs with heavy weights. I wanted to relax and just fish. Im alone in the dark at 4 am. My bass that are caught are bigger but less in numbers. Like I said I wasn't even thinking about catching a bigger bass. I'm just a nut who loves bass fishing. Give me a dozen dinks I'm happy.
Now I fish from springtime everyday till I get burned out. I'm up at 3:30am and at my spot by 4am fishing. Every morning, everyday for three months or till I get burned out.
being stealthy is the key to not spooking the big gals when there feeding at the shoreline early in the mornings. This one morning I'm quiet, more quiet than a church mouse. I walk up to my spot, not stepping on rocks or roots sticking out of the ground because it sends sounds and vibrations into the water. I handle my tackle very quietly too. It's like I'm not even there. I even close my car door quietly too. I use locking ball bearing snap swivels too. I use a one AA battery flashlite. I keep the flashlite in the hood of my tackle box not to light up the area with excess glare.
ok I'm casting my rebel big claw crawfish crankbait. I'm skip fancasting the area. I put each cast away from each other. Not to spook fish. I made one cast two feet from shore parallel. I'm fishing from a low bridge on a man made road with a drop off. I'm slowly working the crank towards me and as I ripped it out of the weeds into the channel she hit it. This is at 5am. The battle was on, I got off the bridge and went to the shoreline to get her. In the low light I had no clue to how big she was. She scared me at first I never seen a bass this big. I only seen big saltwater fish this big.
She weighed in at 10 pounds. Now I'm thinking this was easy right? I just got into bass fishing really heavy for a few years. It's like buying your first lotto ticket and winning. I was setting the hook on bigger bass but losing them. I can see in the water at the drop off and see bigger bass than 10lbs swim by me. One day I was tossing those bps stick o worms 7 1/4" ones. I didn't know they were that large. The biggest hook I had for acwacky rig was a number four. So I used that. Here I am working my c rig with the stick o worm wacky rigged on a c rig with a 24" leader. I felt a tug and I could see a large bass with my worm in its mouth at the droppoff. I wear polarized glasses. I knew the hook was too small. I waited and thought do I try to set the hook or not. I finally got tired of waiting and set the hook. She spit it as I swept the rod back.
there ya go you want big bass stay going. Stay motivated and focused. Learn everything you can here. Learn every bait with different presentations. On a slow day practice with each bait. Learn all you can.
now focus harder during the moon phases. I go anyway wether the moon phase is right or not. But I do focus during the best times to fish by the moon phases. Just stay going everyday or as much as you can.
When I'm bass fishing I'm in my own zone. I don't talk, or do anything else but fish and focus on my award winning presentations. Your presentations have to be perfect to fool the big bass because there smart.
bigbill reply :
Btw, enjoy fishing in the early am.
Watch the sky start to light up at twilite. Look for the freshwater otters at this time. They disappear as it gets lighter. Watch that big yellow orange ball rise up (sun). Be one with nature it's awesome.
beginningfisherman reply :
On 8/26/2017 at 10:07 AM, Joshua Kang said:So here in Georgia (little bit north of Atlanta), I like to pond hop a lot, fishing a lot of the ponds and smaller lakes near my neighborhood. Nearly every lake I go to I see or have heard of people catching large bass there. The question is how should I specifically target these fish? I usually only catch the *** pounders, but I have heard big worms or jigs with craw trailers catch the bigger ones. Any lures that you would recommend?
I have caught all my biggest fish from ponds on hollow body frogs. One day me and a buddy of mine went to a pond by my house about an hour before sunset. Over the next 30 minutes, we caught 3 in the 4-5 pound range and a few more smaller ones on frogs. It was the most fun I've ever had fishing.
XpressJeff reply :
Top water is SO addictive!
I believe those hollow body frogs are filled with cocaine when you first buy them.
Mike L reply :
On 8/26/2017 at 11:52 AM, WRB said:If you want to catch big bass you need to fish for them.
It's summer period now so night fishing is a good idea. 2 lures come to mine for shore fishing ponds; 9"-12" soft plastic worms T-rigged with 3/16 oz sliding bullet weight, 4/0 #5103 owner hook or equal on 15 lb Big Game mono, baitcasting reel, MH fast rod.
Black buzz bait using the same tackle.
Tom
Agree with Tom about what bait to use.
You want big??
Go when they are more likely to roam and feed useing techniques and baits they are more likely to feed on.
Big girls of all species are a creature of habit. Learn what those are and your fishing life as you know it will change.
Good Luck
Mike
Senko lover reply :
As a pond fisherman, I've found that almost every pond has a five pound plus fish in it - even ponds that you think are only populated with dinks. There's always at least one giant, the top of the food chain. Keep fishing and you'll eventually get into one 
Joshua Kang reply :
On 8/26/2017 at 11:07 AM, IndianaFinesse said:I would suggest you take people's claims of "5 pounders" with a grain of salt. Many people will claim they caught a five pounder, when it was really just a three pounder that they didn't weigh.
The guys who caught them all have pictures with them on a scale- they definitely do catch 5 pounders or up
Joshua Kang reply :
I'm going to buy some more jigs, some zoom ol monsters, and 7" senkos. Does that sound like I'm on the right track for big bass baits?
Senko lover reply :
On 8/26/2017 at 8:27 PM, Joshua Kang said:I'm going to buy some more jigs, some zoom ol monsters, and 7" senkos. Does that sound like I'm on the right track for big bass baits?
Jigs and big topwaters are big bass money. I would pick up a Savage Baits 3D Bluegill as well.
bigbill reply :
I read where a local Tornie fisherman sad there's nothing over seven pound bass in my state of ct. my pb is 10lbs and I lost bigger and seen bigger swim by me. I told him what I just said. His ego got the best of him. I fish three different places heavy. All three places hold bigger bass. My theory is all these bass fry aren't coming from the light weight females.
then all of a sudden the other tornie guys were posting bass from 9lbs to 11 lbs. one by one they proved me right. There has been bigger bass caught in Maine too so big bass aren't limited to a shorter season nor a colder season.
stay fishing,
Bluebasser86 reply :
One of my biggest pond bass was on a 7" Slammer in a pond I could cast across.
snake95 reply :
I fish ponds north of Atlanta.
I believe the percentage of fish greater than 5 lb is relatively limited, but there are out there, including some truly big bass.
My biggest bass in the past 3 years in these waters was 5.25 lb - caught in the fall, at dusk, on a dark 1/2 oz buzzbait reeled fast.
Almost all bass over 4 lb caught by my son and I have been on topwater: either chartreuse or bluegill colored Banshee buzzbaits from Dicks or yum craws on heavy EWG reeled fast on surface in place of a true "toad," or walking baits such as the Rapala Skitterwalk and SK sexy dawg.
LxVE Bassin reply :
Most people that guesstimate weights have never used a scale and they never seem to have pictures either. Good ole fisherman lies.
kickerfish1 reply :
Depends upon the side of the pond. If it is fairly small I would almost stick to traditional bass baits. As long as I wasn't catching dinks I would think just based on the odds you should cross paths with the larger fish.
I would fish more low light conditions in the morning and evening hoping some of the bigger fish had let their guard down.
Target them with slightly larger topwaters big jig and trailer combinations and sort and hard body swimbaits.
WRB reply :
The OP's question was about ponds in Georgia, not a general pond question everywhere.
Tom
kickerfish1 reply :
On 8/28/2017 at 12:38 AM, WRB said:The OP's question was about ponds in Georgia, not a general pond question everywhere.
Tom
I can sleep better now
WRB reply :
On 8/28/2017 at 12:45 AM, kickerfish1 said:
I can sleep better now
That makes my day!
Tom
If you are a good jig fisherman and catch 3+lb bass consistantly then using jigs for larger size bass may be an option fishing ponds from shore. The reason I suggested using big worms is because bass at night can find it easily and tend to hold onto them longer than jigs do to the texture is life like. Jigs are more compact easy for big bass to reject quickly making strike detection critical.
Buzz baits at night in this region are a high % lure for big bass and don't require a high skill level to present properly. The same tackle can be effectively used for both worms and buzz baits, another reason both are suggested.
Lots of lures will catch bass, fewer catch the biggest bass in the pond.
Tom
bigbill reply :
A pond is a pond anywhere all the rules apply. I find most small bodies of water are or were unfished here. The larger areas aren't fished correctly. Any of us here would have a blast from shore. I see most locals try but there using the wrong stuff, fishing way too fast, some use inshore saltwater baits, the livebait users I see throw 2oz sinkers. They leave tired and beaten up with no results.
everything I learned in the past decades applies to anywhere I fish. It's like so many jobs I had in the past building machines when I leave one job that knowledge leaves with me, I apply it to the next job, and so on. I'm open to learning anything new and different.
it is location, location, location. A cast out portable hummingbird fish finder will tell you the depth, bottom structure, the location of points, where the flats are, droppoffs are, were the holes are, plus look for fish. From shore it's a big help just learning about the layout of the body of water. I was popping holes in the ice while ice fishing to learn the bottom depths and structure. But now we have portable electronics.
Now we read the water conditions as far as clarity and look for action on the surface, if the topwater action isn't on we go to shallow cranks.
my old topwater bps topnocker is my search and destroy bait. She has lots of tooth marks on her now. I wish they were still offered they are the best topwater lure I have used to date.
kickerfish1 reply :
On 8/28/2017 at 2:40 AM, WRB said:That makes my day!
Tom
If you are a good jig fisherman and catch 3+lb bass consistantly then using jigs for larger size bass may be an option fishing ponds from shore. The reason I suggested using big worms is because bass at night can find it easily and tend to hold onto them longer than jigs do to the texture is life like. Jigs are more compact easy for big bass to reject quickly making strike detection critical.
Buzz baits at night in this region are a high % lure for big bass and don't require a high skill level to present properly. The same tackle can be effectively used for both worms and buzz baits, another reason both are suggested.
Lots of lures will catch bass, fewer catch the biggest bass in the pond.
Tom
True and well said but I will say this. While I do fish ponds on occasion I fish more smaller public lakes. With that said a few years ago a friend and fished a really small pond. We fished it from a two many kayak in a few hours. He was tossing baits targeting bigger fish like jigs and bigger hard baits while I was just simply want to catch fish and sort of see what other species were in the pond. I tossed a drop shot with a small Jackall Cross tail shad for an hour and caught a good mix of species but to our surprise I also caugh the largest bass of the day by a landslide. It was just shy of 6lbs and we never caught another bass that day that was over 3lbs.
Point is that while I wasn't targeting big bass I did catch the biggest fish that day by a wide margin on something most would consider a numbers or limit filler bait.
I also catch some of my biggest bass of the year in the spring on weightless zoom flukes on public lakes here.
Sometimes the harder we try using what we feel is the ideal big fish bait, the harder we fail.
How many times do you see someone say that the bass they caught was about the same size or smaller than the lure they caught it on? Like a swimbait for example.
papajoe222 reply :
Bigbill may be off target a little whe he says that we don't target big bass, they target us. I believe that if you want to catch a 5lb.+ bass, you need to aggressively target them. That means when you go out, whether on a big lake or a one acre pond, every day catching mentality needs to be forgotten.
Refine your thinking and presentations to that task and you'll have a much better chance than just lucking into one.
Add a Muskie sized Jitterbug or a saltwater ChugBug to the big worm and buzzer already suggested and target the stuff you and 99% of the other anglers don't and you may be surprised with a hawg (or 2).
Boomstick reply :
I have a friend who caught a 7 pounder in a small pond in which she was even was surprised had bass at all. They do exist.
Joshua Kang reply :
On 8/28/2017 at 12:02 AM, kickerfish1 said:Depends upon the side of the pond. If it is fairly small I would almost stick to traditional bass baits. As long as I wasn't catching dinks I would think just based on the odds you should cross paths with the larger fish.
I would fish more low light conditions in the morning and evening hoping some of the bigger fish had let their guard down.
Target them with slightly larger topwaters big jig and trailer combinations and sort and hard body swimbaits.
What would you consider a big topwater? Or is 3/8 oz considered a big enough jig?
kickerfish1 reply :
For bigger topwater I would think something that is in that 4.5 to 6 inch class. So your bigger whopper ploppers, Super Spooks, full size Evergreen Showerblow, etc.
As far as jigs go weight doesn't necessarily dictate size/profile. I like bulky jigs that are either all living rubber or a combination of living rubber and silicone. When the tow are combined you get bulk plus movement. Add a big trailer like the Rage Lobster or Double Wide RI beaver and you have a really big meal offering for a bass.
DINK WHISPERER reply :
Tie on a big swimbait and find out!
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