8+ Pounder In Small Lakes? 2024

wuchr20 reply :

So i heard this rumor about a 8+ caught in a small lake(yellow lake), and also caught in Washington. I've fished there about ten times so far and have got nothing except the smallest perch I have ever seen. This lake is so small that i could probably swim to the other side in 5 min(i'm not a very good swimmer by the way). What are the chances of a fish that size being caught in such a small lake? Is it even possible?

Ozark_Basser reply :

Very possible. I've caught an 8, two 7's, and a few 5's and 6's out of a pond that was probably almost an acre. This was over the course of a few years so some of them could have been the same fish. I did keep the first few (I was pretty young) that were all in the 5-6 lb range, so not all of them were the same fish.

Our state record was recently broken (but he was denied it because he didn't have a fishing license) in a lake like you are talking about, maybe a smidge bigger. The fish weighed over 16 lbs.

benthinkin reply :

look up spring lake ca

Bluebasser86 reply :

The biggest bass I've ever caught in Kansas was from a 30 acre lake that looks like a big cow pond. Several states state record bass came from from ponds and pits, including our state record of almost 12 pounds, it's completely possible.

DaveT63 reply :

A new Maryland state record bass over 11 pounds was caught in a small farm pond just last fall, so I would say yes.

Dwight Hottle reply :

This fish 14lbs-8.5oz came out of a 7 acre pond.

masterbass reply :

On 5/13/2015 at 9:27 PM, Dwight Hottle said:

This fish 14lbs-8.5oz came out of a 7 acre pond.

Wow, was that up north?

greentrout reply :

You don't need a big boat and big water to catch big bass. Take a look at the state records and you will find more than couple of the records were caught in small bodies of water. If you are lucky enough to get on a private small body of water that has been stocked and is well managed by the owner, thank your lucky stars. It's highly likely you will catch some big ones.

Old school basser...

J Francho reply :

Every mud puddle that can hold a bass in it coughed up a 10 pounder, according to at least one random guy fishing that day I'm there. Seriously, every single time I hit a shore spot, there's some random guy talking about a 4,5,6,7,8,9, or 10 pounder caught there. I let my own personal results tell the truth, and I generally keep it to myself.

Catch and Grease reply :

A year or two ago my uncle caught a bass that maxed out his 10lb spring scale from a pond on a farm that wasn't very big at all, it wouldn't take you 5 minutes to swim across that's for sure!

livemusic reply :

You bet small ponds can hold big bass. They do around here, anyway.

Dwight Hottle reply :

On 5/13/2015 at 9:34 PM, masterbass said:
Wow, was that up north?

South Ga.

Alonerankin2 reply :

Consider your source.. Maybe it's true & maybe it's not. Small waters do give up bigger fish though..

Crestliner2008 reply :

"I don't believe any fisherman, except for you and I.....and sometimes I doubt you!" LOL! Seriously, if the lake is up north and has some depth to it, chances are it contains some decent fish. However, (trust me on this) everyone's "interpretation" of a 10 lb. bass is DIFFERENT!

ww2farmer reply :

On 5/13/2015 at 9:44 PM, J Francho said:
Every mud puddle that can hold a bass in it coughed up a 10 pounder, according to at least one random guy fishing that day I'm there. Seriously, every single time I hit a shore spot, there's some random guy talking about a 4,5,6,7,8,9, or 10 pounder caught there. I let my own personal results tell the truth, and I generally keep it to myself.

Either you see the same buffoons fishing that I do, or they all have the same story. Only once did I set one of these idiots straight, I caught a decent three lber, and he proclaimed in great jubilation that the fish I caught was bigger than his "8lber" he caught last week. I hung the fish on the scale, trolling motored over to him, and said "sorry to burst your bubble Einstein, but this fish is only 3.5lbs" ....he hufffed away in discomfort, and I was proud of being an a-hole.

Phauren reply :

I have personally seen some huge bass in farm ponds in NC. I know for a fact that a small dinky pond that I could throw a football across with room to spare near Fayetteville has a 10+ pounder in it. Up north in New Hampshire I have seen some big bass come out of smaller ponds.

jignfule reply :

My PB 8.53 # came out of a pond 100 yds wide and maybe a quarter mile long. My son's PB of about 10# came from another pond about the same size.

Jaderose reply :

My PB (little over 7 lbs) came out of a Park pond I saw a guy throw a frisbee across one day. They're in there.

SPEEDBEAD. reply :

What's small?

I'd consider most of the places I fish to be small and yes, there are 8+ fish in every one of them.

Phauren reply :

I actually prefer to fish smaller bodies of water.

Montanaro reply :

A small lake (pond really) maybe 4 acres has multiple 6+ in it and a couple 40 inch muskies. Caught one of those sixes the other night.

Brayberry reply :

I fish a small drainage pond at a nearby shopping area and have caught bass up to 7 lbs in there, and this pond is AT BEST 1/4 acres, and I doubt it's even that big

everythingthatswims reply :

My PB came from about a 2 acre pond.

gardnerjigman reply :

On 5/14/2015 at 5:15 AM, everythingthatswims said:
My PB came from about a 2 acre pond.

Yup, my PB came from a 5 acre pond.

fish devil reply :

We have tons of puddles in South Jersey and YES they produce big fish. A healthy forage base equals big healthy bass.

einscodek reply :

You know how many of the records in the northeast are caught in "Ponds"?

Most of the record LMB are!

Fisher-O-men reply :

Man, I wish there were ponds around here.... Wait all of our lakes are ponds, now!

Insanity reply :

A small 11 acre lake here gives up 8 and 9 pound fish all the time. It mostly depends on the amount of forage as to how fast and big they grow. This lake is cram packed with baby gills all the time.

Fisher-O-men reply :

Check this out:

http://www.sdfish.com/forums/t/private-pond-produces-big.149129/#post-372971

bigbill reply :

My personal best from shore is 10lbs.so far. I seen bigger and lost bigger. I fish smaller places that were 200 year old man made dams for water power, that were once rivers. Some are fed from big lakes in the area. In in ct and my thoughts are if we have bigger bass here every state must have them, there not being caught. There very smart plus these bigger gals are the breeders keeping up the supply of the bass fry.

FACT, it's not the size of the body of water it's how healthy the pond is, how much of a food supply there is, how many fish there are.

Possible? Are you kidding me? Here's the tips to hooking into bigger bass. I use lures only. I find that the bigger bass don't like live bait here. Plus they want something moving it's the challenge in the predator. Bass are predators like cats. Some cats/bass will strike right away and others are lazy so it may take a few casts to excite them.

Fishing from shore. I go out at 4:am. In very, very quiet, very, very stealthy. I walk softly, do not step on roots or rocks. They send vibrations into the water. Handle your tackle with no noise. I use spinning tackle only and close the bail by hand. Being STEALTHY is the key like your not there you have to be that quiet.

Topwater first walk the dog rip, rip, rip n pause. Shallow cranks reel slow. With inline spinners, spinnerbaits reel just fast enough so the blades spin/vibrate. Vary your baits. Don't fish too fast. Using a scent helps too. My first cast is far and scented.

I use a hummingbird portable fish finder the wristwatch one we cast out. To learn the bottom structure and depth. Now I know what depth lures to use.

Now as the sky starts to light up (twilight) I switch to brighter colors it's still like dusk, very low light. As day light approaches match the lure colors to the water conditions.

I do not cast into the Lilly pads I cast past them and about 10' away from them. There maybe more than one fish there so I don't spook them. If you cast at them you may get one fish. I walk the dog near the pads and draw the bass out one by one. In the open areas or submerged weeds do not fan cast. I skip fan cast. I do not put my casts next to each other. I cast left then right. I skip around.

Casting Rocky points I skip fan cast plus fish up the point from the deeper water. Fish the back side of the point if there is current. Fish the bottom edge were there is no current. The fish ambush what ever goes by.

The smaller places do have this structure. You need to find the Rocky points, flats, drop offs and holes, deep pockets. Submerged weeds and weedlines. It's all there.

Good skill in your hunt. Post your results. Bill

Every body of water holds bigger bass in every state. I'm positive from what I'm seeing here.

Montanaro reply :

WV state record came from a farm pond...and WV doesn't have big farm ponds and I come from the part of the state with farms.

Dogmatic reply :

On 5/15/2015 at 3:58 AM, Montanaro said:
WV state record came from a farm pond...and WV doesn't have big farm ponds and I come from the part of the state with farms.

Is it a public body of water? If they allow state records to come from private "ponds", that's a completely bogus record. If that were the case, I will break the PA state record. What stops a private landowner from stocking his pond with large adult bass? As a property owner I know, has done. Is TX going to allow it's State record to come directly from that guy who is growing trophy bass in his private shrimp fed lakes? I don't think so. Dog Run Lake at 22 acres is no "farm pond".

J Francho reply :

The NY record is from private water. Total Bologna. I'd love to be the one that breaks just to get that bogus thing off the books.

ABW reply :

I fish a 10 acre public pond and it receives a ton of fishing pressure. Out of the 140ish fish I've caught so far this year, only one of them has reached 3 & 1/2 pounds. There's a limit of the size people can keep (14 in and over) so that just leaves all the dinks. I do believe that there is a big fish in there, though.

Senko lover reply :

On 5/13/2015 at 9:44 PM, J Francho said:
Every mud puddle that can hold a bass in it coughed up a 10 pounder, according to at least one random guy fishing that day I'm there. Seriously, every single time I hit a shore spot, there's some random guy talking about a 4,5,6,7,8,9, or 10 pounder caught there. I let my own personal results tell the truth, and I generally keep it to myself.

Too true.....I had a guy tell me he caught a 34 inch bass out of my pond. I could believe a 24, but not 34.

Jmoose reply :

Oh it is definitely possible. All of my biggest fish (to 6lb 7oz) have come out of ponds that are no more than an acre and a half. There just needs to be enough food and some good water depth somewhere in the pond. If the conditions are right, it is more than plausible.

Jmoose reply :

Haha, maybe not 34 inches. I wasn't talking about that one XD

SPEEDBEAD. reply :

On 5/15/2015 at 5:47 AM, Dogmatic said:
Is it a public body of water? If they allow state records to come from private "ponds", that's a completely bogus record. If that were the case, I will break the PA state record. What stops a private landowner from stocking his pond with large adult bass? As a property owner I know, has done. Is TX going to allow it's State record to come directly from that guy who is growing trophy bass in his private shrimp fed lakes? I don't think so. Dog Run Lake at 22 acres is no "farm pond".

I'll bring the big stuff, just let me know where to meet you.

00 mod reply :

5 and a 7. Then an 8+ out of a 20 acre lake. The week after the 8, my fishing buddy caught another 8 that I lipped for him!

Jeff

gulfcaptain reply :

City parks in the Los Angeles and Orange County area of S. Cal almost all have double digit fish in them. Most you can walk around in less then 5 min. Some maybe 10min. They owe their size to the state for stocking those 8-10" trout all winter for the most part. But they are small, hold sizable fish in numbers but may not be the easiest to catch. So yes small bodies of water can produce large fish. My PB came out of one of them that I can walk around in less then 5 min and she was 9lbs, pre-spawn she would have been a double digit fish easy. But middle of summer no belly I wasn't going to complain as she was still a great fish

the reel ess reply :

On 5/13/2015 at 9:27 PM, Dwight Hottle said:

This fish 14lbs-8.5oz came out of a 7 acre pond.

That fish ate my personal best!

greentrout reply :

Bass Resource: http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/selective_harvest_bass.html

Mainebass1984 reply :

Small ponds produce huge bass all over the country. I don't fish farms ponds or smaller ponds under 50 acres or so. I like the added changing of finding and catching big bass in bigger bodies of water.

bigbill reply :

The government did a survey. The results was to eat the smaller bass and put the larger breeders back. I say eat crappie they taste better and catch and release all the bass. In ct we have a slot limit now.

bigbill reply :

I seen movement in a large puddle after the high waters settled down.I tossed in a joesfly trout lure and caught a small carp. I returned him to the river. Even puddles can hold fish. LOL

Dogmatic reply :

On 5/16/2015 at 12:51 AM, bigbill said:
The government did a survey. The results was to eat the smaller bass and put the larger breeders back. I say eat crappie they taste better and catch and release all the bass. In ct we have a slot limit now.

If you want to grow big bass slot limits are the way to go. I just wish CT resource officers would get in touch with PA's!

Dogmatic reply :

On 5/15/2015 at 8:34 PM, SPEEDBEAD. said:
I'll bring the big stuff, just let me know where to meet you.

...it'll be a year or two, but why would I do that, the fox in the hen house, I want my name on the bogus record, and it doesn't look like you have any trouble finding the hogs? It is a great proving ground though. ; )

bigbill reply :

Looking for bigger bass stay going.

I was fishing everyday up at 3:30am there by 4am. 24/7 and I got burned out by around 3 months. You need to push your physical limits. Once your in the hunt stay in the groove.

Big bass don't do the tornies 9 to 5. These big hogs hide when the sun is up. There might time feeders. You might catch one during the day that's rare for me anyway.

The three small places I was fishing regularly I seen big bass swim by me at the drop offs. Bigger bass then m y PB 10lbs. If I have bigger bass here there has to be bigger bass in every other state. Look at what some have caught in Maine.

The bass love that Rebel BIG CLAW crawfish crankbaits that dives 10'. The chartruese/green is the hot one here. I use the smaller ones in rivers. Match the colors of your natural crawls.

Presentation is the key.

I put crawfish scent on it. Then cast it out as far as I can in the open channel along side the weedlines. I close the bail and sweep back the rod so the rebel BIG craw dives to the bottom(10'). Then I crank it slow all the way in. This rebel BIG CLAW is one of my hottest baits. Since its a floater too we can use it over submerged weeds. Fish it slow.

agilmorefishing reply :

Very possible. I live right by Lake St Clair and Lake Erie, two well known fisheries. But my PB was caught in a lake most people don't even know. Small lakes hold big fish.

mwh33 reply :

I caught a 10 lber on a square bill crankbait out of a 3/4 acre pond on a golf I used to live on in FL about 5 years ago. I also caught a 10 lber out of a 1 acre private lake in GA last year on a 10 inch power worm.

bigbill reply :

My PB 10lbs was caught on a rebel BIG CLAW CRAWFISH crankbaits 4:30/5:00am.

Violinguy reply :

Small ponds always have some fish bigger than you might think in them. The trick is getting to where they are.

When I was in college, my roommates and I would fish at a small lake near campus that was virtually unknown to other CT anglers. It was (what we thought) an unnamed lake next to a nice trout river (after some rigorous research, we found out the name of the lake - Spring Lake - kinda like the Springfield of lake names lol). Anyways, shore fishing always brought a bunch of small bass with a 2 pounder mixed in every now and then.

Then one day, we happened to have waders (we had been fly fishing in the river nearby) so we put 'em on and found a flat area to wade out a bit. On different occaisions, we all caught bass in excess of 6 pounds there (my PB of 7 lb 4 oz on a tube bait). As it happened, since we had waded about 15-20 feet from shore, we now had access to a nice drop-off with enormous fish nearby.

Years later, one of the guys went back with a john boat and pulled out several 5-7 pounders.

So, yeah, there are big fish in small lakes, but sometimes you gotta have a boat to get to them. For me, my favorite lakes nearby are no-boat lakes.

Borderline11 reply :

My brother and I do some fairly serious pond hopping and his PR, prior to us making yearly migrations to FL, was a 6lb fish he pulled out of a small pond no more than 50 yards wide at any point. It's fairly off the beaten path and I'm not sure anyone else even knows it exists, which is d**n near impossible in NJ. It would probably take you no more than 2-3 minutes to walk completely around, but has a great population of bait fish. They're there.

BassOnKlinger reply :

On 5/13/2015 at 9:44 PM, J Francho said:
Every mud puddle that can hold a bass in it coughed up a 10 pounder, according to at least one random guy fishing that day I'm there. Seriously, every single time I hit a shore spot, there's some random guy talking about a 4,5,6,7,8,9, or 10 pounder caught there. I let my own personal results tell the truth, and I generally keep it to myself.

I had a chuckle reading this. Same thing happened to me. I pulled in my PR from a small neighborhood pond. 5.4 pounds. A passerby said that's average for this place. I literally haven't caught one bigger than 2 pounds since.

KayakBasser reply :

I caught a 7 pounder in a lake about a 1/4 of an acre, and 5 feet(at the deepest part).it was skinny as heck but hey it's still 7 pounds. Oh yeah I caught it on a pumpkin zoom finesse worm on a spot remover shake your head.

WRB reply :

Size is only one factor to producing big bass. The small body of water needs to have a constant replenished source of food and mild winters, enough depth or spring water to sustain a big bass population.

Some very small ( less than 5 acres) rock quarry lakes with a stream feeding then are very small, deep and produce some big bass. I caught a 12 lb NLMB as a teenager from a quarry lake less than 3 acres in size.

Spring Lake is about the same size as Castaic lagoon, (130-170 acres) deep cold water small lakes with trout populations and giant bass populations, just check out Butch Brown video's. The populations crashed when the trout plants stopped. Limited trout plants have resumed in CA, the big bass could return within 6 years.

Tom

Keiran Beam reply :

Ya, my buddy had an 8lber out of a pond about 2 acres.

Bluebasser86 reply :

One of the smallest lakes I fish also gave up the biggest bass I've ever caught in Kansas.

smr_hga reply :

Yes my PB which is 7lbs 2oz came out of my barely 4 acre neighborhood pond and it was also right by shore! Others are right as well. A 1 acre pond can hold decent sized bass.

10439

8+ Pounder In Small Lakes? 2024

related General Bass Fishing Forum topic

previous topic

next topic

most viewed General Bass Fishing Forum topic