If you are like me you miss those long summer days traveling the shoreline of your local pond. Maybe it was filled with mossy grass or lily pads or even stumps and logs. However, the one thing that it always provided was a great place to go fishing. I caught my personal best largemouth bass on a pond 8lbs. I even got on the FOX nightly news where they show the biggest catch of the day segment!
If you could find yourself on the news when you are using the best lures for bass fishing in a pond. Just to let the cat out of the bag here is what you should be using.
- Plastic Worm - What I caught my personal best on!
- Jig
- Frog
- Jerkbait
- Mini Spinnerbait
pond fishing for bass
In the following sections, I will be going into more detail about why these particular lures are the best for catching bass in ponds. You have probably already used these lures at your local pond. Have you ever done any testing and figured out which one gives you more bites or gets bigger fish. Depending on what your objectives are you can get one or both of those outcomes! Read along and learn why you should stock this in your mobile tacklebox for when you are headed down to the pond. Don’t forget your family!
Best Bass Lures For Pond Fishing
Theoretically, you can use any lure that you want. However, ponds have many features to them that don’t inherently do well with certain lures. For example, ponds usually aren’t that deep or wide so you have no use for a crankbait. This is exactly why that lure is not on this list.
Please remember that these are my opinions from my experiences over the last 30 years…. Wow has it been that long! There are a myriad of choices when it comes to these particular baits. So please feel free to try out the latest and greatest thing on your local pond. Then come back and tell me the success you had so I can update this blog post.
Plastic Worm
The plastic worm is something that has worked for me since the very beginning. If you didn’t know a guy named Nick Creme (Creme Lures) invented the rubber worm. Now plastic worms are synonymous with bass fishing. You absolutely have to have a full set of them in your tackle box. You should also carry an assortment of weights and attachments.
Let me list the things you should have and briefly describe why you would want them cluttering up your tackle box:
- Curly Tails - mimics the erratic movements of a worm falling through the water
- Straight Tails - Can be used on a ned rig
- Ribbed - provides texture that a bass can nibble on for a second longer
- Fish attractant - allows bass to be attracted and hold on longer
- Offset hooks - Allows for an easy hookset right in the lips of the bass
- Texas Bullet Weight - Used in the Texas Rig
- Egg Sinker - Used on the Carolina Rig
Jig Lure
When it comes to fishing a jig you have to be near cover. It doesn’t have to be the deepest darkest backwater hole you ever seen, but it has to be enough reason for a bass to be sitting on it. Even in open clear water with no structure around a single stump could be holding tons of bass just for that reason.
Jigs are meant to be worked in places where you need to be weedless and they have to be worked slow. I know during the bass tournaments they are slinging that thing like a grandfather clock over and over again. If a bass grabs it on two twitches it was probably hungry or a reaction bite. If you want to catch the big hogs you will have to slow down and work every corner and edge of that one piece of structure to make it angry enough to bite.
I am sure you have seen a monster bass sitting on some cover one day in your life. You probably through everything at it and it totally ignored you. Maybe you gave up, maybe you were persistent, but let it be known that persistent is key. Big bass didn’t get big by being dumb.
You can customize these lures in many ways. Change from rubber to horse hair, add a rubber or pork trailer, or even buy different jig head shapes to make the bait sit differently on the bottom. All of these have it’s uses, but persistence and working it slow is what will put bass in your live well.
Frog Lure
If there is one thing that I love to use on small ponds and lakes it is a frog. Is there really anything more fun than watching a bass blow up on a huge frog once it falls off a lily pad? I don’t think so! That is why you need to try this out if you haven’t
A lot of new fishermen buy all the cool lures like frogs without any real knowledge of how to use them. For the longest time, I couldn’t figure it out either. I even gave up on them for a long time because I had to much success with other lures. Just recently, I was encouraged to give them a try again and it did not disappoint. I actually bought 4 more afterwards.
When you use a frog remember to throw it right in the middle of the cover. It is even better if you can hit the very edge of the shoreline to alert fish a potential large piece of protein has entered the water. Then they can easily find it or track it through the cover. Then you will have a nice audience was you reach the edge of the cover.
Most people don’t think to use a frog in open water, but it is a great idea. If you are back in a corner of the pond where you can cross to one side or the other then you should work it directly across. You can do this in small creeks as well.
Jerkbait
Now you would think that a jerkbait is just too big to use in a pond, but you would be surprised about what you can make happen. I did a review of the Rapala Countdown 5 minnow and most of the bass I caught on it were on ponds and small lakes. A well made 3-4 inch minnow can get a lot of bites.
You will have to look out for getting hung with these lures though. You want to be on the edge of the cover and not in it. These have treble hooks and they hook everything! I work this over open water and right next to cover. I will even throw it in any nook and cranny within the piece of cover I can find.
Mini Spinnerbait
You are probably wondering why does it have to be mini? The reason for that is the fact that ponds aren’t deep or wide. This means that the local baitfish will also be small. You should match the hatch in looks and size.
I like to use mini spinnerbaits and something called a beetle spin. This is those detachable L spinners that you add to small jig heads. Then you add a grub to it to mimic a baitfish. These particular lures have caught me more fish than I could imagine. Where I am in particular the bass and bluegill bite the green grub and the crappie bite the white grub. Why… I am guessing it matches something they are eating. However, through testing this has become very apparent.
You should use this just like you do with a jerkbait. Work the outside edges of the cover and in between. One thing that you should do differently is bouncing it off the cover and pause for a second. This will create bites from bass. They are waiting to see if this baitfish is hurt and will be an easy meal. Large bass like to see wounded baitfish because they older you get the lazier you get.
What Is The Best Way To Catch Bass In A Pond?
You should truly focus on working the cover that is within your pond when the weather is nice. A pond is small and the bass can’t hide in many different places. When there is no current for them to hide behind objects they will hide around and under cover.
lily pads
This knowledge will help you pinpoint where the bass are. Once you know where they are you can work them more thoroughly. This is where I pull out the plastic worm and work it SLOW! I also work it methodically.
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What Lures To Use In Grass Ponds?
Grass beds can be a bit different for fishing in ponds. They are usually throughout the pond in the shallow and deeper water. I would suggest you use a mini spinnerbait to work it thoroughly if there is no other cover around. You will find where there is hidden cover when you hit it and you will see where the bass congregate.
grassy beds
How Do You Catch Big Bass In A Pond?
Catching big bass is a hard thing by itself. I caught my personal best in a pond and it took me years to get one that big. However, I caught 4-5lbs before that monster emerged. I will tell you one thing that you will thank me for later. SLOW DOWN!
Big bass have been found to be scientifically better at everything the older they get. Unlike humans bass get smarter and their senses get stronger as they age with no signs of degrading. Maybe we should figure out what their secret is.
Now that you have slowed down you will want to find the deep cover. Big bass will either be deep in the cover or down in the deepest part of the pond. This is basically because they are either eating or chilling out away from the more frisky young bass that are attacking everything. Aggressive bass are fun, but if you really want to pinpoint them you have to think like a lazy bass.
You should also try culling bass by using the biggest lure you can find. Big lures will get bit by smaller bass because they will try to eat anything they can get in there mouth. I try to use 10-12 inch worms when I want a big bass.
How Do You Bass Fish A Mossy Pond?
Mossy ponds can seem a bit unattractive when it comes to fishing. For me, I know that a big bass is sitting under that muck. Some people call these backwater ponds or marshes. Either way, you will find big fish in here waiting for you to figure out how to catch them.
mossy pond
I can only promote one particular lure for bass fishing in a mossy pond and that is a big frog. Frogs naturally are in this environment and that is what they will be looking for. Always match the forage of your environment and you will see fishing success. You will have to be consistent and persistent, but you will get results.