I have a 3 acre pond which has mostly bluegill and smallmouth bass.

I can catch bluegill with no problem but I can't catch anything else.

For bluegill I found the best bait is just small pieces of ham.

For the bass I've tried all kinds of artificial lures from small fish (approx 1" long) all the way up to 6"

I've tried worms, both live and artificial.

Pond depth is about 12 feet in the middle.

Here are my questions:

1. Do artificial lures work at all or do I have to use live bait?

2. Do I need to put sinkers on the line to get the hook all the way to the bottom of the pond?

3. How deep below the surface are most of the bass active?

4. Are bass active at all in the fall/winter months? Water temp is 50 degrees today with 65 outside temp. Is it useless to fish for bass until the water temps and air temps rise?

5. Do bass come anywhere near the shoreline or are they always just out in the deep part in the middle? I'm trying to decide whether its pointless to fish from the pond edge where the max depth I can cast is about up to 5 feet.