Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations universal baits and territorial fish

I had an excellent night of fishing last night. The wife wanted to scrapbook and the kid went to bed early so what is a man to do but fish.

Imagine if you would my pond. It is is just shy of 1 acre and is kidney shaped. i usually fish in the middle of the concave side and can cover a fair amount of territory dependein on how hard I cast. My pond is not a skill pond it is a how fast can you bait your hook pond. Essebtially cast and catch pond. I understand that I have overstocked my pond and have come to grips with that having fallen prey to the illusion of grandeur of having trophy LMB, stripers, hybid gills and channel catfish all in a 1 acre pond.

i usually fish with nightcrawlers and a number six hook and vary my depth depending on where I cast. what i have observed is that with the above method I can catch LMB, gills, stripers and cat fish all most at will depending on where I cast. If I cast along the right edge of the pond in about 4 foot of water i can catch 12 - 16 inch LMB all day long. My bass almost always surface and I know immediately what i have on the end. If I cast about 10 feet in front of me i will catch 8-10 inch hybrid gills at about 2 feet depth. i I cat near a sunken christmas tree about 60 feet out and at 11 oclock i catch stripers 16 plus inches with almost every cast. Channel cats are at 2 oclock 6 foot down about 70 feet out and at 9 oclock 5 feet doen about 100 feet out everytime.

I was curious if anyone else has experienced fish that seem so territorial in a pond. Meaning that with relative predictability I can catch what i want depending on location and depth and irregardless of baits most of the time.

Any input is welcome.

Well, I don't have bass but my rainbows are the same but for different reasons. Our pond is roughly same size as yours.....we have a stream that enters on one end and exits on the far end. It has created an underwater channel that the trout hang out in for food, oxygen and overall better water plus moving water that they seem to like. Because of this I can cast mepps spinners or red devil spoons all day long into different parts of this stream and catch different types of fish. Bigger ones hang out at entry point and exit point....smaller in the middle and mediums hang out near the aerator in the middle!!!!! Funny eh?

Theres also a pecking order with fish just like chickens. Usually bigger fish are king of the hill but not always. My biggest bass feed right under me when I cast feed from my pier while smaller bass and other species feed farther out.