Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Fly Fishing & Other Fish Species How do you catch Wipers?

I got a 2 acre LMB/BG pond. I put in 15 10-12" HSB back in October 2013. I caught and released 2 or 3 last summer then caught 2, 3 pounders, one right after the other back in September. They were so delicious I put in another 20 this past February.

I really had a taste for fish tonight but I'll be darned if I can catch anything but LMB. The only thing I have ever caught a HSB is a floating minnow crank bait. I have tried the chicken liver thing and even hot dogs but no luck. Anybody have some experience they would like to share?

Have you tried using small bluegills as bait? Do you feed these fish? If so, Stubby Steve's pellet "flies" exist today because of this very problem. Artificial baits that resemble floating fish food pellets.

I don't feed the pond at all. I have hooked a bluegill under a float and found this a sure way to get a LMB. I wonder if a bluegill on a drop shot would work. The pond is not that deep. 4-9 feet. I am guessing the HSB would hang at the bottom during the heat of the day.

33 fish in 87,000+ sq. ft. might be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

I did catch one on a drop shot while fishing for RES. I agree with esshup, if you aren't feeding, ( and concentrating them), then finding those few fish might take a good while.

I might try deeper, open water.

I keep going back and forth on the feeding thing. The pond is only 2-1/2 years old. Part of the reason for the HSB was to have something for the frying pan while the BG grew up. The original stockers are almost to 8 inches. If I had started feeding 2 years ago I could be eating bluegill tonight. As it is I probably have 2 more years to wait. I think the pond will eventually produce all the fish I could want without feeding. But like they say, the waiting is the hardest part.

I get as much enjoyment from feeding and watching the fish than I do fishing and catching them.

At least in my pond, it makes it a lot easier to see the fish too, as they congregate around the feeder and come up for food.

They know footsteps near the feeder will result in food going into the pond. Since I don't feed them away from the feeder, they have been conditioned to that as well, so they don't follow me around the pond.

oldgeekinnc -

You are shooting for a needle in your haystack with so few HSB in that BOW size. Have you tried a fly on the surface?

I have a similar situation - in that I have a 1 acre pond that has 16 largemouth bass in it. Their growth in one year has been exceptional, all RW at 110% up to 125%. I attribute that to the small number of LMB and the large number of forage. So you have about the same number per acre.

What is your water clarity? I can see 9', and that helps locate my LMB.

Also, did you land both HSB in the same spot, or different areas?

Might try something with a little more flash, that you can cast way out into open water--1/4 oz Little Cleo or Kastmaster, or maybe a #2 Blue Fox Vibrax spinner.

I stocked 100 HSB on 9-1-12 in my 2 ac pond with similar depths as you and yes, the ARE elsusive (in my pond anyway).

I do feed and up until this spring I could always count on catching one on a pellet fly (AM LMB food wrapped in panty hose). This is how I would "sample" my HSB for growth, and I always know when HSB are feeding by the way they break water to eat. I wasn't doing it often although, they're so much fun to catch I may have done it TOO often as it now seems it's just the LMB feeding on the AM LMB food.

Have they become hook-shy to feed? I will order some Stubby Steves as an alternative just in case.

Otherwise I have caught them unexpectedly on nightcrawlers while pan fishing and on a tube jig while angling to eradicate BCP. All other means of angling for them have resulted in LMB (but I'm not complaining ).

Good luck and remember to post photos, and mouth gape measurements when you catch one!

Keith

Interesting. You guys need to get with Catmando. He recently reported all he can catch is HSB since his are so aggressive to bite.

X2 on the open water fishing...my HSB are almost always found out in the deeper water. They'll often hit on a rapala/jerk bait only running 3-5 feet deep, but I'm casting out in 15-20 feet of water when they hit.

I caught the 2 that I kept on 2 consecutive casts in the same place. I understand that they will school up to hunt on top.

I catch some of the 25 I put in my pond last May anytime I try to catch the catfish in my pond. The blessing/curse of a fed pond.

They eat most anything LMB do, they're just likely roaming the middle areas of your pond looking for bait.

Crankbaits, grubs, tailspinners, spoons, and topwaters are what I mainly use to catch them on larger lakes.

I bought 5 HSB early last month for Jeff Blankenship along with some other fish. He threw in one extra because he thought I might lose one or two. They averaged about 2 and 1/2 pounds. AFAIK they all survived . I hand feed every evening and throw it in a wide area. The HSB are always congregated in the same spot and eat like hogs. I haven't intentionally fished for them but I caught one on a cricket and one on a worm while fishing for bluegill. They both were cleanly hooked but I hear it's not good to stress them in hot weather.

I've said this elsewhere on the forum, but I have a love-hate relationship with my HSB and my CC.

Somewhere I have recent thread about "how not to catch" HSB. The darn things are the very first fish to grab anything that hits the water.

As Bill Cody would say, "it all depends."