My experience in fishing small ponds (1 acre and less surface area), which is substantial, is this;
- overcrowded ponds have higher catch rates though the fish may be underweight (makes logical sense the bite continues because lack of enough food for all)

- just right or under stocked ponds have a lower catch rate after just 1 year of fishing

- live bait results in more strikes and more lands than artificial lures

- clear water is more difficult to fish due to sight

- early morning, overcast, and gentle breeze (just enough to make ripples across the water surface) are better to fish versus sunny blue sky mid-day calm weather

- clothing that matches the environment is better than bright, striking clothing, and patterns are better than prints or solid colors. IE, camo and tans, greens, greys are better than the Patriots Super Bowl Champs t-shirt and yellow shorts

- squatting or kneeling or sitting is better than standing

- casting from a few feet or yards back from the water's edge is better than standing at the water's edge casting

- chumming the water with bait that has no hooks has resulted in more hook sets than a single rigged baitfish or worm (a few freebies without hooks and then surprise a hooked bait!)

Probably a lot of this is common sense or knowledge. But I still watch my fellow fisher folks at some of the ponds I fish walk right down to the edge of the pond, I see the bedding bass dart away from the shore, and make cast after cast without a strike. They see me standing 10 to 15 feet away from the edge, behind a tree or squatting down, wearing camo or neutral colors, landing fish, and they ask me "What lure are you using?" And lots of times it is the same as them - a worm! But they don't see the obvious difference. LOL Or they are casting from the open areas to open water, and I am casting behind brush or into small pockets between trees and brush.

I've got a friend who has a chum feed into his pond. Every day he flushes bait fish into his pond. The bass line up to eat them. They hear that water pump turn on and then swim to the outflow 4" pipe. When those dead and dying bait fish hit the water the boil is on! Those bass just pop 'em! And you can fish any lure in the world at that moment and only fish you'll land is a foul hooked bass. But if you put on a dead or dying baitfish you will land a bass with every cast. Not exactly sport fishing, but is fun.