I actually slowed down and did some serious fishing this last weekend. By serious, I mean I used minnows. I fished 2 ponds. Nothing in them will hit any kind of artificial lure.
First, I fished a 3/4 acre pond on a new place I am buying. It is 3 years old and seldom fished. It is essentially a round bowl with no structure. At one time, I fished it pretty hard and killed over 100 baby bass. It was originally stocked with small bass by a helpful(?) neighbor before I got involved. We seined and added a staggering number of bluegills and fatheads from a forage pond I was using. Everything looked good. Then a week ago I went by and threw some feed and noticed a shortage of bluegills and some small bass. This weekend, in 1 hour, I caught about a dozen bass. 4 went over my shoulder onto the bank, 4 went on a stringer and 4 (up to about 2.5 pounds) went back in. Lusk is right. A pond is like a garden. It has to be harvested and I have work to do.
The second is my one acre pond. It is about 4 years old and has hybrid LMB, channel cats and bluegills. Everything seems to be proportional. I only have about 20 large catfish left from my original 100. I'm trying to catch them but they are extremely hook shy. I threw out some floating pellets and the cats and bluegills started feeding voraciously. I tossed out my line with a minnow on a hook with no sinker and immediately caught a 15 inch bass. The catfish immediately stopped feeding. Those suckers are a lot smarter than bass. Anyway, I caught 3 more bass and quit.
Bass at both ponds look healthy with proportional bodies but that won't last unless I stay after things. First, I have to somehow get more of the catfish out from my 1 acre pond. They are from three to six pounds and that is an overload on a small body of water. Next, on the new place, I have to reduce my bass numbers and get ready to add forage in the spring. I will also quickly add some cedar trees.
Anybody have any idea how to catch catfish that won't bite worms, minnows, or prepared catfish baits?
