The first 1 or 2 bass you catch, gut em and check their stomach contents. This will be your best guide.

Polarized Sunglasses help.
We used Johnson weedless spoons with the bottom half of a Mister Twister on the hook. From a canoe we would cast to the shoreline and bring the spoon across the top of the lily pads. Like a frog tampering across. There's a lot of room below the lily pad canopy. The bass would explode out from underneath. I saw 1 get stuck on the thick lily pads and it struggled to get through back into the water. These will run on the top of the lily pads and drop into the gaps of the lily pads- let it fall into the gap. They work great coming into shore too. Casting them along the front of the lily pads will also bring the bass out.

You can adjust the colors of the spoon and the Mister Twister Tail. Back in my day there was only silver and gold Johnson spoons. We used black, white and petroleum Mister Twisters.

Johnson Silver Minnow:


bottom 1/2 of these:


Bucktail jigs with the back half of a Mister Twister tail on the hook cast too or dropped into the lily pad holes was another way when the lily pads were in deeper water.

The bass will instinctively attack things- we'd fish from the canoe and cast to docks or logs etc. Ideally you'd pop the spoon off the dock with a thud and it'd drop into the water. The bass was alerted by the sound and see the lure fall.

try a light beetle spin,
but various colors for the bodies, and switch until you find the one that works,


also,

a panther martin works like a charm in most water I fish

quote:

Originally posted by ffips:
10' Jon boat with a trolling motor. Texas rig a 6" lizard (green with red sparkles or green with black dots). The large mouth bass will bite.

This would be my suggestion. Though I am a bit farther north and had better luck with black body and a blue tail and dark blue sparkle.
Zoom baits are my brand of preference. I so miss fishing.

I forgot something - work the edge of the weed beds, especially on points or underwater points or drop offs if there are any.

Carolina or Texas rig worms. I'll try to get my Phitobucket drawing uploaded elsewhere.

A private lake in Florida that isn't being fished?

It won't matter. You are the only game in town and I'll bet you can throw any of a number of bass lures and do well. This sounds like like a fisherman's dream to me.

Lots of good suggestions so far. Buy one surface lure, one deeper diving lure and take a weedless set up for the edges.

Just go when it is comfortable for you. Early and late in the day are best anyway.

Good Luck!

Thanks very much for all of the helpful suggestions, tips and advice.

I'm looking forward to getting after this.

A

I used to fish Texas reservoirs for largemouth bass. Now I just fish small private waters in Texas for the same, and regularly fish ponds similar to yours.

I use an 8-foot Pelican boat, which I prefer for the raised, pivoting seats, and stability, compared to a jon boat. The trolling motor is mounted on the front. I loosened and spun the head around on a unit designed for transom mount.

Assuming your pond hasn't been fished much, if at all, in recent months, the fish will likely bite a wide range of lures.

IMO the most surefire, hassle-free lure you can use in your scenario is a 5-inch Senko. You can fish it in around the vegetation with few hangups. It casts well. You can fish it high or low, fast or slow. It's the most likely thing to work for me with the other stuff doesn't.

That being said, I'll usually start off with a spinnerbait (3/8 oz. 2 blades, rear blade a willowleaf) and cover water fairly quickly until I find fish, or until I find a place I think fish should be concentrated.

At dusk and dawn, and on cloudy days, a Scum Frog can be fantastic in/near the vegetation. Sometimes they'll work in bright sun, too, but they're usually best during low light.

Rat-L-Traps can be really effective, but they take more effort to work around vegetation and will snag a lot of weeds. I like them when working deeper weedbeds/deep edges of weedbeds.

I'll need to do an on-site inspection. the report will include what they are hitting.

Maybe a central Florida SigForum meet up with fishing rods instead of guns (well, along with guns).

Wacky worm rig. Use watermelon red flake Zoom trick worms.

quote:

Maybe a central Florida SigForum meet up with fishing rods instead of guns (well, along with guns).

I'm building a range in back...

Here in East Texas, we always caught our biggest bass on 2 lb. crickets.

A fly rod and popping bug can give you many happy hours of catching all kinds of bug eating fish.

Our go to spinning lures over the years were a clear plastic tiny torpedo top water lure, an H&H spinner bait with a rubber skirt and soft plastic worms rigged in weedless manner.

+1 on the Pelican style boat with trolling motor.

This web page should help. they talk about how to fly fish, where to cast, flies and techniques.

http://howtoflyfish.orvis.com/...two-bass-fly-fishing

Regarding rain, it usually helps fishing. Some of my best fishing has been during downpours, but you'll need to be be sure you have a 4WD vehicle if you have to drive to reach the lake.

The main weather factor bass fishermen dread is fishing after a strong cold front. Clear blue skies and high pressure are the worst. Cloudy skies, pre-frontal conditions are generally the most favorable, but you should be able to catch some fish almost every day from that lake.

As far as cigars, it probably won't help to have that scent on your hands and thus your lures, but it probably won't have a major negative impact either.

If you want to get serious about it, and it's in the budget, you can hire a biologist to do a survey of the lake and make management recommendations. As I recall, at least in Texas for a healthy pond, you're supposed to take out 25 lbs. of bass per acre, per year, to ensure a healthy population of good sized fish. If you don't take out enough fish, the population can become overrun with small, underfed fish. Even if you don't hire a biologist, you're probably wise to take out any crappie and catfish, as well as small bass at the 25 lbs./acre/year rate if you are catching a lot of fish. You want to focus on keeping/killing the small fish, and leave the big ones in there to be caught over and over. When you do catch a big one, handle it with care and get it back in the water as quickly as possible.

chain mail chaps for the gators?

I'd go with a top water lure myself

This might be a helpful resource. http://www.pondboss.com/Home. I knew the outdoors writer who as I recall co-founded it, years ago.

Even if you don't subscribe, you might find some good info in the forum.

If you have time to kill, good articles and forum:

https://www.bassresource.com

The Rubber frogs work REALLY well in Florida. I use them with no weight and slowly retrieve them on the surface. I also have had excellent luck with a silver and black jointed floating Rapala that's about 5" long. Try those.....I have NEVER had luck with spinner baits or rattle traps. Worms, mixed results.....rootbeer is a very productive color for worms in Florida.

These is green or dark colors, or similar brands
http://www.basspro.com/shop/en...o-shops-humpin-toads

The silver rapala around 5" total length
http://www.basspro.com/shop/en/rapala-jointed-minnow

If all you take from this thread is one bit of info, it should be that anything that swims in freshwater will hit a yellow Roostertail, available at any tackle shop for $3.00.