new water : first steps

The Panfish archive has been invaluable to me and Rick Z's articles are tops, so..

Mr. Rick,
would you tell us how you approach fishing in a new pond where the bottom contours are unknown , population un-tested, and it mostly looks like a bowl shped depression with no surface structure?

Getting started here without giving up too soon and keeping your confidence up are challenges. There must be some 'searching pattern' flies and techniques that would be initially efficient .

Hope this catches you attention.

Thanks,
Carolina warmwater (farmponds in the clay)... ZZdruid.

Look at the land surrounding the pond. That will give you a general idea of what it looks like under water.

If there are any weeds around the edge then try fishing around them. Also try to find any breaklines as the fish will relate to those.

I find the water that is from about 4 to 8 feet deep the most productive on most ponds. But saying this don't forget to put a few casts out around on the deeper water.

I would suggest taking two rods with you and have a beadhead fly on one so you can fish deeper.

Do you have a boat or are you fishing fromthe shore?

Hope this helps.

Rick

ZZ,
Fish relate to "edges"....you can spot various edges & structures by changes in surface chop, water color, water clarity, etc. Any change in appearance on top of the water relates to change subsurface. Other edges can be very obvious, such as visible brush, weeds, docks. If there is significant shade on a shore, especially with the wind blowing in, try that as well.
In a bowl shaped pond, Rick is right on the depth & a good "search & destroy" fly for me in those type waters has been a small Black Ghost streamer....takes gills, crappie, bass.
Good luck & please keep us posted.
Mike

zz,
If you do not have any weeds, etc. to focus on try this. Pick a spot on the shore and cast "around the clock" - ie: cast at 9:00 out about 20", cast next about 5' to the right, repeat until you reach 3:00. Repeat at a longer distance - whatever you can cast. More down the shore carefully about 1 1/2 times the length you cast at 9:00 above. Repeat. After casting twice around the clock move down and repeat again. Continue untill you have covered the pond. Pay attention where you have hits - not necessarly where where your catch fish but where you have hits. This will allow you to catch a few fish while you're learning the water. If you're not fishing poppers or dry flies you'll need to experment with depth by counting down your fly. Try a popper with a nymph ties off the hook bend with about 18-24" of tippet. After a few trips I'll bet you'll notice "good" areas. This generally indicates some difference in the area. Maybe a branch in the water, or a rock pile, or small weed patch. Whatever. Congrads! You are learning the pond.

The fly I usually tie on on new water - yellow woolly worm, griz hackle, red hackle feather tail, brass beadhead. Size 14, 1/8" bead. Fish in 2" slow strips. When something jerks on it, jerk back!

Donald

zz,
There are a few vineyard ponds around here that are similar to what you describe....hollowed out bowls with water in'em. Danged few, if any weeds and danged little in the way of structure, surface or sub-surface.
The "corners" of these ponds do seem somewhat of an attractant to the piscatorial residents. http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/smile.gif
.....lee s.

You've already received better advice than I would have given about actually working the ponds but I have one piece of advice to offer.

One day go to the pond you want to catch fish in WITHOUT a rod. Take a picnic lunch or whatever and just observe the water and take it all in. It's hard to take in the whole picture while you're actually fishing and I've learned plenty about some local waters just by watching what's going on.

That's my only suggestion... you've already gotten some really good advice.

Jambalaya

thank you one and all for the replies. I'm building a 'stable' of ponds to fish so this is going to be an important aspect of zeroing on the 10% of the water that holds fish.

Rick Z. big thanks , yes i have a 12 alum vee ,very noisy with trol. motor and depth finder. The finder doesn't have a very wide window in less that 10 ft of water.


In NC ~all the ponds have sub surface veg mostly growing from the bottom up to surface in less than 3 ft of water. What exactly is a breakline?

"Also try to find any breaklines...."


beadleach/ohiotuber:
the fly choices are seemingly tending toward a universal gill/bass pattern???? YES???
I know it may be bad > bad > bad, but the searching tech you have suggested might go quicker with a spinner and a curley tail grub ( which has been very secessuful for me in the past). I have used this to survey in the past.

Lee S: yep, I see that a lot particularly if the pond is a 'front yard " feature as we see here in the sunny south ,rural. It is like a pothole in the road with muddy water in it, just bigger.


this topic is useful for all of us, partic. when hitting big waters where we have acres to search.

A breakline is where the water may drop from 4 feet to 8 feet in just a couple of feet. It is a bank with a sharp angle.
Many times around here they are made when the pond is built as the cat doing the dozeing will run along the side a few times to move dirt for the dam.

With a boat use the depth finder or a spinning rod with marks on the line every 5 feet and a bell sinker on the end. Gives a quick and dirty idea of the bottom contour.

zz -
while you may catch a bass now and again on a #14 woolly worm they will be very small and long time between even up North here. A better bass fly would be at least a #8 woolly bugger [6 might even be better] or a popper. However, about a week and a half ago I caught a 1 1/2# bass on a size 12 popper while bluegill fishing [on a 2 wgt rod] so ya never know.

Try fishing your "weedline" from your boat back toward shore with the popper/dropper combo. Use a #8 popper with a #10 hares ear and you should catch a bunch of everything!

donald

One of the best searching patterns I use is a popper/nymph combo...with the nymph about 2 feet behind the popper. If there are BG and/or LMB present you will find them with this rig. For nymphs, I prefer the prince or zugbug, or anything with rubber legs.