What Does Your Perfect LM Bass Pond Look Like?

[poke flyfisher]

If you had a magic wand and could create "The Perfect Largemouth Bass Pond" what would it look like? For me it would have the following features:
1. Clear, slightly stained water with a greenish tint.
2. Leafy vegetation along the shore lines.
3. A flats area on the north end that warms up quickly during early spring.
4. At least one neck with submerged trees or tree stumps.
5. Some deep water, usually around the dam.
6. Some natural rock structure, preferably off a point.
7. Stable watershed with minimal year-round water level fluctuations - maybe spring-fed.

I haven't found many with every feature but when I locate one, man-oh-man can I have some fun!! What does your favorite bass pond look like?

[Adam15]

i would say it has to have a large submerged rock structure in about 10 feet of water, about 20 or 25 feet from shore. it has to have a shallow area with some light vegitation, ad as far as water goesit has to be clear with a little bit of a muddy content to keep the visability down for the fish, but not muddy eneogh to effect fishing abilty.

[Harold Hattaway]

Hey Poke
I fished your lake a few weeks ago, the owner had put in a fishing pier made of clay. This pier went to the middle of the lake and turned to the right. I fished all depths of the lake from that pier. The lake was about 5 acres. I saw one huge water moc, my dad caught a really big snapping turtle. I caught 10 bass and my wife caught one. All in all one of my favorite lakes. Oh you left out cat tails. they were along one small part of the bank. I think he keeps them under control. The best fishing I have ever had was a lake that the cat tails had taken over. Each time I went there I had to pull cat tails out to get into the lake. But once in the lake Bass were all around. This lake was about 12 acres and I never went there that I did not catch bass until I was tired of catching them. The first lake was spring fed, and the second was fed with a pump both lakes were about 15 feet deep at the deepest point. One in Alabama and the other in Bradenton Florida. The Florida lake was part of 600 acers and was sold and now 200,000$ homes are all around it. Of course they took all the cat tails out. What a shame.

Harold

[sharps]

It would look a lot more like a creek than a lake....

[lee s]

[url=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/leesoares/CIMG0729.jpg:32c97]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/leesoares/CIMG0729.jpg[/url:32c97] [url=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/leesoares/CIMG0754.jpg:32c97]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/leesoares/CIMG0754.jpg[/url:32c97] [url=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/leesoares/CIMG0734.jpg:32c97]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/leesoares/CIMG0734.jpg[/url:32c97]

[poke flyfisher]

Lee, I think you've got the idea with that photo! Man oh man what I wouldn't give launch my kick boat in that water.

Harold, you're right, cattails should be in the perfect pond, but sometimes they can completely take over a smaller pond. Of course that just helps to keep the casusal flyfishers away and save it for us die-hards. Had the oppotunity on Father's Day to fish a pond with most of the characteristics I listed earlier and caught 4 bass in the 12-15" range from 1 pm to 3 pm in 88 degree heat. Wish I could have fished it at dawn or dusk. No telling what I might have caught then but that was the only time I could get away to fish.

[Robert McMahan]

Poke,
A very interesting question. My response is:
1. This lake will be long and rather narrow rather than wide and bowl shaped to provide lots of shoreline and not so much dead water in the center. More bang for the buck so to speak as to the total acreage of the lake compared to the shoreline it provides.
2.This lake will have cattails. These are excellent nurseries for small bass and other fish. They also put off oxygen into the water in the summer. Sometimes bass relate almost exclusively to cattails in the summer.
3.This lake will have an abundance of riprap sloping gently to deep water in the dam area. The bass relate well to riprap and the rock is a hot bed for crawfish which are very high in protein and cause bass to grow fat and large. Crawfish are one of the very best bass foods (probably second only to rainbow trout).
4. This lake will have deep water refuges for the fish to escape the heat of summer and the cold of winter. If the lake's too shallow you will have summer and winter die off for both the bass and the bait fish.
5. This lake will have a good population of gizzard shad. Another excellent bass food.
6. This lake will have lots of targets to throw a fly at such as lay down logs, stumps and brush piles (not so many brush piles if we're only flyfishing because in my opinion it takes a plastic worm or a jig and pig or something like that and a bait caster to effectively work bass buried in a brush pile. It will also have some off shore weed beds on the flats such as blood weed or coontail. Bass love to relate to weed beds. They provide oxygen and shade and an ambush spot for bass.
7. This lake will have some nice long shalow points between 5 and 10 feet deep with stump beds on them that drop off into deep water. Bass love points. They can lay on a point next to a stump and ambush bait and be close to deep water to escape should Poke Flyfisher or one of his invited guests, me, get too close.
8. This lake will be stained. Not to the point of being muddy but to the point that you can only see a dark colored bait 4 to 6 inches below the surface. I much prefer to fish for bass in stained water rather than very clear water because in clear water bass can see "you" and your tube or boat coming and in clear water bass can get a really good look at your phony fly and that's no reflection on how well you tie either. Whereas in stained water bass locate food more with their lateral lines than with their eyes thereby making it easier to fool them. Gin clear water can be very frustrating to fish in. You sometimes have to have wind or very low light conditions to catch fish in that kind of water. Also, the gizzard shad like the stained water and reproduce better in it.
9. This lake will be spring fed providing a good inflow of fresh water and oxygen and maintaining a constant shoreline cover for bass hiding spots and for nurseries.
10. This lake will have shallow flats. Bass love to roam the flats at daylight in the summer hunting shad that also like shallow stained flats. This is where you're going to be throwing a big hair or foam popper at daylight. Some of these flats will be on the North end of the lake and will have pea gravel on them. These will make good spawning areas for the bass.
11.This lake will have numerous arms (coves) with shallow areas in them that are protected from the Oklahoma winds. Most of these coves will be on the North side of the lake. Bass will spawn here too.
12. This lake will have a small rock boat ramp to launch my boat on. It will also have a covered dock with a few lawn chairs on it.
13.This lake will be between 75 and 100 acres.
14. This lake will have deep water structure to fish in the dead of winter when the fish go deep such as deep water humps with big rocks or stumps on them and some standing timber.

Poke, when you find this lake, please call me, will you?

[Jed]

My pond would have deafdfall, islands and inlets, lilly pads...



as well as some open water with critters, like beaver...



there would be birds...



and turltes...



and of course, some bass



and it would be close, like a 5 minute drive.

jed



[This message has been edited by Jed (edited 25 June 2005).]

[ohiotuber]

Jed,
I'm DROOLIN'!!!
Beautiful!

I like a longer, narrow pond, with lots of diverse shoreline with good drops to deeper water & decent weed growth. When I say diverse, I mean some reeds, padbeds, wood, overhanging trees, points, rocky areas. I like the water to have a dark look to it. A bunch of 12"+ gills would also fit nicely!
Mike