We made a trip out to Glen Elder for a B.A.S.S. Kansas Youth Team Series Event. It was a great day on the water with my boys. We arrived at the ramp while the High School’s event was going on. There were a couple of teams fishing around the ramp, and they were hooking up almost on every other cast with white bass or non-keeper smallmouth. The fish needed to be over 15 inches to weigh-in with a bass pass which will allow tournaments on Kansas to weigh-in 5 fish over 15 inches between Sept 1 thru June 15 then released back into the water.
It was a very difficult day to pre-fish with the wind and
high school kids fishing on most of the spots. Also, you try to stay out of the way of the High School kids fishing the event. I decided to start in an area we had luck before and was out of the wind. Nick hooked up with a tiny smallmouth right away. Then we moved to the back of the cove which I made a mistake and threw by some stickup. My line started swimming off and I set the hook. It was a nice keeper largemouth.
Then a high school team moved in on the spot, and we decided to move out of the way. We watched them catch two non-keepers off the stickups. I decided to move over to the south bank to some other stickups I have had luck on. It didn’t take long to hookup. But it was the wrong species, wipers. Twins were having too much fun not to let them catch some wipers. After a couple of hours, we decided to go watch the high school weigh-in, and after the weigh-in we would come back out.
We fished a couple of main lake points which we hooked up with drum and wiper
s. We were moving around and not having much luck, so the twins wanted to go catch some more wipers. We decided to hit the south bank again which we should have never fished again. Kyle threw up by a stickup with a small crankbait and hooked up with a keeper smallmouth. He was just so excited about catching the smallmouth that he was shaking. We then caught a couple of more wipers and smallmouth.
Tournament Day was very tough for the boys. I cannot fish on tournament days; I can only coach them, run the trolling motor and the big motor. It is so hard to be patient when they are not catching them. You keep thinking should we be fishing over there on that point. Maybe the dam or back of that cove. Then should they be throwing this or try that. I have not made very good decisions this year. We tried the stickup in the back of the cove which I caught the keeper largemouth. The boys caught three non-keeper largemouth right away, but then went another 30 minutes without a bite. 
I decided to move them to the south bank, and we would not even get a bite. Not good; we should have never fished it so hard the day before. We moved to a wind main lake point which Nick caught a non-keeper smallmouth on a crankbait. Then, I made a mistake instead of continuing to fish down the riprap along the point, I moved us over to the south bank again. The boys would hookup with a couple of wipers, but with 30 minutes to go I decided to go back to the point and fish down the riprap which Kyle would catch a keeper with
20 minutes left in the tournament. Then both the twins caught 3 more non-keeper smallmouth. They would just weigh one fish in. I found out the winning team fished riprap on the north side in the wind. Oops!!! I should have listened to that first smallmouth Nick caught off the point. The number one rule when you catch a fish is she maybe telling you whats going on. If we had fished down that riprap 2 hours earlier maybe we could have caught a limit.
we went over Stickbaits, Spinnerbaits and Poppers. This week I will add one of the first baits I was giving by my grandparents. It was a Berkley Power Worm 7 inch on a Jobee Hook 1/8oz or you can Texas Rig 3/0 hook with a small sinker. Throw it out and slowly drag it back when the fishing is slow.
Also, don’t be scared to throw it out and reel it in with a steady retrieve. There are plenty of different colors to try. But I would recommended in clear water watermelon, green pumpkin and pumpkinseed. Pumpkinseed is a great color in any water conditions. In dark water try Junebug and Blue Fleck.
They come in many different sizes from small to big. I would buy a couple of packages of swimbaits that are pre-rigged with hooks like Berkley and Storm Wildeye Swimbaits, and start with 2 or 3 inch bait. This is a great bait for kids to start with as they can throw them out and just reel them in. Just let them pick out a couple of colors white, baby bass and firetiger are some of the best.
s as they are swimming away from you. So by being quiet, you can usually hook up right away and sometimes the biggest fish can be caught first. I would also recommended to throw along the bank parallel. Fish will be sitting right along the bank looking to ambush something. Look for the ditch or creek that comes into the pond, it will hold fish. If there is any objects in the water, throw to it. Bass love to hangout around anything; even a little stick will hold a bass. Another tip, I always like to fish two or three days before the full moon or new moon. I hope the tips help you catch fish at pond and catch your personnel best.
fish from small to large. The state record bass is from a pond at 11.8lbs caught by a kid. I will go over just a couple of great baits and tackle that you can use on a pond to catch a lot of fish and maybe your personnel best. Also these baits are great for kids to start fishing with.
The first lure, I would recommend is a Stickbait in Green Pumpkin and Black Blue Flake. You will want to throw it weightless on a Texas rig 3/0 hook. This is a great bait to use all year long, and it will be mostly weed proof. You can use it on the spinning combo recommended above. You can fish it many ways with small jerks or just throwing it out letting it slowly sink on a slack line making sure to watch your line for any movement. If you feel weight on the end of the line, reel up and swing away. My boys have caught some really big fish on a stickbait; so if you want to catch your personnel best I recommended investing in some type of stickbait. You can find a variety of stickbaits in most stores.
nd lure would be some type of topwater, such as a popper. This is a great bait to throw on both the rod/reel combos recommended above. A smaller popper works better on spinning. Catching a bass on the surface is just awesome! It is hard to explain the feeling of seeing the bass explode on the surface attacking your popper or any of the other topwater baits out there. But make sure to watch out fishing this bait. I have been hooked 6 times in me life, and 4 times were with poppers.
The two spinnerbait colors you need are white and white/chartreuse in a 1/4 oz, and use it on the baitcasting rod and reel. A good technique with the spinnerbait is to burn the lure as fast as you can just under the surface. You cannot reel faster then a bass can swim; if they want the lure, they will catch it.