I grew up in northeast Texas in the fifties and sixties, way before there were big reservoirs to fish. My mother and dad were avid “pond” fishermen and had access to the majority of farm ponds in northern Red River County. They were avid bass anglers; my mom used a steel rod and one of the “knuckle buster” reels of the era. She had only a couple of lures and I remember vividly retrieving her snagged Lucky 13 plug from willow branches on many occasions. But the majority of our fishing was done with Calcutta poles and live shiners below a “cork” or floater. We would ease along the ponds and vertically drop the live bait into likely bits of cover. Back then we ate every fish we caught, including largemouth bass.

I am fortunate to have a neighbor that owns several hundred acres of land and allows me to hunt and fish on his property. I can be catching bass and crappie 5 minutes from my home and in the warm water months I fish several times a week. I have long abandoned the “cane pole” and live minnow technique of my youth for state of the art bait casters and graphite rods. The live minnows are probably still as effective as they were sixty years ago for catching bass but these days, I am all about soft plastics and spinner baits.

Chances are very good that you have or can gain access to a farm pond that will provide great fishing for bass, catfish, crappie or sunfish. If you do not, you might want to think about asking a neighbor or friend for access. The truth is, small bodies of water can quickly become overpopulated with bass or especially crappie, resulting in stunted fish. My fishery biologist friends tell me keeping numbers of gamefish in check is one of the best management tools for small waters. Most recommend not stocking crappie unless the pond impounds several acres. Crappie are prolific spawners and their numbers can quickly get out of control.

Because most ponds have vegetation along the shoreline, a small boat makes keeping baits in the strike zone (parallel to the vegetation) much easier. I have a little 12-foot, flat-nose Jon boat that is easy to load and unload and I sometime use my 12-foot Kayak, but most ponds provide some bank access for casting. I absolutely love fishing from the bank and it’s usually possible to find spots that facilitate casting from the shore. There is something special about sneaking along the bank, making casts to likely bits of structure.

I wear polarized glasses during spawning season and often toss soft plastics to bass that I can see. It’s exciting to toss a plastic worm or lizard past a fish and ease the bait into the strike zone. When the fish makes its move on the bait, it happens so fast that that my mind registers the tug on the line rather than the sight of the lightning fast strike of the bass! This is hard to fathom if you’ve never witnessed it, but, with a swish of its broad tail, a bass goes after its prey with lightening speed.

But bass aren’t the only game fish in most ponds; many have a very healthy population of channel catfish. I usually carry a bucket of cattle range cubes or sometimes soured grain and toss out a coffee can full into the waters I plan to fish. I’ll “chum” a couple of spots and fish with cheese bait. I like to use a short “Santee Rig” for this type fishing. This rig begins with a number four treble hook at the terminal end of the line with a small floater pegged just above the hook. A short leader, usually eight inches to a foot in length is attached to the main line with a swivel and above the swivel is an egg weight. This rig allows the hook/bait to suspend a few inches above the bottom, making it much easier for a catfish to bite. The egg weight keeps the rig close to bottom and the small floater suspends the bait. I’ve found this to be a deadly rig for catching farm pond channel catfish.

For catching crappie, I often resort to live minnows but jigs can be just effective. During the spring when crappie are spawning in the shallows, fishing from the bank can be very effective. A crappie jig placed one to two feet below a floater (depending upon water depth) will fill your fish basket with good eating crappie. I usually cast the rig past likely bits of cover such as submerged brush or vegetation and slowly crank the jig to the cover. I’ll then twitch the rod tip a couple times, keeping the bait in the strike zone as long as possible. It’s often possible to catch crappie staged out in the open water when slow cranking the baits. When the water warms in May, jigs and minnows fished around bottom structure will get usually provide action.

Farm ponds are ideal for catching lots of sunfish and to my way of thinking, nothing beats the flavor of a fillet from a big bream rolled in cornmeal and fried until crispy. We used to remove the head and entrails, scale the “perch” and fry them whole but these days; I much prefer using a thin blade fillet knife and removing the fillets. I often get kidded about filleting the small fish rather than frying them whole until….I serve my guest a platter of snow white bream fillets that are about the size of a jumbo shrimp. To my way of thinking there is no better eating from fresh water.

Catching bream or sunfish can be as easy at tipping a long shanked bream hook with a bit of minnow or ever bread under a floater but for some real fun, try using a lightweight flyrod with a small popping bug!

One last tip, remember the spring loaded mechanical frog that was so popular back I the nineties? A new and even better version of that old reliable lure is back now. You can visit www.mechanicallure.com and check it out. The great thing about these baits is they can be cast into pockets of cover and with a twitch of the rod, they remain in place with the feet kicking like crazy, absolutely lethal for fishing farm ponds!

Contact outdoors writer Luke Clayton via his website www.catfishradio.org.