[Mike Clifford]

Fished a local retention pond this evening throwing every lure in the bag and got nothing. Ran out of smokes and ran back to the house to get more and bring the kids out.
Switched to a tiny hook and a bitty crawler and handed the rod to my 4 yr. old boy. (We) landed a 13" rock bass on the first retrieve.
long and skinny...I'm thinking a by-product of a subdivision pond that's been renegade stocked with no thought to the balance of nature. Nice fish. Daddy's turn to throw the tiny hook, tiny split shot rig one time. First retrieve...23" channel cat 1 foot from shore. My 6 yr. old daughter's turn. Second retrieve...a 17" Smallie. My 8 yr. old daughter managed to entice a few sunfish. Then the bite shut down entirely at 8 p.m. Note that we all used the same rod so as not to spook any fish in tight and give everyone a chance to land a big fish. The past two days have shown me some incredible fishing from ponds to the Kankakee River. I have found no absolute time period or cloud cover to make a difference. Get out whenever you get the chance!

 

[Little Tommy]

Way ta go, Bassman! You remind us that the small ponds are the first to turn on in the Spring. You also remind us to put a little something real on the hook.

 

[spvergara]

Good job maybe I'll get out and try a few of my local ponds.With a story like that who knows what I'll bump in to.

 

[DaveBien]

<font color="#0000FF">Just finished the last of the Spence Petros yearly fishing classes last nite. He has always preached fishing those small neighborhood spots. You just never know what will pop out with little or no fishing pressure. That must have been a great thing for the kids !</font>

 

[Barracuda]

You've hit the nail on the head. After a late night of fishing at a retention pond in Tinley Park last year, I was ready to pack things up and head on home with only a short bass to show for my efforts. I was almost certain that I would have done well using topwaters, but nothing spectacular happened until my last cast. (You know the one I'm talking about. The infamous 'last cast' that seems to turn into 20 casts!) This night was different from others. After throwing my XPS popper out, I lit a smoke and tried to thwart the efforts of some fiesty mosquitos. I finally began the first 'pop' and again let the lure sit. About 15 seconds later, I felt the thump, felt the weight and set the hook. I knew right away that I had a decent fish (First thought was I had hooked a 3-4lb bass). When I had the fish within 10 feet of the shore, The drag(which was set rather tight) started to sing. I knew my initial guess as to the size of the fish was off, and I got a little excited. I did land the fish several minutes later after a late reaction surge from this lm bass, and stared in excitement as a 23in. 7lb bass came into my hands. A quick measure and weight was taken and back to the water he went. This little retention pond provided me with the bass of the season. My future endeavors to this pond have not yielded comparable results, but who cares. The bass are still there, and continue to provide the chances of catching another memorable fish. Until that day comes, the 14 inchers are just fine.
Never under estimate that which we find to be "a little pond"

Tight Lines

 

[spvergara]

I also had a similar incident.I was at Turner Pond it was about 2 in the afternoon and I was using a bobber with minnow going for crappie.Well anyways my bobber went under like normal only when I set the hook my line went sailing.After a couple of minutes to my amazement I had hooked into a 23 inch pike.Don't ask me how I got it in but I did.Ever sinc the though I've noticed fishing going down hill from there.Bummer.