I have 3 small ponds full of bass and gills...and I crush the panfish year round..especially in the winter. I am talking about 10 acre lakes. deep water up to 25 foot and relatively clear water. they are d**ned and have been in existance for about 35 years. I will offer a few things I have noticed about catching fish through the ice. You can take it or leave it, but this is what I have learned.
Compared to large ponds or lakes, small ponds are simply a smaller environment inwhich the fish live. Therefor, they are accutely familiar with what seems natural and what doesnt. On larger lakes, there are areas that present different environmental conditions to fish. Bottom structure, sandy or silty bottoms, versus hard bottoms or rocky structure....weed areas and muddy flats can often exist on the same large body of water. Fish will roam these large lakes and reservoirs and see alot of different things..sometimes feeding on minnows in deeper water and other times relying on forage such as helgamites, grass shrimp, and other aquatic bugs that exist in shallower vegetaded areas.
But in a pond, its a relatively small piece of pie. If they are mainly feeding on a certain insect or forage, then it is very hard to drop a bobber down with a waxworm and let it sit and expect it to go under. It just doesnt happen as easily on smaller lakes or ponds. There are a few things that I consider to be crucial to catch fish on small lakes or ponds. First you NEED a flasher. You have to be able to not only find gills or bass, but you also have to stay a few feet above them. Start by fishing relatively simple and small. Small diamond jigs, chubby's fiskas, or other small jigs. Tip them with only one or maybe two spikes or euro larvae. Find the fish and keep the jig well above them. If Im in 15 feet of water and the fish are a foot off the bottom....Im usually fishing 3 to 5 feet off the bottom...just lightly moving the jig....slowly letting it fall down to about 2 foot and raising it back up slowly to about 5 foot trying to get panfish to commit and follow it up. Finding fish is half the battle, but finding fish that are willing to follow the bait up and hit it is the key. Light line of 1 to4 lb test. Spring bobbers to let you know when they tap it. Once the fish start to rise at your bait, when they get within a foot of the bait and are still rising, I quit watching the screen and lock onto watching the spring bobber.,..once it twitches, smack em. It seems with gills in a small lake, commotion causes interest amongst other fish. You arent usually working a school that is roaming around and looking at an empty graph..your working fish that are primarily always in the area and getting the active ones to play ball.
I have literally caught 30 gills in an hour doing this with a bobber sitting 5 feet away and it never went down. If a panfish has time to study a small jig sitting under a bobber, the longer it looks at it, the more unnatural it seems. The more wary they tend to get. But if your always making that small jig dance around and your teasing them by keeping it above them, they will eventually let their curiosity turn into hunger.
I cant stress enough, if you dont have a flasher, a good light powered rod and reel, and a spring bobber, you will not come anywhere close to catching the amount of panfish as someone who is equipped with these tools. I think small ponds with large populations of panfish are like taking candy from a baby...but you have to be prepared to do something other than soak bobbers. These same fish I am catching by the methods explained before would simply look at a bobber and jig...and they would also simply look at my jig if I loweer it down to the depth they are holding and dance it around in front of their face. Get it up above them and tease them. When you know there are gills in a certain lake and you arent catching them, 90 percent of the time its presentation...not a matter of finding fish, or using the right color, etc. Its putting a small jig and spike or micro plastic down there and make them come up to your bait.
Maybe this is nothing new to you, but hopefully someone can read this who has been dead sticking and wondering why they arent slaying gills. Flasher, right rod and reel, and presentation. Dont try to make it easy for them by offering a bait to them...make them offer themselves to your bait by keeping it just out of reach.
