Fishing in farm ponds

[kraynky]

Love pictures of pond caught fish! My bride caught this 31 lb channel cat in our neighbor's pond a few years back. Bobber fishing with catalpa worms from one of our catalpa trees.

Never hooked into a flathead myself, but they look to be good fighters! I actually prefer eating the smaller catfish, like 3-5 lbs.

 

[MRB1]

Pond fishing (tank in Texas) is by favorite fishing. Being old school, I still prefer a Zebco 33 and a Heddon Tiny Lucky 13. That combo has put a lot of fish on the table.

 

[YeshuaIsa53]

Some of my best memories are from fishing farm ponds with my Father.

 

[jeffrefrig]

Some of my best memories are from fishing farm ponds with my Father.

Mine also! I hooked a 24" bass when I was around 14 or so at the neighbors' pond up at our camp. Those were the best fishing memories I have with perch, bass, few catfish, and of course the darned bluegills that stabbed the heck out of my hands! Perch were the best eatin'.

 

[loc n load]

Fishing farm ponds

I totally understand. I grew up fishing & hunting with my dad & Uncles. Several of my Uncles were farmers and they all had ponds, and I have great memories of us all fishing in them. The 8 ft Jon boat I fish in today, was my dad's.
It is a nice link to fond memories of good times and good men.

 

[Bald1]

Speaking of things you don't normally find in a pond. I have an approx. 1/4 acre pond at my cabin. It is fed directly by a small creek. This keeps water temp very cold, which allows me to stock trout every few yrs. Rainbow, Brook, Brown and Golden Rainbows. I have an auto fish feeder that spits out pellets twice a day. Between that and the abundance of minnows my trout double in size in a season. My problem is creek chubs are in abundance too. It's hard to keep them off your hook long enough to catch the trout. My friend gave me some large mouth to help control population but it didn't do much. Talking to the hatchery owner one day he says I have two 12" Tiger Musky you can have for $40. I decided they couldn't eat my trout and I'd try it. It worked a little. A yr later I saw one laying in weeds. He was probably 20-24". I think he was eating more frogs than chubs. I've never seen another pond with Musky in it.

 

[CajunBass]

I grew up fishing ponds. I'd ride my bicycle with a metal tacklebox held under one handlebar grip and a rod and reel under the other one. About the only catfish I remember catching though were bullheads.

Flash forward, 20-40 years and I've graduated to bass boats and a dozen rods and reels, and a half-dozen or so tackleboxes...in the boat. I spent a lot of time fishing the James River near Richmond, and the Channel Cats would hit most anything a bass would hit, but they hit harder, and fought longer.

I remember once fishing a jig and pig along a gravel pit...felt a pickup and set the hook. WHEEEEE Dogggies...that thing took me right to the deck. For a second I thought I'd hooked the biggest bass that had ever been in the Barge Pit...but then...no, it's a cat. Pulling too hard for a bass.

Finally got the fish into the boat (I was fishing by myself and didn't have a net) and holding it up, the head was at my belt buckle and the tail was almost on the deck. It was too big for the livewell really, but I it got in. I ran back to the landing, loaded the boat, and went to the local tackle shop up the road and weighed it. 35 pounds if I remember right. Probably the biggest I ever caught, but maybe not. I caught a bunch of them.

I took that one back to the river and released it. I'm much to lazy to clean them but they are fun to catch.

But back to ponds...to this day I don't think I drive by one and don't think...Man! I'd like fish that one.

 

[Rule3]

"Noodlers" in the Land Between the Lakes region catch 40-50#'s quite regularly.

Have only seen one that big from a 'farm' pond when I was a kid. Was a pay lake at one time.

I remember watching a good old boy TV show of guys going Noodling Wading in muddy murky water

Guys are crazy sticking your hand/arms into holes an trying to yank out as catfish!
For those not up on the art form:


How to Go Catfish Noodling: The Complete Guide (Updated 2023)

 

[Kinman]

In the German town I lived in there looked like a block of three story houses, no yards. The yards were in back where they farmed in a communal sort of way. One of my neighbors had a big ole catfish kept in a small stock tank, he force fed it like a goose and claimed it was the best tasting thing ever. Said the same thing about carp, put them in a freshwater tank with fresh flowing water and force feed them cornmeal for a couple weeks.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

That is one eating machine in your pond. They eat every other kid of fish. If you catch it again I suggest cat nuggets in a hot cast iron skillet.

 

[loc n load]

I fully intend to do that.
I will catch it again, now that I know it is in there. When we caught it, I had no way to transport it 30 miles back to the house. Plus, I had a social event to attend at noon that day.
So hauling it home & cleaning it was not possible.
I am going down there and camp for a week when squirrel season comes in ( mid August). I will run some trot lines and jugs with appropriately foul bait. I have several big snapping turtles in there also that need to come out.
Our path's will cross again.