Our little pond had some help with adding fish this year, but someone put carp in it. Well I've been using sweet dough bait trying to and catch and get rid of them. What I didn't expect was that the crappie and bass have been hitting on the bait. I'm surprised that I haven't had a cat on yet but it never occurred to me that the other fish might take it as well. I forgot fishing with bread for bream when I was a kid but for those having problems getting a bite this might help some, and if you get a cat or carp, but who cares. It's fishing, not catching after all.

If you want a simple dough bait use oats, creamed corn, some vanilla, and thicken it with flour. Mix the oats, corn, and vanilla together first then add the flour until it's so thick you can't use a spoon anymore. Then switch to your hands and keep mixing until it's extremely thick and hard to mix. At that point put it in something and throw it in the fridge overnight. If you do it right it will barely stick to your fingers then next day but should clump nicely when you put it on a hook. I used both a single and treble hook and the treble works best but the single was working fine as well.

Just an observation, but sounds like your pond needs more "forage/baitfish" in it.

+1

We've only had it where we could add fish for the last couple of years. My landlord only wants cats and bass in it so we had to sneak some crappie and others in it this year. He doesn't seem to understand that a variety makes for a healthier pond in the end. This last year we've put gills, shad, and others in it but didn't realize that someone had put carp it until this year. We're also infested with turtles that I've been shooting as often as I can but they're elusive and I don't have the time to sit with a rifle waiting for a shot.