So there is a little pond in my neighborhood stocked with bass and bluegill. It is a catch and realese pond but I've seen pics of 8lbers pulled out of there. I can't figure out how to consistently catch them, and not just get lucky and get a little one every few hours. There is a lot of Lilly pads, reeds(I think it's called), 2 fountains and a bridge. It gets about 20 feet deep in the middle and about 3 or 4 feet around the bank. The water stays "stained" most of the time. What would y'all recommend I should throw? I have thrown yum dingers in a darker green color (I forgot the exact color), jigs, swimbaits, and crankbaits in red eye shad. Where should I try? I would like to get back into bass fishing not not sure what to do.

I would throw some weight on a senko and throw them out in the middle now. Or I slow roll a white spinner bait at the pond I fish, and works as well

Ok thanks, what color senko would you recommend?

Green pumpkin in stained water will treat you well!

You definitely want to buy an inline spinner. You WILL catch a fish on these things.

There is a small buzz-bait made by Strike King that cost's a few dollars. I've only seen it in chartreuse. It's about as long as an average palm. Slow retrieve it under the top of the water like a spinner-bait.

You can purchase a Rat-L Trap 1/4 OZ that is tiny but is really effective. If anything is feeding it will try to bite this.
This is my new go-to lure when looking for Bass habitats.

wacky-rig senko- I bet most of the people that fish there are throwing more traditional lures like spinnerbaits, traps, etc. I'd be looking for something that the average bank fisherman doesn't use.

No need for small baits I would toss a 10" blue flek power worm from the bank out deep. 1/2-3/4oz red trap parallel to bank, as well as tossing it out deep and letting it sink them yoyoing it back to the bank. Chatter air chartreuse and white with a 3"Swimbait trail fished around the lilly pad steams and reeds. That chatter bait is money when u get some atable warm weather when the water is cold. Just slow role it using a stop and go retrieve.

I have some great ponds in my neighborhood. They get a lot of fishing pressure so I figured out that I needed to be different to get the big bites. You can be different in terms of bait and time. I have caught a lot of nice fish on a dropshot rig and wacky worm since I figure most people use a TX rig. I also fish at unusual times - 9:00pm or at sunrise.

Agree with said earlier , throw big baits .

Ok thanks to all of you for the advice, I should hopefully get out there soon and try all of these methods. What size hook would you use with a 10" flake worm?

5/0 is my preference with 10"-12" worms. You can absolutely get by with smaller hooks though. I have friends that switch from smaller(7" worms/ creature baits) plastics to a 12" worm and never change from their 3/0 hook. Their "hook up ratio" is fine. While I always go to a 4/0 or 5/0 hook w/ larger worms the fish inhale the whole worm when they bite so "medium" sized hooks work fine.

Ok thanks, I was just worried that if the short hit it then they might not get the hook.

I would still throw a jerkbait, even in a pond in the winter

If there's open water, I'd throw a Carolina rig. With the water cold I think a big 10 inch worm dragged slowly might produce for you.

What color and size jerk bait would you recommend? What color power worm would you throw?