I have never been a big bass fisherman. If I was going fishing it was to eat the fish I caught. Now, the boat is gone and I have 3 ponds out my door that range from 3-7 acres. I can bank fish some, pier fish 1, and kayak any of them.

One pond has very clean banks and no visible vegetation, the big pond has missy banks and tons of Lilly pads and other grasses.

I have only thrown a non weighted worm on the ponds and had good luck, mainly 2-3 pound bass. I know there are bigger bass, Ive seen the pics from the neighbors, prob closer to 5-6 pounds.

What other lures will be successful? And how the hell do I remove treble hooks without killing the fish?

Where are the ponds located???

Location and presentation are far more important than the lure.

Find the best spots on the ponds and fish those areas with a presentation that is efficient and with what you have the most confidence

The Fall months and cooling water temps. will be a good time to run across a larger Bass. Getting off the bank in the Kayak will improve your catches. When the Spring Spawn comes work the shoreline parallel with the bank around each of the ponds. I wade fish with hip boots on to get me out to a couple of feet deep making cast with a Mepps Black Fury in 1/4 oz.. Make cast parallel with the shore fan fishing the shallows; then move forward a cast distance or so. Used the one with the Orange dots on the blade for the spawning Bass.
https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/mepps-bl...mp;gclsrc=aw.ds

Long nose needle nose pliers will help you reach in and remove those treble hooks.

If you don't have a kayak, buy a good pair of waders and find areas where you can wade in and make better casting angles down the bank as well as access maybe some deeper water if needed. There was an article written many years ago by either Jimmy Houston or Bill Dance about fishing ponds. It talked about how most of the good fishing would be along the banks but you needed to be able to fish them parallel to the bank more.

I do love fall fishing. Try a jig. Also a chatterbait is a big fish magnet. Wont catch as many fish but does produce bigger ones.

I would recommend trying a Spro Frog!

small 3" shad swimbait, 4" senko in green pumpkin. those two were my pond bait choices from years ago. the old faithful yellow and black H&H spinnerbait was a staple, too

You�ll want to throw mostly weedless when fishing from the bank but that doesn�t hinder you much: Spinnerbaits, Texas rigs, top waters, smaller swim baits (until you determine larger fish are there), Those lily pads should be holding some good fish, topwaters, senkos and tx. rigs there.

P_102

frog

Bass of all sizes have a hard time resisting a weightless watermelon red flake Zoom Super Fluke fished slowly with a twitch & pause retrieve. Also a bladed jig as mentioned above is hard to beat.

A hollow bodied frog like the Booyah Pad Crasher is killer too around the pads and grass but make sure you fish it on at least 50# braid.