ive had luck with wacky worms and shaky heads on our ponds this winter, also caught a couple on crankbaits but most consistent on weightless worms

Transplant had the best sugggestion, but take ME instead.

I fish a lot of ponds like that in western OK and do very well with some basics. I generally take three rods with and small tackle sack.
One rod ( baitcaster with 12# ) will have a spinnerbait. Unlike so many I prefer a single colorado most times, silver #3 or #4 blade with firetiger skirt in sun, brass or gold with charteuse/white in overcast. I like to work this in a lift and drop retrieve, often stopping to drop rod tip and let it helicopter down a few feet, something willows don't do well.
One rod ( baitcaster with 20# braid ) will have sluggo or bass assassin or senko type plastic, color dependent on light conditions. I like the rainbow trout colors, red shad, silver shad.
Third rod will be med heavy spinner, 20# braid with a stand up jig and pig combo. I do all my own jigs and if wind is light a 1/2 - 3/8 oz jig with a berkeley power craw can be hopped along bottom, or use a curl tail grub and swim it along.
A color hard to get in spinnerbait that has been deadly for me is a tandem colorado with small flake white blade in front and #3-4 chartreuse metalflake in back with a chart/white skirt. I seldom find what I want but blades are available anywhere and make your own.
I know I've typed a lot and others have good suggestions, but I have several ponds I fish and these have been my most consistent producers. I vary of course but those basic will get you fish.

minnows minnows minnows

And tho I seldom use live bait if you throw a few small traps in your ponds you can get the same type of minnows that they feed on. BASSING4CATS suggestion is good, just not as much fun as artificial. Take the trap and hang a small ball of aluminum foil from a hunk of mono in center of trap. No bait necessary to draw minnows into trap. If you do want to bait throw a few chunks of dog food in there, or a chunk of white bread. ( fish don't like whole wheat ) LOL

Here's the tree cover I'm talking about. It's the best photo I can find on short notice. Needless to say it has problems with Nutria. This isn't on the first tank pictured but it's on a 15 acre tank right above it.

http://s209.photobucket.com/albums/bb35/...vens1-30041.jpg

as cold as it's been those pond fish are cooooold ! the weightless worms ,senkos are a good choice and dead stick'em, just cast to any holes in the grass and any other cover and just let it sink, once it reaches the bottom just barely twitch it watch your line if you see it move at all pick up slack if you feel anything set the hook, good luck

Try a weightless bass assasin. Pearl with silver and black fleck. Fish it really slow.

Mike the best thing you can do is not worry about what your throwing just yet. Get yourself a 12ft row boat and a trolling motor. That lake would be out of this world if you were able to fish it right. Shore fishing can be good at times, but from a boat its good most of the time on lakes that size. I lived in ct my whole life and that lake is about the nom of the lakes i grew up fishing. Once you get it. Jig and Pig,swimbaits, Senko's, Spinnerbaits, Jerkbaits will all work good for you. If you get a boat them 3 fish days in 5-6 hrs would jump to 4x that amount.

I've fished stock tanks in central Texas my entire life. The fishing is amazing. I'll try to tell you all I know!

Fish seem to concentrate close to the bank, and they are always on the edge of cover-ALWAYS. Winter, spring, summer, fall, they are always there. With hydrilla present, there is a great opportunity for frog fishing. In most of the stock tanks that I have fished, there has always been a great deal of vegetation in the water, be it hydrilla, milfoil, or moss. Therefore, you want to stick to lures that don't pick up a lot of vegetation. Anything with a treble hook can be very frustrating to fish. Stick to soft plastics.

My favorite lures-
Soft plastic frogs rigged weightless/wide gap hook. I've done well with 1/0-5/0. Gamakatsu is hard to beat.

Texas rigged soft plastics-ring frys, culprit worms, zoom ring worms, tubes etc.

Jitterbugs-yes, i said treble hooks are bad, but this topwater bait is dynamite during any traditional topwater time.

Jigs-As with lakes, bigger fish seem to be caught on jigs. Pick your color/size.

One thing I have noticed about Texas stock tanks is that fish tend to prefer shorter, fatter type lures. Long skinny ones seem to get short struck, or not at all. The further back your hook on the bait, the better. There are a few colors that I fish religously on stock tanks-red, black, and chartreuse. Red has always been my favorite stock tank color, and it has always caught fish when nothing else seems to. Pick up some Zoom cherry seed 6" lizards. Jigs in black/chartreuse seem to do very well too. Fish it in open water areas, or in between patches of vegetation. Texas rigged soft plastics are perennial favorites as well. Very seldom do I use weights any heavier than 1/8 oz. Fish are normally shallow, and a slow fall keeps the bait in the strike zone longer.

Soft plastic frogs are my favorite stock tank lures. If you walk down the bank, you will almost always notice a frog or toad jumping into the water. I really like the old Mann's hardnose frog, but you don't see those very often, as the item seems to be discontinued. Green pumpkin/chartreuse was my favorite.

When fishing your tank, fish along the bank first, casting parallel to the shore, then fan out from there. This allows you to be more stealthy. Fish in stock tanks tend to congregate right at the bank, and as you walk along it, the fish scatter. If you feel a bite, keep throwing your lure into that spot until you catch the fish, or haven't gotten bit in a while. These fish seem to be highly territorial.

Fish your frog all over the vegetation, especially near the edges of the thick stuff. Always be sure to pause right before you pull your bait over the edge of the vegetation, as they will often whack it when they see that their meal is escaping. When pulling your bait over a mat, be sure to make a bit of commotion, either stopping/popping it, or reeling it very quick. Then pull your frog onto the edge and let it fall. Bass hang out right in that little pocket waiting for an easy lunch. If you are just getting tagged and the bass is not taking your bait, give it a little injured presentation, bringing it back very slow.

If fishing from the bank, try to set the hook horizontally, not vertically. One of the most important things-ALWAYS WAIT AT LEAST 3 SECONDS BEFORE SETTING THE HOOK! Be sure to reel in the slack, then slam her with all you got. Fishing in stock tanks is like fishing for speckled trout or flounder-let the fish eat before you set the hook. Avoid the temptation to just jerk immediatley.

Stock tank fishing is a blast, and is productive year round with lakes are not. Good luck!

WOW!

That is an awesome response. I'll have to print this damn thread and take it with me next weekend.

Oh man, I have to wipe the drool off my chin.
For what you have there you need some 30-40# braid, a stout flipping stick, a wood jig with a chunk of plastic, toss it out there, slide it up, over, and around those limbs and hang on for some hand to hand combat.

Thanks for the equipment suggestions I'll keep that in mind. That said I come from the precision rifle world and I approach it like this: In my experience, a pawn shop Remington 700 for $300, tuned with hand loads will get you 85-90% of the performance that a full on custom action/barrel/trigger will. I suspect it's the same with the fishing world; which is why I'm trying to learn how to fish with the lower quality rig I have right now.

FYI the setup I'm fishing:
Abu Garcia Cardinal 300 Spinning reel
Ugly stick 2-piece 6'6"
Trilene sensitive - 10lb

It's by no means a quality rig, but it'll get the job done I'd imagine.

Keep the advise coming! This is a GREAT thread!

cranks baits have been the best for me in ponds, also using lizards has been better for me than worms has

The biggest pond bass I ever caught was on a spinnerbait, next was on a 10" lizard. Good Luck!

what you need is a senko. then experiment with everything else and find what works best. i got into fishing last year around this time and i'm lucky if i catch 2 in 3-4 hours so just guess and check