if you had to choose one bait for a small pond on private property or a little local pond what would it be and why?

PLEASE ANSWER (I NEED SOME HELP)

all i throw are terminator t2s.

easy to unhook and they can be presented plenty of different ways to entice a bite. mind you i normally only fish at night in ponds but they're all i throw

do you have a suggestion for a good morning bait. i usually throw a buzz or a a pop - r in the morning. what would you suggest to throw in the afternoon when its the hottest part of the day and they just arent bitting. any other suggestions for night baits also.

i like a 4inch purple worm with hot pink curly tail walmart sells it just free line it slowly moving it

Hey CNR-

Stay with the pop-r in the morning, but work it slowly, sometimes letting it just sit there until the rings disappear, then give it a little twitch.

My favorite small pond lure is a roadrunner:

Blakemore

But a Texas-rigged 6" worm (watermelon or june bug color) is a great lure during the heat of the day.

My favorites for night are a 1/4 oz. black-skirt spinner bait with a single Colorado blade (oversize) and you can even add a 4" plastic trailer with a paddle tail.

Senko, T-rig, no weight

Ragman,
thank you for that very detailed response, but when would you use lizards hardplastics, ringfries, etc

intexlarry you said you would throw a senko texas rigged. how do you work it do you let it sink to the very bottom or what??

Spinnerbait/buzz bait

I'm with fishsalot!! That 4" purple/red firetail worm from wally world is my go to bait in nearly all of my ponds. They have a sparkle motor oil that will nearly always do it if the purple fails.

Great link bassackwards, thanks!

CNR- There are SO many soft-plastic baits out there, that you just have to experiment with shape/size/color, that's part of the fun, especially on ponds. Individual ponds have their own personalities.

Crank baits (hard plastic, sub-surface): I'll use these in deeper water during the mid-day in and along creek channels, drop offs and/or points.

C&R,

Here's a different answer...

A wolly bugger, tied with a bead head and some rubber legs added. It will catch just about anything in that swims in a pond.

Use the senko at any time of the day, it seems to do well at all times.

Since it's a pond, you can see how the fish are moving & if you don't see them moving at all then that tells you something as well. Let the fish dictate how to fish.

If you see them zooming in the center then give them something to chase. If their busting at the bank then give them a close bank retreive...etc...

As for working the senko try different variations of retrieve, however you will usually get bit on the first fall all the way to the bottom or the second pull. If you feel a tick then get ready. If not toss out & repeat.

I use the roadrunner and senko, but also fish slider worms and jigs in ponds. Try a black or watermelon/blk flake(if water is clear) 4 inch slider on a spider jig head. Cast and retrieve slow and steady-don't give it any action.
I always throw a black and blue bitsy bug jig in 1/8 or 3/16 oz. when fishing ponds. Use a zoom swimming chunk or tiny chunk in black. If the bass don't bite the spinnerbait or pop'r or the worm, senko,roadrunner or jig then they just aren't biting and you might as well go home.
Hope this helps. Good luck.