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I’ve been seeking out close but under cover spots to fish. This big pond lies between my kids’ high school and an interstate bypass. It’s got high fence all around it with a dam at the end where I am able to crawl under the fence.

It’s essentially a retention pond for the highway and high school so each side is quite steep, so it’s tough to fish cuz you’re always side hilling. Add to that the briars, thistles, and wild roses and moving around the pond is a real obstacle course.

As with all ponds there is a thick mat of weeds right up against the bank over which fish must be retrieved which caused me a challenge with first couple big ones on Texas rigged power worm.













Last one was a chunk and I lost a couple others that size on Tx rigged power worm. Haven’t fished like this in years I love it!


Fun times even if a little closer to home than I normally like. Been fun finding little honey holes close to my house and when I can find em with no one else pressuring them.

some do gooder is going to call the cops on you. I took my daughters to a retention pond in my neighborhood. Was catching the hell out of largemouth. Cop showed up and asked if we were doing any good. Youngest girl caught about a 3 lber right then. He said "I'm going to pretend to fuss at you, and then you grab your stuff and leave". He didn't care but somebody called on me.

Yeah my wife said that too. Nice thing is it’s public property and we have a navigable water way law in Michigan that says anything accessible to public land that a boat can navigate is open to the public.

There is a biking trail near this pond so the fence is to protect the public from the liability of someone drowning.

I expect you’re right tho. Hopefully the police don’t bother me and tell the concerned citizen I’m free to fish there but we’ll see.

Until then I’ll slay em

Nice batch of bass there

Congrats, I'd call those quality bass anywhere, urban pond or not. Considering the variety of baits used I'd say they were some hungry fish.

You could head that off, call whatever agency governs the pond, and get permission to fish. Ask for the name of whoever you spoke with so you can relay that to the police if they show up. Better yet send an email and have that available on your phone if someone shows up to confront you about fishing there. It probably is not open to fishing if it has a high fence, though you would think it would have signs about that. There are tons of videos of people getting themselves worked up over someone fishing, which kills me. Considering all the negative things for people to be engaged in for some nosy complainer to bitch about someone out in nature fishing, especially when it is catch and release, just ticks me off.

Dude this is a really good idea thanks

Don't call and ask for permission.
The likely answer will be no, and then you have been told, "no"
Fish til they run you off.

Of course, the chain link fence may be a hint.

Different urban pond; this one “discovered” by my son in laws best fishing buddy

That one looks like my pet fish that lived under our dock until yesterday. Two guys pulled in close and hooked her out of there. I thought she was big enough to know better. They were doing high fives and taking pictures and wouldn’t release her. Put the wife and I in a funk for the rest of the day.

What were they gonna do with her? Do people eat bass? 🤢

I keep panfish, crappie, walleye, and an occasional trout but nothing else.

That one has legs!

Ha ha that’s exactly what my boys said when my son in law sent out the pic

Missing link!

A lot of people around here keep them.

Not terrible if you want fish to eat,not the best but better than a hot dog or McDs.

Filet em, get filets in ice water ASAP, cornmeal and flour, hot grease and eat when hot.

If any of it cools down, you may as well toss it to the dogs.

Maybe it’s the time of year I catch em, but the largemouth I’ve eaten were squishy in texture and muddy tasting.

I'm not real fond of the taste of any freshwater fish, but smaller ones taste about the same as bluegills to me if they're taken through the ice in the winter. Completely agree they're not so good from open water when it's warm weather.

In Florida, it was always a transplant from up north who called the cops. (They'd usually just moved in 3 months ago and had installed themselves as rulers of the neighborhood.) But since he's already in Michigan, maybe he's covered.

I don’t know what it is but the fish in that pond can’t resist the “Loon” colored 110 plopper!

Went out there tonight and they were crushing it!!

I switched up my baitcaster to 50 lb braid and a short 40 lb leader with a snap. Allows me to reel em right over the grass on the banks once they’ve played out a little.

The cops haven’t come to see me yet; it’s small enough that keeping visits short isn’t a problem.

Impressive fish! Im going to have to get me one of those ploppers.

Well worth the money and they’re not cheap. River2Sea’s whopper ploppers come in 75, 90, 110, 130, and 190cm sizes. The only one I do NOT like is the 90. The sound just doesn’t seem to attract fish the way the 75, 110, and 130 do.

190 is a pike/muskie size I haven’t tried but intend to.

Berkley makes a choppo that is similar and well built and comes in a 120 size that I’ve had good luck on.

I wouldn’t look to save $ on less expensive versions as the ones I’ve tried suck and are a waste of money.

Last night the really exciting part was seeing the wake as they darted out of cover after the bait! So aggressive!

So my August edition of Fur-Fish-Game arrived in the mail today. Page 25 has an article on smallmouth. Right there in the first paragraph the author cites using a loon-colored Whopper Plopper; has a picture too! Definitely need to look into those.

I had never heard of the lure, so quick search and found this site with good description/pictures.
https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/River2Sea_Whopper_Plopper/descpage-R2SWP13.html


Yep, they AIN'T cheap.

Yea, FishUSA has them from $10 to $20 depending on size. Better make sure our knots are good!!

Ha one of the first ones I bought was a 130 size in Munky Butt color.

I was tossing 50 lb braid to a small barrel swivel and a heavy mono leader. I mistakenly pulled that swivel into the rod tip and when I went to huk that thing across a river and the braid having no stretch the lure flew off with the leader attached.

DOE!

Injured my knee pretty badly; trying to take it easy & avoid surgery but was able to get to the Meijer parking lot again this morning:

Nice fish and always good to get out! Hope your knee heals up!

Thanks man fortunately an anti inflammatory really helped a ton; canceling my appt w/ orthopedic specialist.

Slid under the fence for some froggin tonight; fish this swampy stuff and it becomes clear why bait casters are preferred equipment for hard cores:



Look at that trail in the background! Here he is w/ no salad:



Here is my first frog fish ever as best I can remember:



Those Booya poppin frog is da bomb!

Went out for a couple hours yesterday morning and had some of the best fishing I’ve had in a long, long time… maybe ever.

I refer to this spot as “under the fence” because I have to slide under a gap in a high fence to get in. Tell ya what… spending time in a spot that isn’t strewn with crawler containers, fishing line, hooks wrappers, and lure containers sure is refreshing!

I had anticipated a morning of froggin and brought a couple rods including a baitcaster with the Booya poppin frog that served me so well last time. Fortunately I also brought a spinning rod with a Pearl-white swim bait rigged Texas style with a little 1/16th Oz worm weight.

I normally walk by the lower pond which is weed-choked and shallow, but decided to give it some time and boy was that a good call!

Skittering the swim bait across the weeds and allowing it to drop through the holes had fish darting out from all directions! Took me a few minutes of such excitement to remember I’ve gotta let ‘em have it for a few seconds before setting the hook.

It took some self control with all these fish making a ruckus coming for my bait! I lost count but got pics of the biggest specimens. I went thru maybe 30 min of just catching fish. Tore that soft swim bait to pieces and of course I’d chosen that trip to travel light, leaving my tackle bag in the car. No matter once the sun was high in the sky the bite turned off.

What a blast; refreshing on so many levels!

EFW- you are great at just enjoying getting out. Take care of that knee. I like seeing your pics.

Slid under the fence for a couple hours of fishing tonight after spending the day at the beach with two of my kids while one went through orientation at college and my wife shot a wedding (she is a photographer).

I brought a medium action spinning rod rigged with a fluke, another with a vibrating jig, and another with a frog. The fluke annihilated em! Caught prolly a dozen but here are 4 of the better ones.

Nice thing about this spot is people ride by but don’t generally see me as I’m driving it of their line of sight. So awesome to have a spot with no litter and unmolested fish!









It’s a really fun way to fish. I rig em weightless on a Reaction tackle swimbait hook with a barrel swivel and heavy fluro leader. I skitter em across the surface of the water over weeds like a panicked baitfish then drop it through holes. They come waking from every direction to slam it. The visual nature makes it rather exciting.

That's awesome!

Nice catches efw! Great pictures and great way to spend the day!

In this tiny little retention pond behind the strip mall??? Wth!?

They don't fight near as well as a largemouth, but they sure eat a whole lot better.

Ain’t THAT the truth!???

Thanks for this thread and the photos it's one of the best fishing threads I've seen. That pond's a fishing gold mine.

Thanks!!!

I hung out behind the strip mall for a bit tonight. Caught a few smallish sunfish & a dinker largemouth, then this:



A definite keeper over 15” and you know he made the trip home with me!

Same tiny little strike king spinner bait slow rolled on the bottom with a chunky crawler on the hook!

Amazing what fun a suburban dweller can have 5 mon from the house!

No kidding! Good looking plug in the water, but geez.

When they work they WORK and being topwaters they’re super fun. I switch out the stock hooks to lighter wire/wider gap models to increase hook ups.

I went out last night with a 75 and got a couple REALLY nice smallies.

Just ordered a couple more.

When Ploppers first came on the bass fishing scene they were the hot stuff! The Plopper stayed hot for 2-3 years. Then everyone started beating the water to a froth with the Plopper and that bite faded significantly. On lakes that got fishing pressure, it became difficult to catch a fish on a Plopper. It seems like not as many fishermen are throwing the lure as much these days and maybe the bite is coming back somewhat.