JLHL

I grew up fishing for bass on ranch’s that had cow ponds. Great fishing catching bass from 2-10 lbs in the foothills of Ca. Does anyone still do that??

EasternOZ Loc: Kansas City Metro

Welcome to the forum someone will be along.

Could you please fill in your location on your profile?

It will help with answers and someone could be close to ya.


People here are great and happy to help.

flyguy Loc: Lake Onalaska, Sunfish Capitol of the World!

Welcome to the Forum, JLHL, Not in MN.

bottomcoon Loc: Tahlequah, oklahoma

I grew up fishing the same way here in SW Oklahoma. My favorite was a big double bladed spinnerbait. I still love fishing farm ponds.

wtyson11 Loc: Palm Bay, FL

Have a lot of ranches here in Central FL. There are a lot of ponds that look great from the road or from Google Earth, but I'd get permission first. I'm sure many are loaded with fish. A buddy leases an area that is on Deseret, which is Mormon Ranch property, and it has a pond that's loaded. Plus, he gets to hunt the land in season.

JLHL

Sounds great wish the ponds were close to me lol

bottomcoon Loc: Tahlequah, oklahoma

Always remember that permission is the #1 objective. I always offered to give the owner fish if he wanted them as I released most of my catch. Sounds like you have some homework to locate some fishable water.
Social distancing is not going to help you any. Good luck & tight lines.

Mister twister Loc: Foxworth,Ms.

JLHL welcome. You hit home with me. Gosh the memories of the way we rigged those reels,or I did. Caught fish too. Talking bout going back to the old home place in the near future. I had 1 bait in 2 colors.

TexDanm Loc: East Texas

I grew up the same way. I still do most of my bass fishing in stock ponds and small lakes on ranches. In East Texas there are ponds all over the place. If you can get permission the bass fishing in some of these lakes is WILD with many bass in the 3-5 lb range and a few at or above 8 or 9 lbs. The best ones are the larger ones that only a select few are allowed to fish in. It often takes some time and serious courting to get permission onto some of these places but the rewards are worth it.

Scorchy Loc: Stonyford, ca.

Growing up mom, dad, and I would come up here in the Stonyford area from Concord, CA.

He knew a rancher that had 3 ponds and it was Zebco reels with fiberglass rods one each for us. Then dad and I had Mitchell Garcia 300 don't remember the rods. He would stay with worms, bobbers etc. His #1 lure silver/black back Rebel. Small Hula Popper in black. Yellow Shyster too.

I was the weird kid. At east park Res. I met a guy named Brawley and he had given me a hand full of things called jigs....... The Brawley Bass Bugs in black and white with black worm trailer. They really caught fish by any hard structure. Then there was the beetle spin, caught bass LM and Sm, crappie, blue gill and trout. My best for really good bass was a yellowish body with green back jointed L&S MirroLure. Many times I have went swing to get it back and I still have it. Retired with my other classics.

I forgot we all fished the Cream pre-rigged worms in natural and black

So thanks for hitting those great memories for me. Of course any and all baits like those in the hundreds of colors and styles will work. If I ever had the chance again I would get all the old lure that are still being made and fish them. They will still work, I will let you in on a secret. I am slowly working on a series of articles and a book on just that subject.

Gluck JLHL and remember have fun!!

Scorchy

Fish Dancer Loc: Guntersville, Alabama

There are a lot of foot hills in California. From one end of the state to the other. Please put your location in your profile. It’ll help the rest of us to be able to give you the information you desire.

Squeak Loc: Western ks

Fish a lot of cow ponds in western ks. Yum 4 or 5 inch dinger 3ott hook weightless. Black with blue flakes seems best.

Dsquared

Same here. We called them H & H Spinnerbait. Ha black and yellow skirt. I'm sure everyone has a favorite one of those.

Vindog1 Loc: Fresno CA

I have access to a cattle pond and I fish it regularly nothing big but I catch big numbers of fish. In central CA foot hills east side of the valley years ago I fished a small cattle pond and landed some big bass from three to nine pounds

WoodyArnold

I grew up in the “Hill Country” of Texas.
We Drove the Country Roads Looking for a Pond or a “Tank”( That’s What They Were Called Back Then ). The Land wasn’t all Leased Up for Deer Hunting Like It Is Now. The Farmers or Ranchers Didn’t Mind If You Fished Their Tanks , As Long As You Asked Them First. Things Were Different Back Then. We Didn’t Catch Many Fish But, We Sure Had Fun TRYING !! Ole Woody