5 Proven Pond Baits For Catching Bass In The Summer

Here are five of the best baits to throw in your local pond during the summer months. Alabama angler, Andrew Nordbye hits a local pond with 5 of his favorite bass baits for fishing little lakes and small ponds during the warmer months. Andrew breaks down where, when, and how to fish each bait style while he peruses the bank trying to develop a pattern.

Whether you're fishing a golf course pond, retention ditch, or local community hole, apply the tips displayed in the video below, and you'll be winching in more bass. Remember to stay quiet, hit the corners, and fish parallel to the bank.

Here are five of the best bass baits to throw during the summer months:

Best Pond Bass Baits #1: Wacky Rig

A wacky-rigged Senko or finesse soft plastic creates a tantalizing shimmy and shake that pond bass can't resist. And since it's a slow sinking finesse rig, it works magic in most shallow water ponds.

Use a spinning rod to make long bombing casts and let the wacky-rigged worm fall on a slackline. As it descends, follow the bait down with your rod tip so that when the bait reaches the bottom, your rod should be parallel with the water, then repeat the process by raising your rod tip again to bring the wacky rig back up higher into the water column. Repeat this process while continually watching your line for bites. Most strikes occur on the fall and will be notified when your line begins to move in one direction or the other.

Best Pond Bass Bait #2: Texas Rig

The versatility of a Texas rig makes it an easy choice. Thread a creature or craw style soft plastic to your Texas rig to fish effectively on the bottom. Use minnow-style soft plastics with a Texas Rig by slowly winding and twitching your rig through each cast. This will mimic the action of a swimming baitfish.

• Tie on a lightweight Texas Rig using a ⅛-¼ oz bullet weight sinker to target ponds with sparse grass
• Bulk up to a ¼-¾ bullet weight sinker when punching through the grass mats that hand along the shoreline

Best Pond Bass Bait #3: Ned Rig

Much like a pond, the Ned rig is a downsized presentation that holds big bass capabilities. Rigging a finesse worm or craw onto a light wire finesse Ned style jig head is an easy way to match the downsized forage often found in small ponds. Easily match the little crawfish or bluegill scurrying and swimming along the bottom with a finesse ned rig. Start by dragging, popping, or even slowly swimming a ned rig in the pond's juiciest looking areas or use it as a backup rig when nothing else seems to work.

Ned rigs will get hung up on weeds or snags, so keep that in mind when fishing around areas with nasty cover.

Best Pond Bass Bait #4: Spinnerbait

The classic spinnerbait will work in ponds virtually all year round, especially if you dial in your retrieval techniques to match what the fish want. For example: slowly creeping a spinnerbait in the Winter months might be the deal, while burning it along the bank works better later in the season. Changing your retrieval speed, target areas, and even the size of your spinnerbait will drastically improve your catch rates when fishing a small pond.

Instead of a bulky spinnerbait, try downsizing to a spinnerbait with a smaller profile like the ¼ oz Googan Squad Zinger. The smaller profile will likely match the small bluegill swimming in the pond, and the lightness in weight will help you fish shallow water more efficiently.

Best Pond Bass Baits #5: Shaky Head

The Biospawn Plasma Tail rigged on a shaky head jig.

When the fishing gets tough or all else wholly fails, it's understandable anglers will reach for something they can count on. An "old faithful," if you will. And for bass anglers struggling to get a bite, there are few better options than a shaky head.

Much like a Ned rig, or any other finesse bait, the Shaky head anglers usually rig up finesse worms or crawfish style soft plastics and methodically drag, twitch, shake, and hop their shaky head back and forth over their juiciest looking spot. The extending appendages from a soft plastic craw to the dangling tail end of the finesse worm will dangle and shake with just a bit of rod tip movement.

Cast Shaky head rigs to the deepest parts of the pond and slowly work the bait back to you. Use finesse worms like the BioSpawn Plasma tail and target ponds with hard bottoms with rocks, gravel, or sand.