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Small pond surprise

Blog by: David Coulson 4/20/2018 (Return to blogs)

Make no bones about it, I love small pond fishing. And over the years I’ve given plenty of reasons why.

The ponds that typically interest me the most are close to where I’m staying, often within walking distance.  Right now, we’re “camped” at an RV park near Platte City, Missouri and they have four small ponds on site.  Being able to step out of the trailer and walk a minute or two before making my first cast is a dream come true, allowing me to fish an hour or two when I otherwise wouldn’t be able to fish. Even when I live in a “standard” residence, ponds within an few minutes of home and work were always on my radar for the same reason.

I’ll grant small ponds are rarely world class fisheries, and the four ponds at my current park are no exception.  They’re not maintained to maximize their potential, with the only rules being you must be a guest of the park and fish from the shore.  Otherwise you can use any method (legal by Missouri rules) and keep whatever you catch.  They do stock fish every spring to my understanding, but that’s it. 

Given the catch and keep attitude in the area, I didn’t expect much in the way of size or numbers when I first tried the ponds. Surprisingly, there are good numbers of fish, albeit most are smallish in size, sunfish to 6-7 inches, crappie to 9, and bass to 12.  This isn’t unusual for small ponds, especially in urban areas, and yes a RV park is urban to my way of thinking.  These four ponds also have good numbers of grass carp and a few catfish, again even the grass carp are smallish as they appear to have been overstocked.

After getting to know a small pond, I often find that many of them hold an occasional surprise, in terms of a few exceptional fish.  I know many of the urban ponds along the Front Range of Colorado have produced such fish for me.  Over the years, I’ve caught master angler sized bass, catfish, crappie, carp, bluegill, and pumpkinseeds out of urban ponds.  Not every visit, but frequently often enough to keep my interest up. 

Yesterday’s fishing in the RV ponds resulted in such a surprise, not a master angler fish by Missouri standards, but I’ll take 18 inch or so largemouth bass anytime I can get them, especially when they come on a 5 wt fly rod.

Nice Largemouth from an RV park pond, Missouri
Blog content © David Coulson
Comments
Lloyd Tackitt
4/20/2018 11:38:19 AM
Small ponds can yield large surprises. I cut my teeth on small ponds and love to fish them to this day.
jukinbone
4/21/2018 11:33:20 PM
It would appear that retirement and RV life appear to be working out quite well. Looking forward to visiting you and Sue at Horsetooth next month. - Scott
David Coulson (author, aka Flyrodn)
4/22/2018 1:58:21 PM
I'm looking forward to being in Colorado soon. Hoping to see and fish with a lot of folks, including you.
bron
4/22/2018 6:29:00 PM
Good read Dave and I am so jealous of your new lifestyle....maybe in 14 years. I think most ponds have a few smart lunkers and they are easier to figure out than reservoirs.
David Coulson (author, aka Flyrodn)
4/23/2018 7:47:40 PM
Bron I hope you get the opportunity to enjoy a great retirement. It was a long time coming for me, retiring at 67, but we're going to make the best of our remaining years. So far, so good.

About the Author

To say fly fishing is a passion for Dave is an understatement, he lives by the adage, �fly fishing isn�t a matter of life or death, it�s much more important than that.� Simply, if it�s a fish, then Dave�s willing to chase it on a fly. This includes making two or three trips a year out of state to places like Alaska, Canada, East and West Coasts to fly fish for salmon, northern pike and salt water species, such as redfish. The rest of the time Dave spends his time plying Colorado waters with a fly rod for everything the state has to offer such as bass, perch, crappie, bluegill, walleye, catfish, pike and yes even trout with a fly.

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