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Local Ponds on Fire by Don Dziedzina
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Local ponds have been on fire lately. I’ve been getting so many emails and photos from Lincoln-Way anglers. I hear it all the time that it’s getting too hot to go fishing. Well I think you should forget about all that. Some nice fish can be caught and quite often we don’t have to go far from home to catch, “The Big One”.

The statement of big lake, big fish really doesn’t really doesn’t have a lot of validity?

You would be surprised with the size of some fish that can be caught in ponds as small as an acre. As you drive around town while going to the store, to visit family, or just on your way home from work, I’m sure you pass by a number of ponds. They shouldn’t be passed by.

A friend of mine, John Morales of Mokena took about twenty minutes before work to stop at a pond about four blocks from his shop. His last cast of this brief fishing trip produced a largemouth bass that weighed over five pounds.

Dave Adams of Mokena sent me an email and photo a few weeks back. You saw the photo of his huge striper taken from a Lincoln-Way pond. That’s proof in itself that small ponds can hold big fish. More proof is that since then, Adams has fished the pond again with his son and the pond produced another big fish. This time it was a huge largemouth bass.

I’ve been carrying a light action rod and reel in my truck with a small box of lures. When ever time allows, I will stop by a small pond that’s open to the public to see if there are any fish to catch. Most of the times, I’m quite surprised to see what happens.

Every park district in Lincoln-Way has ponds that are stocked with fish. All of them have a catch and release only rule. There’s nothing wrong with that because if you wanted to fish for 20 minutes or so while on a lunch break from work, what would you do with a fish that was caught anyway?

I also know of a person who lives in Chicago who made a personal vow that he would try to catch a fish every day of the week for a full year. It took a lot of effort on his part to reach his goal but he did do it last year thanks to the small ponds near his home.

It was a brutal task and he vowed that he would never do it again. Fishing throughout the spring, summer and fall was easy, but when family gatherings and non-fishing trips not to mention feeling a bit under the weather on occasion coming into play, it took some special effort go get that one fish. It was nothing like spring or summertime fishing for sure during the winter months. At times in the spring he would get his lonely fish within minutes. But in the winter, sometimes it would take hours to just get one tiny bluegill or perch.

Now that’s a bit extreme in my book, but it definitely is dedication to the sport. You can be devoted to fishing by just having that rod and reel available when opportunity knocks.

While fishing small ponds you’ll have a tendency to walk around and fish different areas. You’ll quickly learn what types of structure that are visible from shore hold fish. This knowledge can be brought to the boat with you and help you on big water as well.

You might find that during the summer, the shores of many ponds will be weedy and seem unfishable. Now would be the time to go with a bit heavier rod and reel and switch over from the small baits to something like a frog or floating worm. Surface lures that don’t hang up on the emergent weeds will coax bass to explode at the surface making for some real exciting fishing. Definitely you will need heavy line to bring the fish through the weeds without it breaking off.

Contact your local park district and find out what they have to offer in their fishing department. Check out the ponds at the malls and industrial parks. Now don’t forget that some corporate and industrial park ponds allow fishing while some others do not. Don’t be afraid to walk into the office building first and ask if it is okay to fish. You’ll be surprised to learn that they will give you permission to fish when you promise them that you’re fishing artificial bait only and will leave nothing behind like bait containers and pop cans.

The small ponds need to be fished by you. Put a rod and reel in the trunk of your car along with a few lures. Make a stop or two during the week and you’ll be glad you did because you quickly see that great fishing is not that far away.

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