My Home Pond

I have a pond. It's not mine. It's  public. It is the closest place to my house to catch some fish though. I feel like it is mine, it is only about seven minutes from my front door.

I occasionally share it with a bass fisherman, or a dog walker, or maybe just some beer drinkers.
This pond has some koi, some carp, a few bluegill, an occasional green sunfish, and a lot of largemouth bass.
The bass are very skittish. They're not like most bass. They're not aggressive. They are careful. They don't fight over flies. I have never seen one caught on conventional gear. I have watched many people try to catch them, throwing rubber worms, popper's, spinner baits, everything really, all without success.

I have had good luck catching them on flies, first on very small streamers, and then on small poppers. I never caught a bigger bass until dark, or just before dark.

 I recently tied up some mini hoppers from azwanderings.com. They have worked like a charm. These bass seem to only bite on relatively natural bugs presented subtly. I can flip these bugs to within about an inch of the opposite shore where the big boys are hanging out waiting for some small critter to fall in. I'm not sure if it's hoppers they're after, or caddis, or spiders, or what? There are definitely all three around this pond, and the fish are ready and willing to smack them.

Here are a few pics from the other night. A couple of smalls.

A couple nice ones.

And a monster green sunfish.