An angler shared that he normally fishes neighborhood ponds and usually has good luck catching five or six bass in an hour. On a big impoundment type lake he throws the same baits off docks or boats up against the shore, but he isn’t catching any fish.

His go-to baits are purple, anise scented worms, or a Texas rig Senko or crawfish. He does not know much about buzz baits, spinner baits, chatter baits, etc. Are these baits he should be using?

When going from ponds to lakes a host of factors start to come into play in order to find the fish including time of year, water temp, most dominate prey, current, depth, vegetation and structure to name a few.

The difference maker, no matter whether you fish ponds or impoundments is focus on the spots that have vegetation or other forms of structure.

“The fishing is always easier on smaller bodies of water,” replies another angler. “I'm relegated to short spurts of dock fishing and a few casts here and there from a party barge on the big lake because I'm there with family for leisure activities, not fishing.”

Check the larger lake for small coves that you can get access to that have visible vegetation, standing or fallen over trees and brush. A bonus is to find one that has a creek flowing into it.

Consensus: It’s easier to catch fish regularly from a small body of water because you can concentrate on one or two different spots.

“Given a choice, I would rather fish the small lakes and ponds. I'm not going to the large lake, but if I go to one of the bigger impoundments I’d target specific spots with the best vegetation and cover away from the shoreline.”