Hoover Ponds (White City)

[sportsmanlio]

I am new to this forum, and I wish I had found it sooner! I went out to Hoover Ponds County Park in White City yesterday, and I had a good day, but I have a few questions for anyone who knows...

I have fished Hoover Ponds a few times every year for the past five years or so. I always do pretty well with jigs and worms or grasshoppers, but I can never catch the big bass.

I went with a friend yesterday, and I caught 15 fish in about 2 hours around the middle of the day. This was awesome, and the fish species were: Largemouth Bass, Yellow Perch, Black Crappie, Bluegill, and my first Green Sunfish. I saw a few huge bass as I always do, but I couldn't get a strike.

First question: how common are Green Sunfish? I live in Klamath Falls, and I fish 2-3 times per week from May through September, and I've never caught one before today. I know that is what is was, as I caught two and my friend also caught two. How big do they grow in Southern Oregon?

***

Flash forward several hours. I had gone to Sportsman's Warehouse, and I got the down-low on using Senkos for bass. I used the rig that they explained to me there, but no luck. Despite being labeled as "weedless," my Carolina-rigged 5" Senko still caught tons of weeds, and I never even got a bite. After about an hour of trying, I gave up and caught some 6 more bluegills on dry flies right before dark, but no bass.

Second question: Any advice for catching one of these behemoth bass? The biggest I've ever caught there was about 1.5 pounds, and I was using a Rapala...I've caught lots of nice trout, but never a bass over two pounds. I desperately want to land a big guy, so any help would be great!

 

[colbypearson]

green sunfish are common in some of our ponds, they are a awesome little fish super aggressive and fight pretty well and they have very large mouth's for their size, i catch the giant green sunfish while bass fishing and believe it or not i have caught them up to 13" maybe a tad bigger.... after catching and releasing this behemoth i looked up the state record witch is only 11oz well the one i caught was close to 2lbs im absolutely positive, it was caught on a 3/8oz flipping jig like for bass with a chigger craw, all together that is a pretty big and bulky bait and this green sunfish had it all the way in its mouth... maybe i can get another one that big someday! anyways i regularly get them 6"-11" while bass fishing. they are really agressive...... try wacky rigging or texas rigging your senkos and dont use any weight on them, i have no idea why someone would turn you on to a carolina rig senko, i mean it works but IMO weightless rigging is 10x better

 

[sportsmanlio]

Thanks for the info!

Thanks for the info!

My friends and I always joke about catching the state record pumpkinseed, because it is the smallest record @ 7.68 ounces. We have caught them at 6 ounces before, but it is mostly just for comic relief that we even weigh these fish that rarely break 6" in length.

I am glad to hear green sunfish may be another record opportunity, and I appreciate all of your information. Just out of curiousity, where did you tie into that 2 lb green sunfish? I keep records of all the fish I catch, so I would love to break my record greenie (7 3/4")...

I usually catch the pumpkinseed at either Topsy Reservoir or Howard Prairie Reservoir, although Big Springs Park in Bonanza (Lost River) has a healthy population, too.

 

[BigBassB8]

are those the ponds behind the baseball fields? if so iv caught about 15 bass over 3lb in the last 2 months on a senko i would post pics but if havent figured it out yet

 

[sportsmanlio]

Those are one in the same. I have seen guys pull bass out of there that topped 7 lbs. I once took a picture for a guy who had just landed an eight pounder on a lizard...I had been proud, because moments earlier I caught a 1.5 pounder. Haha!

I went there last week, and I had the largest perch of my life on. I had it on for about 40 seconds, and it tailed in the shallow water, so I saw it was a perch. I caught one about a month ago near Lakeview that was 12" long and 3/4 lb, and this was easily 3-4" longer and about twice as heavy.

As they spawn this fall, I will be back, and I hope to break my record again!

 

[BigBassB8]

ya there r some big perch i cought one last week that weighed .93 it is the biggest i ever caught

 

[sportsmanlio]

Nice! The biggest one I've landed out of there was 0.6 and about 11", but I know there are some biggies. I hear that there are carp and catfish in there, too. You ever catch or see either? I once saw a dead brown bullhead floating near the pumphouse, but I've never caught one. You?

 

[BigBassB8]

iv only seen one carp. and the other night i went out there and caught about 4 cats but the where only about a pound each. do u know how to post pics ?

 

[sportsmanlio]

For sure. To the bottom-right of where you type, click "Go Advanced." Then scroll down until you see the "Manage Attachments" button on that page. Click it, and then click "Add Files" at the top right of the page. Once the pictures migrate to the bottom of the page under "Attachments," click "Done" at the bottom right of the page.

Finish your message, click the camera icon to show it has pictures, and then post it. Hope that helps. I am glad to hear about the carp. You fish in the one closest to the ball fields, right?

 

[BigBassB8]

do you have to do it from a computer? ya i fish both but mostly that one.

 

[sportsmanlio]

If you have pics on your phone, you should be able to put them on here...not sure. It definitely works for pics saved to the hard drive of a computer, though :/