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Microfishing for Goldfish

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3.7K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  OptiMystic  
#1 ·
My fishing buddy told me about goldfish at his neighborhood pond. This is a retention pond, not a natural pond. These goldfish are of the 1-inch to 4-inch variety, not glorious foot-long goldfish or the 100-plus pounders Jeremy Wade muscled out on River Monsters

I did elementary research on catching small goldfish and bought size-18 single hooks and six doughnuts. I was pumped. The plan was to squish the pieces of the doughnuts onto the hooks with a bobber, toss out the rig, and catch goldfish after goldfish until our pinkies got tired

I was wrong

As I walked along the bank and saw schools of goldfish on the horizon, I couldn’t see any goldfish when standing perpendicular to said schools. Realizing they were sensitive to my heavy steps, I decided to wait for a few. Like submarines ascending from the depths, the emptiness of the pond slowly turned orange as the goldfish felt comfortable enough to surface again

I tossed out my squished-doughnut-rig past the schools. The wind used my slack line like a sail to move the rig inland. Gripping my rod tight, the bobber floated through a school of goldfish nipping on the surface water. With my eagle eyes, I could see the goldfish pecking at the squished doughtnut but they weren’t attacking it

Repeat the last two paragraphs for an hour, but change the line length from the bobber and the volume of squishage of these doughnuts. I even tossed out a perfectly round, sugary doughnut as chum, but no goldfish spent a moment to inspect it

These goldfish seemed to not get spooked by the line (4-pound mono) floating on the water, and the small bobbers I used seemed to be more of a curiosity for them

I’m stumped. I can easily throw out a casting net or fly fish for these goldfish, but I’m trying to use a spinning reel and rod. Here are my questions before I embark on my expedition:

  1. Should I go with a smaller hook?
  2. These schools of goldfish seem like they are top feeding. Are they feeding actively or are they doing something else?
  3. What attractive bait can float on a small hook? I’ve read about skinned grapes and orange peels. Would small goldfish go for these?
  4. I'm not using a casting net!

Thanks for your input and I hope to be showboating pictures of these goldfish soon
 
F
#2 ·
Canned corn works great for chum and bait.
Bagels probably work better than most other types of bread if you want to use bread for bait.
A small piece of a Corn Pop or piece of marshmallow will float your small light wire hook. Berkeley Powerbait will work as well.
Wax you line near the hook to make it to float better
You hook size is OK
 
#3 ·
On the tiniest of fish, I have more luck with tiny flies than bait. Like midges or similar. I fish them behind an inline clear bobber. If it is open enough, I sidecast, extending my right arm (I am right handed) all the way out, sweeping across to cast, letting the line out before I get the rod in front of me and continuing to sweep across until the rod is pointing out to the left. This limits how often the fly gets tangled in the rest of the line. If you cast overhead it will happen frequently. Bring it in slow but keep it moving. Most of what they eat is small emerging and aquatic bugs.
 
#4 ·
I’m a recent transplant here from up north. Ice fishing was part of my life for many years. In the pursuit of wintertime panfish very small ice jigs were often used. We would tip them with some maggots. You can buy them online and have them shipped. Believe me when I tell you fish of all sizes love a jig/maggot combo.
~JOE~
 
B
#6 ·
You could order some Japanese tomago hooks and other gear they are specifically made to target the smallest fish. Also Leland mini trout magnets are fun to play around with small fish. You can get a huge box of heads and bodies for 12 bucks and they are smaller than they appear on web sites they are small enough to be a dropper under a dry fly. Iv never targeted goldfish but I am a self proclaimed “dinkler” if big fish aren’t biting I will break out tiny hooks and see what I can catch.
 
#8 ·
Goldfish – 2 , Me – 0

Went out for a second time and caught none. I bought Extra Scent Powerbait dough and kept it about 9 inches below the bobber. Got about 5 good bites but there was too much dough for them to bite the hook. I tried using less dough, but it fell off the hook easily

I think the goldfish are hunting for hatching insects that are surfacing. I noticed they don’t go into a frenzy until these lil ripples (like a drop of rain hit the pond) start from nowhere

I also think my 5-ish bites were reaction bites, not like they were targeting the Powerbait. I’d find an active school and put my bait in there and they’d nip at it but not take it

Next time, I’m cutting a sliver from one of my plastic grubs and putting it close to the barb. The theory is if something nips at the plastic, it’ll bite where it’ll take the hook. I’m also going to get some sort of scent/attractant

Hopefully third time is a charm

Also, thanks for the comments. I find myself watching minnows more and thinking of how to catch them
 
#10 ·
LedHotZeplinPepr said:
...
I think the goldfish are hunting for hatching insects that are surfacing. I noticed they don’t go into a frenzy until these lil ripples (like a drop of rain hit the pond) start from nowhere
...
Click to expand...
I hate to say I told you so, but - okay that's a lie. :D

OptiMystic said:
On the tiniest of fish, I have more luck with tiny flies than bait. Like midges or similar.
...
Most of what they eat is small emerging and aquatic bugs.
Click to expand...
You will make yourself crazy trying to get bait stuck on hooks small enough for them to take. People don't often feed them donuts but there are hatches regularly. They recognize emerging flies as food that is going to get away and they go after it pretty aggressively. Go to a fly shop or look online and get some tiny midges or emergers and a little bit of tippet line that is small enough diameter to tie them on and use that as a short leader.

This is the sort of fly I am talking about:

https://www.orvis.com/p/bead-head-barr-emerger/02q0

The "large" size is a #18. The little #22 would be very productive if you can see well enough to tie it on. :cool:
 
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