For early season pond fishing, the best method I find is the simplest method of them all. Just a small hook and the head of a night crawler. Nothing else on the line.
I use 2 to 4 lb test mono. From an anchored positon or from shore, I cast out as far as I can and let the bait slowly drop to bottom. You will see the floating mono move towards where the bait entered the water. When the mono stops moving, you know that the bait is on the bottom so you can now close the bail of the reel. I then lift the rod tip so that I recuperate about 12 inches of line, reel in a bit and then let the bait return to bottom. This action will make the bait hop off the bottom and then slowly return to bottom without any dragging. If you add anything to the line, the bait will drag on bottom and get hung up.
Do not use fluorocarbon line.....use mono because it floats.
Keep hopping your bait like that until it is under the boat and start all over again but cast a bit to the left or to the right.
The best is to cast towards shore so that you are fishing down a slope. You don't have to recuperate as much line doing that and hang ups will decrease too.
To attach the head of the nightcrawler to the hook, thread the hook throught the skin of the nightcrawler starting at the point where it was cut. Keep threading the hook in and out of the skin until you get to about 1/2 way to the tip. Expose the point of the hook so the bait will hang straight like a grub.
Change your bait after 20 minutes.
