Absolutely — and nice lure spread you’ve got there 🎣 The best choice depends on the water and the target species.
Willow Pond, Fair Lakes
For a small pond, I’d lean smaller, quieter, and more natural.
From your photo, the best bets are:
- White curly-tail grub with the pink jighead — great all-around pond bait for bass, bluegill, and even crappie. Fish it slowly with little hops.
- Yellow soft plastic grub — another solid option if the water is stained or the fish want a bit more flash.
- Small lipless/crank-style lure — good if the pond has fish feeding actively along banks or around grass, but keep the retrieve steady and not too fast.
How to fish Willow Pond:
- Cast near shoreline cover, docks, laydowns, and weed edges.
- Let the grub sink a second or two, then use short pops.
- If fish follow but don’t bite, switch to the white grub and slow down even more.
- In late spring, pond fish often cruise shallow, especially early and late in the day.
Potomac stripers at Daingerfield Island, Alexandria
For Potomac stripers, go bigger and more moving-water friendly.
Best choices from your tray:
- The silver spoon/spinner lure at the top — excellent for stripers when bait is moving.
- The larger baitfish-style crankbait — good for covering water and matching shad.
- The brighter green/orange crankbait — useful if the water is stained or you need more visibility.
How to fish the Potomac:
- Cast up-current or across-current and work the lure back with the flow.
- Focus on current seams, eddies, riprap, and channel edges.
- Striped bass often want a faster, more aggressive retrieve than pond bass.
- If there’s wind or slight stain, that silver spoon can really shine because it flashes like a wounded baitfish.
Simple ranking
- Willow Pond: white curly-tail grub, then yellow grub, then small crankbait
- Potomac stripers: silver spoon, then baitfish crankbait, then brighter crankbait
If you want, I can also rank the exact lures in your photo top to bottom for each spot and tell you which one to tie on first. You’re close — just match the lure size and action to the water, and you’ll be in business 💪
