# Homestead Park, Hilliard



## Grumpy (Apr 5, 2004)

I plan on attending the Cancer Survivors Celebration, at Homestead Park, with my 2 1/2 yr. old grandson. Does anyone have any experience fishing the pond/lake in the park? The little guy wants to catch a biggun!


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## sowbelly101 (Apr 5, 2004)

The place is loaded with LM bass and alot of panfish. I pulled several 4.5lb bass out of there 6-7 years ago so Im sure there are some pigs in there now. Lot of nice sized panfish that put up a good fight on light tackle. All bass were caught on a purple worm, or a white spinnerbait. The lake closest to the road was always better to me for the bass. Things coulda changed since its been over 6 years since I last fished it.

Sowbelly


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## Grumpy (Apr 5, 2004)

Thanks for the info. The event will be based at the Lakeside Pavilion so I guess we'll fish whatever water is closest to that. Most likely set the little guy up with a float/crawler or wax worm. He's caught some decent bluegills from a pond here in Westerville. Would like to see him hook into something a bit larger.


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## NK47 (Jun 2, 2006)

after reading this post i decided to check out these ponds today bc i had the day off. Let me say these are some of the healthiest ponds i have seen in the area. Just walking around shore you can see thousands of bass and bluegill fingerlings. Since i was just scoping the ponds i brought my ultralight, can of worms, hook and a float...for a few casts as i explored. From my experience today the only thing i can suggest, especially for the youngster is bring small hooks, they must see alot of crawlers and boy do they have those things figured out. I did however see schools of bass cruising the shallows, mostly 6-12" but occasionally i would see a 2 plus pounder. But the bass wouldnt even look at a crawler even when put right in front of their face, (with or without a float)...they were just slammin the baby bluegill. So if looking to get a larger fish i would catch some baby bass or bluegill, put those under a float and cast it out there...Me personally the next time i head up there im gonna bust out the artificial stuff. the bass probably wont be able to resist a jitterbug, spinnerbait, senko, etc....

Hope this helps! good luck!
Also, curious.....does anyone know if there are cats in those ponds?


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## sowbelly101 (Apr 5, 2004)

I always did better early in the morning or later in the evening using plastic worms or top water baits. Now on cloudy days spinnerbaits worked like a champ, anything with white in it. Im not sure if there are any cats, I would imagine they put some in there. There is an older guy that works there that knows alot about the ponds, try to track him down and see if he can fill you in on the cats. He did tell me that someone threw some crappies in there and they were not too happy about it. There are some huge grass carp in there and I have caught a few smallies in there, but they were on the small side.

sowbelly


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## joel_fishes (Apr 26, 2004)

Are you sure you are allowed to use bass as bait?

Joel


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## Grumpy (Apr 5, 2004)

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.............along with the little guys ultralite rig, grandpop may just bring along a rod for himself. After all, he can't have all the fun..


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## NK47 (Jun 2, 2006)

no i am not sure that you are allowed to use bass or bluegill caught there as bait...but i did not see anything posted that said otherwise. Anyone else know of any fishing rules or regulations over there? I am not saying to hook a decent size fish and use it as bait, but rather the bass or bluegill minnows (1-2" maybe?) there are thousands of fingerlings all over those ponds. I know i have had a lot of success in small ponds using this type of bait before and know that keeping a few small bait size fish will not hurt the ecosystem they have established there. Me i usually fish artifical lures anyway...just wanted to give some advice that may help grumpy catch his grandson a lunker! 

good luck!


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## CHOPIQ (Apr 6, 2004)

Whenever I wanted my daughter to catch gills I would bait a small hook with a small piece of bread. Before you fish throw some pieces of bread in thewater and the toss your hook near the bread. There's some big bass in there. Also like Sow said some big grass carp. I'd say over 20 lbs.


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## Smallmouth Crazy (Apr 4, 2006)

I have fished the lake myself...caught alot of bluegill and some smaller bass...I have seen a few bass caught that were around 2lbs...all in the lake by the road...to bad it closes at dark it would be cool to try it out at night with some topwater stuff.


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