HOA Ponds

If you live in a subdivision in the burbs, then you know that the acronym HOA stands for Home Owners Association.  Some people see HOA’s as a necessary body that protects home values, while others see them as an evil empire.  I doubt than I will ever serve on a HOA board because I don’t like politics and I would rather spend my free time fishing rather than writing policies.  However, with that being said, there is one valuable thing that some HOA’s do, and that is provide upkeep and maintenance of HOA ponds.  In fact, when I think of the term HOA, I prefer to think that it means “Handy Opportunities for Anglers”. 

My big 8 pound buffalo caught at an HOA pond.

I love HOA ponds.  I accredit a HOA pond in Kearney, Missouri, for reigniting my love for fishing after graduating from college.  If I hadn’t caught thirty or forty crappie on a spinning rod one day after work, I might have taken up golf instead.  Whew!  That was a close one.

This is not my 1 & 1/2 pound crappie, but still a nice fish that came out of an HOA pond.

I have had the fortune of fishing many HOA ponds in the past and have had a unique experience at each one.  The one in Kearney was a crappie producing machine while home to some very respectable bass as well.  It is also home to a school of goldfish that someone dumped and have manage to grow pretty large while surviving in the wild.  Another pond in Lee’s Summit is home to a mythical 7-8 pound bass that my buddy caught while living near the pond a few years ago.  I also had the fortune of catching an 8 pound buffalo on a dry fly there one evening.  I stalked him for about an hour and finally put a fly right in front of his face as he skimmed bugs across the surface of the water.  It also has more Asian carp than I have ever seen in my life which can be attributed to a nearby river that sometimes backs up into the lake during periods of flooding.  And then there is the HOA pond near my home. 

My buddy with a MONSTER bass he caught at his HOA pond.

This is the pond that I frequent when I get the itch to hit the water with only a half hour of daylight left.  It is also the water that my oldest son and I go to when we have some free time on a Sunday afternoon.  It is a unique pond that supports a wide range of species.  In my experiences, this is uncommon since most HOA ponds are usually pretty small, at least the ones I have fished.  This particular pond is home to channel cat, largemouth, crappie, redear, bluegill, green sunfish, and hybrid bluegill.  I had an afternoon where I could not catch anything but 1 ½- 2 pound bass on an olive and white wooly bugger.  I also caught a 1 ½ pound crappie out of that lake one evening that was pretty slow up to that fish as well.  My son likes to reel in 10-12 inch bass and what he refers to as “Monster Gills” with John Deere jigs under floats.   

My oldest son holding the catch of the day.  

So what the heck is my point?  No, it’s not to beat my chest and show off what I have caught at HOA ponds, even if it sounds that way.  My point is that there are probably some great fishing opportunities near your home that you might be overlooking.  We don’t all have time to drive to Taneycomo or Bennett, let alone fish them as hard as we would like.  HOA ponds could be home to anything and don’t always receive a lot of fishing pressure so they might be even more interested in taking a fly…aggressively.  You don’t know what is lurking under the water, and you won’t ever know unless you wet a line, but make sure you do so with permission.  As long as you are with a homeowner that lives in the subdivision or have a name to throw around, you should be good.  Finally, if you do make it to an HOA pond, or you have a good story, I would love to hear your story and see your pictures.  I would also like to post those stories and pictures as well, with your permission of course.  Winter is coming too, so get out there and pound some water before you can’t anymore.