Sorry but the best lure in one spot won't be the best in another spot in the same lake, let alone any other place. You'll just have to play that famous game of trial and error!

Surface lures seem to work best in the Spring. If you can cast toward the shoreline from the opposite side, big bass sometimes strike spontaneously thinking it's a frog jumping in.

rattle trap, spinner bait, worm, jerk bait all work great ive caught several 5 pounders on a bomber long a this year in some retention ponds

Best to use something resembling what they feed on. In northern ponds, it is often blue gill like crank baits or shad type crank baits like the Shadrap. In southern ponds, it is usually a rubber worm on the bottom, a little reflex spinner or a rubber lizzard.

I've seen pond bass take anything from the smallest Rapalas to hot dogs (that is what the owner fed them). Biggest I ever caught was on a bluegill that took a terrestrial fly. Soft plastics (like tubes) also seem to work well.

Crank baits work well on pond bass when they can be fished out of Lilly pads and other hang up spots. Use a natural color, that resembles the bait fish that are in the pond, more often than not a pond bass will look at a dayglo chartreuse bait, and keep watching it go by never thinking about striking that crazy looking thing. One of my favorite lures to use on ponds is a hula popper, however the effectiveness on a farm pond is limited to early morning and late evening just as the sun starts to set. There's just nothing like patiently popping the hula almost losing where you are and what you are doing when the water around the popper opens up and a largemouth or small mouth engulfs the lure in a fury of aggression!!!

The best fishing lure is the natural one. The one that has always been here. (worm,minnow,frog)

I like zoom super flukes for versatility. Use a dark color (like watermelon or green pumpkin) and a light color (pearl, albino, white ice) and rig them weedless. You can always add weight to get them deeper and fish the whole water column.

In a small pond I prefere plastic worms, spinners, or topwaters.