Fishing Random Small Ponds

You guys know I fish mostly Bragg. I've been scouting around and notice there's plenty of small ponds back behind subdivisions and off the county roads.  Some of them look like they have decent access creeks and good fish habitat.  There's almost no info for them online but what I have found suggests that some of them hold some decent fish that nobody goes after.

I'm not asking for anyone to give up their secret honey holes but I'm skeptical since everything I fish is stocked or at least managed.  Do these smaller ponds hold fish?  Any dead give aways that a back pond is empty?  Anything I need to consider before I toss a kayak off the side of the road and start paddling past someone's backyard?

As a sort of related note, how is Upchurch these days?  Is Waldo's still the only access?  It looks there's a way to drop a kayak on the access creek or the dam and paddle into the pond which shouldn't be an issue since it's NCWRC stocked water, right?

I too fish alot of bragg lakes that are overpressured.  Some buddies of mine do the old door knock and sometimes get lucky enough to get onto some of these private ponds.  We have a local kayak fishing club.  You are more than welcome to check us out.  We tend to get together and plan meets and fish kayaking tournaments as well as host tournaments of our own.  fayettevillekayakanglers.com  feel free to check us out and maybe we can get together and slay some bass on some of these small ponds.