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It is a bit of a Christmas tradition to head to the nearby river after we finish up with lunch and gifts at my grandparent's house. My younger brother and I only had one rod each, and a handful of baits, with a short bank fishing trip in mind. Water is high and muddy, as it has been for most of this year. Not ideal conditions for fishing considering the water temps in the low 40s. Since I have grown up fishing this river, I pretty much know where the bass live, and what they do depending on the conditions. This is a key for cold, muddy water, because even if I'm not getting bit, I know I'm probably dropping it on their heads, so it's easier to slow down and be patient. Water had less than a foot of visibility, but was clearly fishable. I fished a black and blue jig for a while, but they weren't having it. My brother caught one small fish on a shakey head, and missed a couple other fish. His bites were coming in eddies with wood and brush, right up against the bank. It is strange to fish pretty much straight down in front of you, but those river bass want to get out of the current when it's cold and muddy. All of our bites today were in less than 3' of water, some as shallow as 1'. I switched to a shakey head, alternating between a 5" black single tail grub, and a 3" black and blue chigger craw. I don't think it mattered what bait you used, as long as you fished it slow and gave it enough movement for them to locate it in the dirty water. We ended up landing 13 bass up to 2.5lbs in around 2 hours, and my brother lost one that was over 5 while he was trying to lip it. The fish were surprisingly aggressive given the conditions, and we are planning to take the kayaks out tomorrow and further exploit the bite we stumbled upon! Even though I didn't get bit on it today, I know that ol jig will work. I'll be suiting up with some 20lb fluorocarbon and a stout rod to try and yank a big girl out of a tree tomorrow! Note that there is no hook-up preventer (some call it a screw lock) on the shakey head.....

Good sign. (Photo-Fish Sting)

Chloe is just exhausted from all this Christmas excitement.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas from the 45th Parallel! #GaylordMichigan ? A-Jay

What do you guys think of this hair jig? I wrapped the marabou instead of just tying straight to the jighead. I feel like it should be more poofy but maybe I’m wrong what do you guys think? Also thanks to @smalljaw for his videos online

Water temp was 55° and wind was howling, caught 27 overall, my dad smoked me on rapala jerkbait. But DT6 Demon won me big bass. Just a 10 acre pond full of stumps.

Same sport different approaches ? Access is the limiting factor when bank fishing, some places I fish have well manicured shorelines while other are a jungle. I've been skunked in a boat & I've been skunked on the bank. Bank fishing I've caught em by my feet & I've caught em 30 yds away from the bank.

I was watching a repeat of MLF on Discovery Channel this morning and it suddenly dawned on me how completely different fishing from a boat is than bank fishing. I mean really different. Take lure presentation and working the bait, for example. There are a lot more things you can do standing on the boat above the water than you can on the bank. Granted, if I was 6'4" instead of 5'8" that would be a help as well. Then there are things like covering water. Obviously you can cover a lot more water by boat than walking along the bank. But lets take any given 150 foot stretch of shoreline. I cast 150 feet down the shore and hook up with a fish almost immediately. While reeling that fish in chances are I scare away every fish that was between me and my cast. On a boat, you work your way down that shoreline and have the opportunity to pick off those other 3, 4, or 5 or more fish along that same stretch of bank. I can tell you this - for now on when fishing parallel to the shoreline I'm going to work out instead of making multiple long casts. Then there's that 150 foot cast. By the time I make that cast and work it back, the guy on the boat can make 4 or 5 casts. On a boat there are also better angles to fish rocks, stumps, or fallen trees. Fishing from the bank also means minimizing movement so vibrations from walking don't scare off the bass or the baitfish. And of course, fishing from the bank there's almost no chance to cover deeper water when the bass are out of the shallows. We also can't see a lot of what's going on under the water be it vegetation, schooling fish or bait, or most structure - even with polarized glasses. And don't get me started about the advantages of electronics. On this board I see guys saying they catch 50+ bass in a day and unless I'm fishing a dink pond there's no way I'll come close to that. Of course, I only fish for 2 or 3 hours at a time and if I come out with 8-10 fish that's a pretty good day for me. Don't get me wrong - I do OK fishing the banks and I catch enough 5-6 pounders to keep me happy. But frankly, with the limitations of bank fishing it's almost a miracle to stumble upon fish that big when fishing from the bank. I'm beginning to realize that the chances of catching anything bigger than that are really, really slim at best. That won't deter me from trying. But those of use beating the banks day after day are at a real disadvantage. By the way, I'm not saying boat fishing is easier. There are challenges there as well. Heck, it's an art form to control the boat and fish at the same time. It's also a heck of a lot more expensive. Boat fishing just offers so much more in the way of opportunity. So, all you boat guys - take pity on us bank beaters. We're doing the best we can under the circumstances ?

Looks like there's gonna be a rumble.

After experiencing the phrase “buy once cry once” I decided to pull the trigger on my first high end reel. Bought it this morning after returning some stuff to Academy. SVTW103HS and all I can say is wow...this thing is incredible. Can’t wait to get it on the water.

WE got lots of Christmas Day bass and a few crappie. Was after white bass but largemouth and smallmouth seemed to have moved in on them.

Academy $69.99 Bought my grandson one ?

I can't hook fish on a shakyhead without a screwlock ?‍♂️

@Koz awhile back my friends and I held a small, bank-only "tournament" at Grand Lake in Oklahoma. We used our cars as "boats" to hop around to different bank accessible spots (mostly marinas) throughout the day, and we used the MLF app to keep a live scoreboard. It was fun!

FFO has their buy one get one 50% off sale right now. I just picked up a pair of spinning reels.

What lb test? Reel spool capacity is dependant on line diameter. Look at your reels spool capacity, usually listed as mono line by lb test, then look at the diameter of your braid compared to the mono diameter. Tom PS, TW list Suffix braid diameter with a mono lb test conversion.

I bought the bass boat (a very old used one) only to discover it was more complicated than it was useful. There was always something that needed to be fixed or replaced. It's sitting there with a new(ish) tire that won't stay inflated now. I then bought the $500 kayak and used it for 5 years and caught more and bigger bass than I ever did before. And I am able to put it into places I could never put a boat in. Some places I fish are so small, if you put a boat in, the water level would rise noticeably. And they have areas in them you couldn't take a boat. But they have better fish on average than the nearest hydro lake. Before the kayak, I never knew big bass could be so shallow, year-round. No competition, bigger and more bass and exercise. It's a no-brainer for me. I just bought a better kayak, pre-rigged with a fish finder. I can use it year-round without ever getting wet. It seems like it would be more work to lug the kayak, but it's way less work. I kept the $500 kayak for when company comes along (rare).

Blue brought back memories of my Golden Retriever Madison, best dog I ever had.

Look at the braid's line test and check it against what the reel has printed on it for line test/yards. Then, put some mono as backing and tie the braid to the mono backing. You can use as much mono backing as you want with the understanding that it is going to count against the reel's maximum yardage. You may want to glue the braid to the mono knot for extra strength. Not much glue. Get a fast drying glue with an applicator and use that. Apply a little to the knot and let it dry 100%. Don't go overboard with the mono. Just enough to keep the braid from slipping. Enough to cover the spool a few times. Then spool the braid onto the reel and having the braid stop between an 1/8 to 1/4 inch from the top of the reel. It is almost impossible to estimate the amount of line you are putting on your reel unless you have a really good line counter. The ones in the marketplace today are not that accurate. So your guess is as good as mine. You could measure the distance in yards from your entry door to your closet door in your man cave and then take the braid and tie it to the door knob and then run it to the other door knob, circle the knob, and go back and forth between doors until you have the amount of yardage you need. You know, if the doors are 12 feet apart, you have 4 yards, then 8 yards, then 12, then 16, then 20, etc. Do this in private because anyone seeing you doing this will think you lost your mind. My cousins and I used to walk the line around my aunt's house to measure it, going room by room until we figured we had the right yardage. I don't do that anymore as I a married and my wife would not appreciate it. Just a suggestion. Happy New Year!

If you don't like the looks of the Skeeter why consider it? 4 year newer boat, with 4 stroke engine @ 120 hours run time, other that it's plain vanilla off the shelf rig. The Ranger on the other hand has been set up for tournament bass fishing, 2 Stroke Merc ? 250 @ hours. $30K for 10 year old rig, better be in excellent condition, garaged etc. Tom

It'll spook them less than white light, but they can see red light. Red is absorbed faster than other colors, but it takes about 20' of water before it 'disappears'. I'd get a headlamp that allows you to change intensity, then use the lowest level light - even red - you can get by with.

The educated ones do.

Fury 795

The limiting factors in bank fishing are access, location, and positioning. If you can walk to locations that put you within casting distance of good bass habitat, at good angles, you can be just as successful fishing from the bank (or wading) as from a boat. If you can't, then you won't be as successful. I'm not sure it's more complicated than that.

Put together some of my favorite fish catches from this past season. Open water came late in 2018 but the fish catching started right away and went straight through to the last trip. Really looking forward to next season. And I hope it starts a lot sooner. A-Jay

The Strike King KVD Shallow Squarebill 1.5 Crankbait ~ A-Jay

Have the highest regard for the bass tournament fisherman with his 21ft. fiberglass boat with 250 - 300 hp engine attached ... thing of beauty...competing against the best of the best ... with tremendous pressure to do well for a paycheck ... learn a lot from them.... great for the sport ... MERRY CHRISTMAS

Got out for a bit before Christmas Eve get together. We got down in the mid 20's the night before so I couldn't get a line in the water until after 2:00 because of ice. Caught 4 including this nice one on coppertreuse TRD. I'm finding that this cold water fishing is more predictable than many other times. Just wish the fish could fight harder. Can't have everything I guess.

Buy a new rig. You know what you're getting ~ Unused. Still challenging but not nearly as 'Hard'. Good Luck and here's a decision matrix to help make it 'easier' A-Jay

Who cares - Fish your own fish your own way. A-Jay

Went Old School today ~ A-Jay

Nah....why would any respectful bass angler BS another? What is the old saying "if a fisherman lips are moving he is lying". Tom

Suggest the slip shot rig in lieu of the split shot rig. Slip shot is using the following; 8mm faceted glass bead, Carolina Stopper, Mojo cylinder weight 1/8 oz, Owner* 5133 down shot hook for weedless rigging. Use a premium 5 lb to 8 lb mono as it tends to stay off the bottom resulting in better strike detection and fewer snags. I use Maxima 5lb or 6 lb Ultra Green for slip rig on finesse spinning tackle. I use size 1/0 #5133 for 6" curl tail and straight tail worms, Size 1 for 5". It's important to use worms that tend to stay off the bottom. You can do a slow controlled drift or a slow dragging bottom retreive, the weight clicks against the glass bead attracting bass and provides action to the worm, you don't need to add action. Strikes are often a rubber band or pressure bite, slight added weight or soft pull back with the Traditional tap sometimes. Bass may swallow the worm if you are not staying focused. Good luck, Tom leader length varies; 18" to 36" * 4107 Cover shot hook looks good, new and haven't used it yet.

I just watched this a while back. It seems the trick to catching giant bass from the bank is to go to a private pond in FL where the bass are enormous and have never seen a lure. AWWW SON! Who'd've thunk it?

Recently got permission to fish a small pond in an expensive subdivision less than 2 minutes from my house. Today I went to the sweet spot on the west side where I caught a fish last weekend. I threw a Ned Rig with 1/2 of a coppertreuse Zinker Z on it. These three fish represent the first three casts I made. I only made those three casts and then I went home. I didn't want to burn it out. I'm bringing my teenage son back tomorrow so he can have a good fishing experience.

First time since mid October that we’ve made it out on the water, no boat this time though ?. Only stayed out for a couple hours but managed one nice trout for dinner tonight though.

Bass fishing is bass fishing from a boat or from the shoreline. The difference is you are limited to where you can fish when walking along the shoreline. I have made that statement on this site dozens of times and always ask anglers if they fishing from a boat or from shore when answering questions regarding bass fishing so I can determine how to answer the question. Most obvious are questions regarding off shore techniques and sonar. How lures are presented matters, angles the lure approaches bass matter, depth the bass are actively feeding at matter, everything matters and anyone fishing from shore is limited to casting from shore or a dock attached to the shoreline. Shore fishing has some advantages like access to remote locations, private ponds and small lakes restricted to shore fishing only. Shore anglers can be stealthy and some presentations are very effective like soft plastics, especially plastic worms. IMO shore fisherman are generally at a disadvantage for reasons mentioned. I would be far more concerned walking the shore with alligators and poisionus snakes then sitting in a kayak or other type of portable boat with the exception of a belly boat with your legs in the water. Remember you don't necessarily need to own a boat to fish from it. Large lakes usually have rental boats, local fishing clubs have team fishing partners. Some folks prefer fishing from shore. Chief who is a local bass pro that fishes team and pro am events doesn't own a boat and prefers shore fishing. Chief gas dozens of rods and reels along lots of tackle he keep in his truck, selecting what he plans to use that day. Tom

No poison ivy in a boat. I always seem to find it when I walk the banks.

Rare sight in Mississippi, think this was last year.

The answer to most "is it worthwhile " questions begins with your expectations. Any potential gains must be compared to a properly cleaned, flushed, lubricated and setup reel. Adding high performance parts is largely an enthusiast endeavor. Actual gains are modest at best. The cost of bearings is driven more by ABEC rating than material. A fishing reel does not experience sustained high speeds to gain from anything more than ABEC5 bearings. 7's might make sense in a true BFS application. The main advantage of ceramic hybrids is that they can be run dry. Oiling them slows them down enough to negate the gain. If longevity and silence are priority stick with SS. The exception would be in salt water reels to fight corrosion. Lastly on bearings, like many things, they're made in a couple places and rebranded by many sellers. Just stick to trusted sources to avoid counterfeiting of ABEC ratings. In my opinion here are upgrades in order of bang for the buck: deep cleaning Carbontex drag SuperTuning (on appropriate models) spool bearings after market BFS spools bushing to bearing swap for crankshafts & levelwinds handle bearings other personalized parts. One more thought: improving free spool whether by cleaning, Tuning, bearings or spools aids accuracy more than raw distance which is arguably over rated anyway.

1st day on ice for the young ladd went far better than expected!

Just started two weeks holidays, best way to get things started is on the couch with the wife and a bottle of wine and the best movie ever made (at least for this time of year).

Just got the boat Serviced yesterday and decided to try one last fishing trip before Christmas. Worked hard to get 8 bass in the boat today. a couple 2 pounders were the largest . One of these days I will figure out these winter cooling lake fish. Thanks @Bluebasser86. After talking to you I switched over to a rattletrap and got a few more in the boat. Even though the Shakyhead is my go to winter bait. It was not the ticket today. It always amazes me how shallow these fish can be in winter. the 2 pounder in the picture hit a rattle trap in 1 foot of water.

me too. for 30 years now.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas All!!! Sincere thanks to all the members, moderators, Admins and even Lurkers that make this a great community and resource. Your support and participation are priceless. Mike

Merry Christmas to you and all of the other forum members as well.

Merry Christmas to the BR Forum members and their families! I thought I’d share this photo of the Christmas display at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Again, Merry Christmas all

Merry Christmas to all the forum members. Hope yours is a happy one.