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If I have to walk a bank, wade a creek, push pole a perouge, run a Jon boat back in a marsh, or a 20' BassCat on Toledo Bend. If I have to drag a lure behind the boat, throw a Crappie jig at bass on a screen, stroke a Jig-n-Craw in 30', punch through matted vegetation. I'm gonna catch bass by whatever means necessary.

I have a love/hate relationship with it. Its how i started and how i fished for over a decade of my life. There were days i wanted nothing more than to be on a boat in the middle of the lake, and other days you couldnt get me to leave the bank, no matter what. Its a challenging way to fish, between the higher pressure banks get, lack of open areas to cast, having to dodge snakes and ducks/geese. Breaking off the line since you cant paddle/troll right on top and pull the lure out, getting stuck in all the broken off line that plagues the shallow edges, only being able to fish in (usually) very shallow water. And only being able to cast so far, and sometimes that very shallow water went out 50-100'. And if theres a high wind, casting distance is basically just dropping the lure down in front of you. Walking a few feet, or sometimes a mile or 2 in thick brush with a 1' wide trail in woods you knew were filled with snakes and ticks just to get to a spot. Seeing guys on boats out in the distance catching one after another, staring down at their 3 screens, deciding which of there 20 rods on deck they would pick up next to cast, as you grab your backpack that feels like its full of 20lb weights and try to grip your 4-6 rods and walk to the next spot. Pulling the slime off the lure each cast wondering if its worth the 10 minute walk to the other side of the lake that has a cleaner bottom. It sure does have alot of downsides, and you are at every disadvantage known to an angler. But theres just something about it that feels right. Learning the lake/pond the old school way, no tech, just pure skill, luck, and hope. I have a boat and several kayaks now, and to say its better/easier/simpler would be an understatement. Its a gift sent down from the fishing gods. Able to fish everywhere and anywhere i want, less lures lost, no ticks, only water snakes in certain areas, it sure is great. But i find myself bank fishing more and more over the last 2 years, it just keeps drawing me back. Plus now that ive been to the other side, i just catch much bigger fish from the bank. If only i knew what i know now then....

I have a love relationship with bank fishing. It's really satisfying when you catch a giant fish at a small pressured spot with your feet on the ground just sneaking around and figuring out the where's and when's. I love forging new paths and finding casting angles and areas boats can only look at on Google Earth and say 'not worth it'. I catch lots of great fish in spots like this. I like knowing that my craft is honed and not limited to being launched in a boat at a marina with every rod at my disposal and lots of expensive electronics to be successful. Very satisfying for me! Also also - when fishing is REALLY tough (read: late winter and late summer) - smaller bank only bodies of water = less places to hide. My top 3 from the bank are 9.3, 9.1 and 8.9 with piles of 7s and 8s. Bank fishing is big fishing.

You forgot ice fishing.

What fishing gimmick did I fall for? The weather forecast.

It's a great question if you live up north. The boat spends 1/2 the time out of the water than in the water. BUT....there is something that is very calming to me about being on the water and drift jigging along. The stresses in life professionally just go away. Especially when you get that sweet tugging feeling on the end of your line, on a jig you made over the winter. It's worth all the stresses professionally that you have to allow you to make such a dumb investment in the first place

I connected with @Fishing Rhino after joining this family in 2013 when I got back into fishing. He was retired and I had a work schedule that allowed me to fish. Tom was very generous offered his Nitro’s back seat and taught me a lot. I ran across a good deal on a Ranger RT178 in 2020 so I bought it. I still use my kayak more, but having a boat is good because now I can take people without a boat fishing.

I still bank fish all the time. Boat trips are typically reserved for the weekend. But there’s nothing like a quick therapy session bank fishing for an hr or so during the week after work. Holds me over til I can fish a full 8-10 hrs on a Saturday.

Ice goes your tea, not on the ground!

I do not spend $800 for a rod and reel combo so I can troll from my bass boat.

K.I.S.S 😉 I still walk the bank with one rod-n-reel I still stalk deer with a recurve bow I still shoot a .410 & .22 Up close & personal

My 5 biggest bass were caught from pond banks. So I won't be quitting bank fishing anytime soon.

Freedom, I'am never more free than when I'm on the water. I've always been drawn to the water, in it or on it, I'm good either way.

I am running a 17 foot Crestliner with a 155/80 Mercury Jet.

I fish mainly in the Susquehanna river so I need something that handles skinny, rock filled water. My boat is a 2015 Crestliner 17 foot with an 80 horse Mercury Jet. This was the picture from the dealership where it came from last year.

Haven't been out in a few days....cold, snow, grandkids.... so about 3PM, the mercury nudged up over 30 and winds were under 10, I figured I had to get out. Only few bites before the iced up guides and level wind got the best of me. Shame, because they were all good ones. Best 2 were 4.8 and 3.5.

I have a German 180g reissue of Hemispheres as well as an unopened picture disc. I just picked up that Yes album las week.

I grew up on the water. I don't remember a time I wasn't fishing, swimming, skiing... I worked summers at the marina my uncle managed starting at age 12. I paid cash for both my first boat and a new Honda moped the summer I turned 14. Hard work, and saving provided the opportunity. I think I was born with a desire to fish.

When I was young , me and a friend would drag a 10 foot jon boat over a levy into an oxbow lake.

It was a cheap enough. Boats are inexpensive as a start. A $500 14' deep V and, $200 trolling motor and $100 battery. For under $1000 it opened so many doors, or bodies of water. Made fishing 10x better being able to access more of the lake. Then we upgraded with a $100 garmin striker 4 fish finder after his 1980 humminbird unit couldn't read bottom in 100 feet of water. That was all it took to get a whole new experience.

As long as it's legal I'm willing to try it. There are some ways of fishing that are more fun than others but catching is always more fun than getting skunked.

I'm gonna catch a bass by whatever means I have at my disposal - hopefully one of those is necessary! 😂😂😂 But I feel ya - lately I been mostly watching my lures skip across a sheet of ice that's too thin to walk in and too thick to fish through and I gotta say I don't envy our Northern friends!

Unfortunately this is my only fishing option.

Loved fishing, hated being stuck on the bank. Somebody local was selling a little boat and motor and I already had a truck so it was an easy decision.

I fish from the bank all the time if I only have a limited time I don’t bother with my boat.

I hated bank fishing (at first, still kinda do). Snakes all over, skinny trails stepping over who knows what. Poison ivy everywhere, lots of very nice PA people (highest amount of sarcasm) throwing rocks, starting fires at the boat launch, screaming, fighting etc, although these werent fisherman.... Not to mention the extreme amount of pressure our smaller lakes have since more people fish the bank than on a kayak or boat (near me atleast). Then theres the biggest issue, the lack of open space to cast from. About 1/4 of the bank had access to fish. And you are limited to as far as you could possibly cast.... But ill still do it, since it keeps bringing in bass. So we got a 1040 Lowe, threw a Minn Kota on the back and that was it. Eventually added a 2.5hp Suzuki for getting to and from spots. This little boat has helped me get some really great catches and memories too! Although i am now 100% a kayak angler instead since it fits my needs better, the boat still has a special place in my heart and yard. If you can afford it (within reason) go for it.

OH Yes, my first boat was a 1974 Starcraft Tri-Hual with a Mercruiser. I made a fishing boat out of it. I swore that I wouldn't put it into the water until I had everything the way that I wanted it. After a couple months working on it on the weekends, I almost had it the way I wanted it. Then on a Saturday morning I headed out to work on it and there was my daughter 7 and my son 3, standing in the boat trying to cast out into the yard. I looked at my wife and said it's time to put it in the water. So I put away my tools and we headed to the lake for our maiden voyage. I never did finish everything that I wanted. It was a good boat. That's been over 30 years ago.

The world is always uncertain, and many things don’t happen as we originally imagined, but they just happened. Maybe this is fate. Can you share your experience, What gave you the inspiration or opportunity to buy your own fishing boat?

I have a couple of small farm ponds that I’ll fish several times a year. It’s nice if I want to make a few casts after work and don’t feel like loading the boat up.

and they get Carol Burnett. 🤣 Oh look...now they're Googling Carol Burnett....

"Who still fishes from the bank?" Not if I can help it. While I am blessed with an abundance of lakes nearby, shore opportunities at them are limited. I tried the first year we moved here before getting the kayak. You know what I've learned since learning the lakes better in a boat? That shore access around here sucks. Most of the lakes have no access due to lake houses and private property. There might be one access point with 20 yards of bank. Most of that is in an awful location and all of it gets hit pretty hard. There are 1 or two lakes with state park around them that you could fish from the bank. But to get away from people and into any areas worth fishing you're going to go for a pretty long walk through some pretty nasty stuff to fight all of the shoreline brush and briars. If there was absolutely no way I could have a boat of some type then I guess you could hike in to a few places with waders in a backpack and fish them that way (used to do that ages ago). But if I'm going to go that route, I'm going to fish streams either for trout or smallies. A 30 minute drive to the parking lot plus a 45 minute nasty hike is 30 minutes longer than being on a riverside somewhere. There are a couple ponds here that I'll do lure testing on, but that's not fishing. Catching a couple 12" fish in 3' of water isn't my bag. Growing up in wester PA we had tons of ponds that yielded fish to 9# over the years. I'd kill to have that here.

I remember that! RIP Kirby Puckett

Bet cha there's some peeps googling Tarzan right about now . . . . A-Jay

Yeah, I won't recommend buying rods from Amazon. I used to do that 6 years ago, and out of the 4 rods I bought, 3 of them came in broken. It's the packaging. They used those cheap flimsy triangle shape boxes instead of the common sturdy tubes. I don't know what they're using now, as I gave up buying rods from them.

This way of thinking is so foreign to me but I see it constantly on this forum with question like "I just got this new combo, what should I use if for?" I look for fish that I want to catch and then use tackle to catch them. There seems to be a new generations of anglers that look for tackle they want buy and then use fishing to enjoy their tackle.

Smallmouth Tarzan !!! I could see myself somehow destroying a light fixture if I tried that

Can we all agree that the met 70 isn’t a 70? Hell, it’s a 150. They have done everything possible to keep making money on that sub par frame. Yes it’s solid, yes it soulless, yes they have made the 150, the 100, the 100s? And now the 70. Make a new reel. Very few people want a 70 sized spool in a 150 frame.

Me

I wouldn't recommend buying rods from them, but I've never had an issue with reels. I got a fantastic deal on a couple Daiwa Lexa HD's last winter. They were brand new, in sealed boxes.

Buyers and Sellers - if somebody PMs you about an item you've posted here that you want to buy or sell - especially if they are a new member - they're likely a scammer! They sometimes tell you to email them, and provide an email in the message. Recently I've caught a few. They usually have overseas IP addresses. Clearly they are up to no good. Don't fall for it!

Innacuweather has bit us all in the butt for sure

I use Owner #5133 size 1/0 or 2/0 depending on worm diameter. This is a Down Shot off set hook light forged wire and strong yet light weight. Roboworm ReBarb Gamakatsu hook also works good for weedless rig. Tom

None of this is true on any sort of scale. It may have happened once and been inflated by the internet, but I have been buying rods on Amazon for a decade and never had a broken one. Or any problems with reels purchased there.

Might work in a bog that's 12 ft wide. But I would never make it to my next spot before dark. A-Jay

the hook is the part that actually connects you to the fish. the last thing I'm doing is scrimping on the hooks. gamakatsu round bend megic eye for me.

Mine was a Tracker 1448 with a 15hp Mariner. It was a birthday present to myself when I turned 19. I had that thing up until 10 years ago and my friend still has it. Had a lot of great memories in it.

I always made fun of southerners and how they cant drive in the snow until I moved down here. My first winter in the south we got 5 inches (a LOT for the area I'm at) in one night. They just plain dont have the equipment or road prep like northern states do. It was actually easier to drive in the fresh snow (my job requires I go in during those events) but the next evening when some of it melted and everything became a sheet of ice for 4 days was crazy. So now wiser, I take it all back lol.

Well my boy's BB game got canceled Saturday, so a buddy and I went to the power plant lake to try to find a few. The wind was way stronger than it was supposed to be, with white caps rolling most of the day on the main lake, and the 18* air temp at the ramp didn't feel good with the 15-20mph wind. Plus there was probably 20 groups of duck hunters scattered around the small lake, it sounded like a war zone out there. The bite was slow, my buddy only had 1 fish all day, I got on them a little better but it was still a grind, all of them were on slow moving baits. I caught a majority of them off a shallow point that has a creek channel swing on the end of it and lots of rocks and a few stumps scattered around it. It's a normal spot for me in the winter that is usually productive. This day the south wind was pushing the warm water from the outlet straight into it, which is a big deal on power plant lakes. I could see the gulls diving from across the lake, so I knew there was bait there. What was confusing to me, was it looked like there was a bunch of big logs on the bottom that had never been there on my sidescan. Well I was dragging my Ned rig through about 3' of water when one of those "logs", thumped my bait. I thought it was going to be a drum from the initial bite, but the hookset was so solid, and then it was just and unstoppable force as it headed out for deeper water. I tried to stay spotlocked, but I knew there was several stumps and actual logs, I was afraid it would get me wrapped and be gone, so I had to follow it. I was only armed with a 7' ML spinning rod with a 2000 size reel, 10lb Seguar Tactx to an 8lb Seaguar Grand Max leader tied to a homemade 1/16oz Ned head with a #2 hook, but we played Tug-O-War for over 20 minutes before the monster finally surfaced. I've never tried to put someone like that into the kayak, it wasn't easy. I got her head in the net and struggled for a minute or two, almost flipped the kayak towards her lifting over the side and then to the other side once we both slide back into the kayak. I've seen a lot of big catfish, I've never seen a fish like this one. My 50lb scale wasn't nearly big enough. I've caught several 50lb class fish, I've never struggled to lift one like I did with this fish. My gut says 70-75lbs, but I'll never know for sure.

Several years back I caught a pickerel. Unhooked it with pliers, tossed the pliers over the side of the boat while still holding the pickerel. Oops. That’s the only thing that I know of. Probably lost a lot more and never realized.