I Cant Seem To Figure It Out...

[prjavelin]

My background:

Im from Puerto Rico and I have been a bank fisherman since I was 6 years old(28now). I can catch panfish, catfish and pretty much anything that bites on live bait. Im pretty good at it.

Now I want to be good at bass fishing. Im gonna get a boat in around 2 years maybe less but while I work hard and save I want to start getting in on the action. I want to catch bass from shore. Ive seen many people do it from shore in youtube, Ive seen people catch tilapia with plastic worms. My cousin and uncle have landed nice bass from shore.

I dont really remember what awakened my desire to do this and start fishing regularly but somewhere inside me all I wanted was this. In the last couple months Ive been putting my equipment together. I love crankbait and I got a bunch of them mostly top water, two poppers, almost any size and many different colors. I think I should have done it more organized but I didnt. I should have gotten one each from each type one for stained and one for clear water. Since I recognize I dont know anything about plastics. Ive been reading like a mad man mostly about senkos watching a lot of tv programs about fishing.

i went fishing today after rain had poured. many fish were splashing on the top of the water. i tried almost every top lure i have with no luck. what should i do in these kind of situations?

Im using braid, should I use a non visible leader?

what type lures should be my main lure to fish from the bank?

how important will be the location rather than the technique?

where do i have to cast?

how should i retrieve?

thank you very much!

[Crestliner2008]

There is no "short-cut" to success. Understanding the species you are after and their habits in a particular body of water takes time. Asking about techniques, etc., before understanding the fundamentals will only get you frustrated and waste a lot of money on unneeded tackle. Get your hands on a book entitled, "Spoonplugging" by Elwood "Buck" Perry. This will outline the fundamentals of structure and how bass relate to it. You can also get some great information from reading the "articles" here at the top of the page.

When you get the basics down and need suggestions as to a particular set of circumstances you are faced with, the folks here are very knowledgeable and will help you a lot. You've come to the right place. Good Luck!

[roadwarrior]

Read "Fishing Articles" at the top of the page. Take you time, this is valuable information and

fun to read! To get you started, here are three threads that should help:

"Just Getting Started"

Guaranteed To Catch Bass

I just cant catch bass

Learning to fish on your own

[justin apfel]

Around this time of the season I would have to say watch your speed on the retrieve. I live in VA and the water temp is in the 60 and I have had far more success on slow presentation than fast lately. So whatever you fish just fish it kind of slow. But not super slow, just find a good median I guess

[Edgy]

I am in the same boat as you, i have never bass fished from a boat, always shore fishing. I normally stick to weedless rigged plastics such as a senko, or a ribbontail worm from culprit, berkley, etc. With bass, they are either deeps, nested up by the banks, in the weeds, or just outside the weedlines where i live. So more then likely you will catch more fish if you cast closer to the shore then deeper, but the biggest bass are normally outside the weeds, or deep.

[Marty]

how important will be the location rather than the technique?

It goes without saying that location is critical, since you can only catch a fish within your casting range. Often when a fish has a willingness to take a lure, it would be willing to take a wide variety of lures, so finding fish is the #1 priority.

As Edgy mentioned above, often casting parallel to shore rather than casting way out will be more productive, but casting away from the shore should not be ruled out, especially if you're not familiar with that particular body of water.

what type lures should be my main lure to fish from the bank?

I've posted often that I have used a wide variety of lures from the bank. Anything that is suitable for the conditions has the potential to work.

Im using braid, should I use a non visible leader?

I don't use a leader, but many anglers feel that one should be used.

how should i retrieve?

Use different speeds and cadences because you don't know in advance what will attract the fish on any given day.

Also, try moving around and cover a lot of water until you get to know the characteristics of a given body of water.

[Diablos]

Here is my evolution of bass fishing:

Age 12-24: Throw black plastic worm and catch fish all day without a care

Age 25-35: Throw thousands of dollars worth of lures, paying attention to wind, barometric pressure, water temp and every other variable and doubt my ability

Age 35-37: Throw wacky rigged Senko and catch fish all day without a care.

I spent too much time over-thinking everything and stopped enjoying myself for a long time.

[bigbill]

I mainly fish from shore. I was spending over $50 a week on livebait over a decade ago when i switched to using lures only.

Important things we need to learn;

Presentations are the most important thing. One is constant lure speed. I practiced making a perfect circle with my hand and wrist while cranking a top prop / buzzbait. The speed needs to be a constant speed, it has to be perfect. I like to practice my presentations on a slow day and a fish will interupt me when i do it right.

I'm also a lure color fanatic too. Reds, Browns, Green, chartruese and silver are some of my favorite colors. Let the water clarity dictate what color and size lure to use.

Clear water conditions natural lure colors, small to mid sized lures fished faster.

Slightly stained water conditions same as above

Stained water conditions its brighter lure colors med sized fished slower

Muddy water conditions its the larger sized, brightest color lures fished the slowest.

I would get a cup of your favorite beverage and read everything thats here in getting started and on. Trust me everything here thats said really works when we do it right. Read it all, then go out and learn it on the water. You can catch fish like a pro at times too trust me i know.

Fishing from shore the best thing i ever purchased was the hummingbird portable fish finder wrist watch version. You cast out the sensor and it sends back to the wrist watch screen the bottom structure. I can find the points, the flats, deep holes and dropoff's using it. Then i can adjust my fishing style to match the structure. I can stand at the top of the point and fan cast it, thats taking the full advantage of the structure. Were fishing from shore and its only backwards from a boat. Its the same fishing once we figure it out.

[prjavelin]

thank you for the responses. I read at least two of the links that were given to me completely. The one about fishing on your own im still reading the responses. I have learned a LOT already and I have been thinking of the spots I have seen in my lake that I havent been to in a while or I have never been to.

The lake(actually a reservoir) goes thru stages of being full of water like right now. When it is like this tilapia(the fish I really know) dont bite at all or very little. the lake gets a lot of pressure both with live bait and with boats fishing bass. right now Im thinking about the spots Im gonna fish in this stage.

when the levels go down it gets fish a lot more and the bite goes considerably up. Ive been able to get panfish by the buckets. When it goes down I already know of the spots Im gonna go for bass fishing.

Im thinking about going to a spot that has weeds right know so I can fish a senko there and toads/frogs.

One question: the fishing challenge is with a wacky rigged senko right?