My Bank Fishing Setup

[Eccs]

So there have been a couple people who have been talking about bank setups and how they store their tackle recently and I wanted to share my bank setup and a little break down of it all. I have seen on this forum that there are quite a few bank fishers and I think this thread could have some quite useful info for people.

 

Tackle

 

First, is all my tackle in their plano's. I have 1 Deep 3700 for all my plastic craws and it seems like it will work very well for this upcoming season.

I also have 3 3700 slim boxes and 1 3500 box.

 

 

 

 

I have a box for my crankbaits which includes wigglewarts as my medium divers, squarebills diving 2'-4', a few lipless crankbaits and a jerkbait.

 

 

Next 3700 is my worm box with 10" Ribbontails, some yamamoto senkos and some finesse worms

 

 

My last 3700 is my terminal/Jig box and it has hooks, jigs, weights, chatterbaits, etc and I plan on filling the remaining spots with Nu-Tech jigs this summer.

 

 

Last box I have is a 3500 box filled with BPS tubes. It is the bargain tube kit from BPS which is $10 and is a very good deal.

 

 

If you're wondering where my topwater lures are I keep them in my tackle box as I don't have a lot of topwater stuff. Some buzzbaits, a frog and a few poppers are kept in here with extra line, pliers, stringer, trout lures and spoons and some Mepps spinners. Basically all the miscellaneous stuff you bring fishing is in here. In the black bag is a few packs of grubs and 2 packs of flukes I may throw in my pack if I feel they are necessary. 

 

 

All my stuff fits into a small Under Armour backpack I have laying around the house. The good thing about it is that it is quite a small backpack and I can fit all my utility boxes in it no problem, so any normal sized bag would have room to spare for all of my gear if I feel I need more space. It is also lighter than I expected and I could easily carry it for miles.

 

 

 

RODS

 

The rods I have are:

- 6'6 M/Moderate Ugly Stick with Pro Qualifier BPS reel (2 Piece)

- 6'9 MH/ Moderate-Fast Okuma TCS Rod with Lew's BB1 Reel 5.1:1(This is my All purpose cranking/ spinnerbait rod) (1 Piece Rod)

- 6'9 MH/ XF Veritas with Revo SX reel 6.4:1 (This is a rod I can use for many applications) (2 Piece Rod, makes it feel more like a fast action)

 

The reason I picked smaller rods is because I am fishing from the bank I didn't want a long 7'+ rod getting in the way of my casting around trees and bushes etc. When picking my rods I also assumed I would be fishing out of a kayak at times so I did not always opt for a 2 piece. My 2 main rods are 2 pieces for a few reasons, ease of transportation and the veritas was an XF, I wanted a F action but they were sold out and I found the 2 piece to have  a bit slower of a taper than a 1 piece Veritas. The TCS I found to be a good all around rod for cranking and treble baits and I wanted to try a 1 piece rod so I chose a smaller size for when it comes to the bank and travelling with it.

The Ugly Stik I bought last year when I was getting into Fishing and I wanted a dependable durable rod that I can throw basically any lure on. Im now planning on using it for dropshotting. 

I plan on only bringing 2 rods with me when I go to make carrying them easier but at times will bring 3.

 

[yakingfisherman]

Nice! Looks like you got it all down. My problem is I always bring more gear than I need when on the bank. Way way way more than I need actually lol.

[fishangdood]

I hate the term 'bait monkey'.  I prefer to see it as a post-apocalyptic survival kit.  Although I'm this close to jumping the gun on selling my spinnerbait and jig lots to some other doomsday preppers here on BR.

[BannedForSpamming-1234555]

Nice setup... Thanks for sharing

[Joedodge]

Very very nice! I like the organization. I'm still fine tuning my small pack and trimming weight. Excellent Write up also!!!

[BuffaloBass716]

Excellent. I have something similar, but not to the degree of organization and perfection like you.  I should really sit down and go threw what I have and make it more suitable for my bank fishing needs.

[Eccs]

Excellent. I have something similar, but not to the degree of organization and perfection like you.  I should really sit down and go threw what I have and make it more suitable for my bank fishing needs.

Thanks! I figured investing in some good plano's and organizing it  so I can quickly and easily find what I need is just as important as actually buying the tackle.

[Dredd]

I'm a bank fisherman and I like to go as light as possible. LIke the OP, I store all my tackle in Plano 3700's, but when I go out, I pick what I need (a few shakey head jigs, the hooks I need, weights, etc.) and move them into smaller boxes that I can stuff in my pockets or a North Face Roo fanny pack. The following boxes are great for this:

 

Flambeau 00220 Small Spinnerbait Box - Designed for 6 but can actually hold 9 as well as 1/8 oz cavitron buzzbaits.

 

Plano 3414 Micro - double sided and lots of mini compartments. I have 3 of these. 1 for assorted weights, 1 for all my hooks. 1 side has 3 large compartments that can each fit a pack of 5/0 weighted EWG hooks. The other side has a bunch of tiny compartments perfect for mosquito hooks, drop shot hooks, beads, swivels, snaps, etc. You can take a razor blade to cut out compartments. 

 

Plano 344985 Five Compartment - has 5 long compartments. Each compartment can hold 3-4 jigs or 2-3 crankbaits.

 

As for plastics I like to keep it in the original bags.

 

I highly recommend you guys keep a small journal of what you actually use and the quantity. I rarely use more than 3-4 hooks, and 3-4 different types of hooks in any one outing.

[J McRae]

Nice setup! 

 

I carry two rods at the moment, but always have a third rod available on back of the truck. I use to carry four rods and half of the fishing tackle available in stores. Lol!

[fisherrw]

Looks like you got a lotto time on your hands

[chelboed]

Wow...that's a lot to carry on your back. I go through phases of down sizing because I get tired of carrying so much.

I try to fit my stuff in 2x Flambeau umbrella rig boxes. Use a Dakine Drafter pack that I bought for mountain biking. It had plenty of pockets for my terminal tackle.

I actually have 2 different setups. One for bass fishing and one for crappie / panfish / little bass when the bass aren't biting.

Here's my bags:

My bass bag:

Top pocket had my snaps, swivels, clippers, and line burner that I use to melt plastics back together so I can use them nearly forever:

Inside main storage:

Small pockets hold all my hooks, bullet weights, weight stoppers, etc...

Crankbaits, swimbaits, top water:

Wobble worms, tube spinners:

Beetle spins:

Mepps:

Pocket in the back holds plastics:

I still have plenty of pockets and could fit another umbrella box in it if I wanted, but I get tired of carrying all that Crap.

[chelboed]

My smaller black bag is a Dakine Shuttle and I use it for smaller fish.

3"Senko's, small hooks, etc...

[chelboed]

My bank fishing rigs are:

Team Lew's Pro on a Team Lew's HM85 Speed Stick 6-10"MH, 12# Stren mono

Team Lew's LITE on a Tournament Sl speed stick 7' MH 12# Stren mono

Team Lew's Red on a Tournament SL Speed Stick 6'6"M 12#Stren mono

And my light setup right now is a BPS Crappie Maxx Mighty Lite on a BPS Micro LITE rod. 6' ML 4-6#Stren mono

I also have a Falcon Bucoo Micro 6'10"H that I will throw a reel on with 14# Stren when I'm going to be throwing a lot more plastics or top frogs.

I carry only one rod with me.

[chelboed]

It's funny seeing how different mine vs the OP's lure choices are. Different regions etc... I rarely pitch or flip because I'm behind the weeds. I rarely use lipped cranks because I'm drawing them toward shallows and the end up banging the bottom and getting hung up or loaded with moss.

I only use 1-2 colors of stick worm. 3 different colors Mepps (2 sizes). Lots of different colors of beetle spin because they're so versatile. I've caught anything from channel cast to bass to panfish to crappie on them....just vary the size/color.

I love lipless cranks, slow sinking swimbaits, and floating cranks. When I bank fish...I'm always hyper sensitive to getting hung up because lures are too expensive to lose.