Who fishes from a boat vs. fishes from shore? - How does it affect what tackle you use?

[tcbass]

 After watching a lot of poster's videos and seeing their pics I realized that quite a few people on here fish from shore. Oddly I just assumed that most people fished from a boat.

 

Obviously that must change how many rods and how much tackle you can bring with you.

 

 

 

Who fishes from a boat and who fishes from shore and how does it affect what tackle you use?

[Russ E]

I fish from a boat 99% of the time. Every piece of tackle I own is usually in the boat somewhere.

8 baitcasters, 6 spinning rods. and all terminal tackle. 3 or 4 poles on the deck, the rest in storage.

doesn't mean I use it all every trip , but it is ready.

On shore, usually 2 poles with a few baits.

[OkobojiEagle]

I'm fortunate enough to own a small fishing boat, canoe, float tube, a couple sets of waders and I use them all throughout the year.  I'm also fortunate to have collected dozens of rods/reels and several totes of baits and fishing paraphernalia.  I've grown enough in my fishing to only carry with me a small shoulder bag with two small plano boxes -- one for jigs the other for hard baits -- and several pockets for soft plastics, spinnerbaits, leader line and a few necessary tools.  That same bag is used from all of my water crafts, as well as while on foot.  The most significant difference to my fishing while on my boat vs. canoe/tube/waders being I carry one rod/reel when fishing from canoe/tube/waders, and four rigged rod/reel combinations, make use of sonar, gps mapping and various boat control measures while fishing from the boat.  I enjoy my fishing more when I keep it simple.

 

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[Team9nine]

You missed option 3 - both. I only bring what fits in my pockets from shore. In the boat, I obviously bring more, but still a lot less than you might think - about 6-10 3600 size boxes depending.

[scaleface]

One difference is from bank your usually fishing uphill from a boat your often fishing downhill .  

[Cgolf]

Both for me, river from shore and lake by boat. 

 

River - Ned and mostly craw plastics and cranks that cover shallow water. One thing to note is that the weight on the plastics is specific to the flow I fish. A small 3500 size tackle bag carried over my shoulder. Usually one spinning rod, sometimes add a baitcaster. 

 

Lakes - lots of plastics with many different weights and both deep diving and shallow cranks. 3600 sized bag for cranks and 3700 sized bag for plastics. 

[Bankbeater]

I fish from both. When I fish from a boat I can get down deeper so I use heavier baits. Both plastics and crankbaits. 

I rarely use more weight than 3/16 for plastics when fishing from the bank. 1/4 or 5/16 is the heaviest crankbait I will use from the bank. 

[BuzzHudson19c]

Does kayak count as boat? I usually have a med action baitcasting setup and a med/light spinning. If I am hitting a lake with lots of vegetation I skip the spinning stuff and bring my heavy frog stick. Two small plano floating boxes. One with About 10 lures the other with terminal tackle.

[RPreeb]

5 hours ago, tcbass said:

 After watching a lot of poster's videos and seeing their pics I realized that quite a few people on here fish from shore. Oddly I just assumed that most people fished from a boat.

 

Obviously that must change how many rods and how much tackle you can bring with you.

 

 

 

Who fishes from a boat and who fishes from shore and how does it affect what tackle you use?

 

Shore for now.  My wife has agreed to add about $2000 to our budget over the winter to buy the canoe and accessories I've picked out, so that next year I'll be more amphibious.  Since I only own 2 rods (one baitcaster and one spinning rod), I usually have both with me in the truck, even though I don't try to haul both around the shore as I fish.  The small pond I fish most of the time allows me to go back to the truck to change baits or rods.  I usually do a full circuit with one rig, then change if that isn't working.

 

I hope to add a second baitcaster over the winter.  All 3 rods will probably join me in the canoe except on those few occasions when my wife wants to come along.  

[Ktho]

3 hours ago, scaleface said:

One difference is from bank your usually fishing uphill from a boat your often fishing downhill .  

This is a pretty big one. From shore your positioning is really limited, you don't get half the options you get on a boat. No matter what you do you're pretty much always fishing uphill. Due to that I'm downsizing pretty much any bottom contact bait. 3/8 is incredibly heavy from shore for me 5/16, 3/16 and 1/8 are the standard sizes I'm using. Deep diving stuff also just doesn't get used, it ends up just dredging the bottom and there's a really tiny window where it's doing what it should. Anything that dives below 3-5ft just gets left at home. 

[islandbass]

100% shorebound. 

 

I usually bring 3 but might bring a fourth rod. 

 

Usually this what I bring:

 

7' med Cabelas magtouch 2pc casting rod

6'6" mh shimano compre spinning

7' Okuma celilo UL spinning rod

 

These are my "trunk" rods and usually are in the car with me and hence usually get the most use. Rods are 2 piece by necessity. I'm not foolish enough to leave my one piece rods exposed in the car, not even for a second. 

 

My true "bass" rods are one piece and will usually see action on the weekend. 

 

There is some truth in the other thread about some lures working so well you could practically narrow it down to 4 top producers. It's true for me for the most part but I usually have at least one representation from  the lure types that might not be the most effective for me. 

 

I love my mag touch. It's seen all and battled all, largies, smallies, trout, pan fish, pink salmon, silver salmon. If I broke this rod, I'd probably shed a tear and bury in in the backyard. 

 

My compre has also battled the same and MH power for a spinning rod? That's just awesome. 

 

Both these rods can cover a wide array of applications and when they don't work, I'll usually be able to get them switching to ultra light. Liken that to being too close for missiles so you have to switch to guns. 

 

I have so much fun with those rods that my bass rods get jealous, lol. 

 

As a shorebound angler, I arrived at being a practical minimalist (i.e., cover your bases without excess) Why? (Asking myself) Because you're the carrying the gear, dummy!  Yep, I used to carry everything and the kitchen sink but wised up. 

[MichaelCopeland]

I only fish from the shore, so I don't really know how it would effect the tackle I use. I suppose from a boat I would use the same things I use from shore, but add a few more things that I have not tried before. If I had a kayak it would definitely effect the way I fish the shoreline for the better. Harder to do that from the shore, in my opinion. I would also be able to fish areas I can't get to from the bank. 

[Catt]

I do everything from bank fishing to a 20' bass boat!

 

The only tackle bank fishing effects is I don't throw deep diving crankbaits!

[SWVABass]

I'll throw anything from the bank, we have some pretty steep banks here so even deep cranks get a turn. But usually a dropshot. From a boat same thing goes, I just feel more effective from a boat.

[the reel ess]

I kayak fish. But if I go to a pond I can walk, I'll walk it all. Less trouble and effort. Even if I have the kayak, if I can walk some of the edge before I launch I will. I'm more likely to use topwaters and middle zone lures while walking so I don't get hung up. I save the bottom bumpers and lipless cranks for when I'm in the kayak. There are those ponds with a ring of lilies all around them. That calls for something totally weedless like a frog or weightless worm. Fewer options.

 

If I go to a bigger body of water, I take the kitchen sink, bottom to top. High wind plays a role in choosing. On those days I'll go walk a pond or paddle one that's either protected or out of the wind. Trying to kayak fish in a strong breeze is for the birds.

[TOXIC]

I have done shore, wading, boat and Yak.  I have found that for shore and Yak I will shorten up my rod requirements.  From shore because of tree limbs and from the Yak because the only one I ever fished from was a sit-on and with a longer rod, the hookset was weak.  

[Scarborough817]

i do both it just depends on where i am, i've started targeting pike at a small quarry lake near my house so mainly just one rod with a rapala glidin rap, a pearch swimbait or a 3/4oz res

up north at my home lake i am in the boat and normally have at least 6 rods in the boat with me i leave just about everything in there tackle wise so i grab the rods i want and go 

[SummertimeCarl]

Shore - 1, 2, or 3 rods.  A backpack.

Kayak - 2 or 3 rods.  Same backpack.

Boat - 5 rods.  Same backpack.

 

The main difference is if I'm fishing from the shore I only throw my cheapest lures.  I lose 5 times as many lures from the shore as I do from a boat/kayak.  

[J Francho]

Boat, Boat, guest, kayak, shore.  The amount of tackle I bring decreases from left to right.

[thinkingredneck]

I met an angler from our college bass team.  He had a "truck box" he carried everywhere he went.  It contained two of everything he usually used: a few types of soft plastics, spinner bait in two configurations, a few cranks and jerkbaits, terminal tackle.  It was an unholy mess.  He claims he can fish anywhere he drives to out of that one large plano box.  He carried a cheap rod and reel in case his truck was broken into. He used fluro line.  Impressive confidence came from that young man.  He really liked the Pit boss and used a c-rig a lot.

[NYWayfarer]

I fish from shore, my kayak and as a guest on my Father-in laws' boat.

 

I bring 1 rod and a small tackle bag to fish from shore. On my kayak I take 2 rods and a shower caddy basket full of baits for easy access. On my Father-in laws' boat I take 3 rods and a milk crate full of baits.

[YoTone]

only real difference when im fishing from a kayak or shore is that i wont throw a non top water treble hook lure bank fishing. bank fishing with crank baits have cost me a lot of money on snags.

[tcbass]

1 hour ago, SummertimeCarl said:

Shore - 1, 2, or 3 rods.  A backpack.

Kayak - 2 or 3 rods.  Same backpack.

Boat - 5 rods.  Same backpack.

 

The main difference is if I'm fishing from the shore I only throw my cheapest lures.  I lose 5 times as many lures from the shore as I do from a boat/kayak.  

 

 

Interesting. I did a ton of shorefishijg as a kid and rarely lost lures. Probably because I was casting straight out into the lake. 

[fishballer06]

I fish from a boat primarily, and from shore from time to time. When I'm in the boat, I usually have between 5-12 rods with me, and around 4-10 plano boxes of tackle, all my tools/scales, attractants, and a big bag of plastics. 

 

If I'm fishing from shore, it's because I want to work on a technique or lure so that I'm more comfortable using it on the boat in a tournament situation. Or, I just got a new rod/reel and I want to break it in. So when I'm on the bank, I'll take whatever fits in one pocket.

[Choporoz]

Shore, Kayak, Boat.  In most cases, the answer is 'too much'.  But, the minute that I try to downsize, it is the rod/lure/hook/pliers, etc that I left behind that I go to reach for and start cursing