I don’t know anything

[Derek1]

about fishing this early. I picked up A few jerk baits witch I’m not good with. Don’t matter suspending, floating, slow sink they just come back full of crude. I got one fish on a vile craw weightless around a branch. I’ve went back with the vile craw and around again with a rage craw. It don’t matter. I met another guy who said he caught 7 around the pond and I believe him with a jerk bait. He cut down branches and earned the right to fish the bank.  I’m not there yet with the bc. And that’s fine. But I watch him slowly fish with spinning rod and I can’t do it with my bc. I’m not trying to complain I’m on my second season with bc but sometimes  I could just be fishing. I’m practicing hard but sometimes I just wanna fish, in the wind and go with what it is. This is just a rant cause when I decided to buy good gear I bought Good spinning gear first. I just got home from being cold for a few out playing. I hate to complain I’ve been waiting for this. Let me have it and teach me something. Please. 

I just read my own post. I think I ll use a little more spinning gear. 

[Bluebasser86]

I throw jerkbaits on spinning and baitcasting gear, either works fine. I'd try to get a jerkbait that is weighted so it rises slowly to try and avoid some of the junk on the bottom. A lot of the lakes around here have tons of snot on the bottom every year early on so that any bait that touches the bottom is fouled instantly. A slow rising bait has been the best remedy I've found. 

[Crestliner2008]

You don't say where you're located? This could be helpful in helping you! Water temp?

 

I've been using bc gear for 40 years and spinning gear for a lot longer than that. Being older now (and hopefully wiser) I can find few situations where spinning gear can be out performed by bc gear. Don't get me wrong, I love bc. It's fun to use. But by & large, spinning can do just in most situations in my opinion.

 

Your success or failures will be predicated more upon where you fish, forage base, water & air temps, than what you are using to toss your offerings.

[Derek1]

I’m on the mass/ nh line. Not sure of water temps. The blue gill are just starting to move around. 

[JLindsey]

For what it’s worth, you’re not alone. On larger lakes, I want to cover water and I get frustrated trying to work a jerkbait slow enough for those cold water bass. On ponds, there’s often slop on top and hydrilla on the bottom, and my jerkbait gets fouled up on every single cast. It’s maddening.

 

I’ve caught some decent fish on the cold water lures I’ve come to rely on (spoons and blade baits), but I’ve really had to work for them. The jerkbait guys make it look like a walk in the park. Learning to fish them effectively is definitely on my to-do list. 

[Ksam1234]

Megabass vision 110, suspending or find a slow rising jerkbaits. Just count out how long you pause and vary it until you get bit. Once you get a bite then keep replicating that. My go tos now are jerkbaits, lipless cranks or finesse jigs. Sometimes you have to pause the jerk for 10 seconds but it works. 

[813basstard]

First off, your post is gold. Sheer gold.

My suggestion:

Cane pole. Night crawler. Straw hat. Bucket to set on and double as a cooler for beer and catches. 

And go...

 

[Jleebesaw]

6 minutes ago, 813basstard said:

First off, your post is gold. Sheer gold.

My suggestion:

Cane pole. Night crawler. Straw hat. Bucket to set on and double as a cooler for beer and catches. 

And go...

 

Bullheads!!! 

[IgotWood]

Don't get frustrated! I've been fishing BCs for three years now. I've found that lighter baits can be a bit challenging on BCs, especially in the wind! You need to spend a bit of time getting your reel dialed in perfectly. However, spinning gear also works just fine for this application. If spin gear maximizes your time FISHING rather than messing with your reel, then stick with the spin gear. And I too have a problem with tempo. I don't get a lot of time on the water, so when I do get to go, I want run and gun, cover the water, move around, try different baits/techniques. It's a tough habit to break. I constantly remind myself to slow down. And it's also beneficial to think and plan before you get to the water. Weather, water conditions, season, etc. Ask yourself where the fish SHOULD be, and how you expect them to be behaving. Plan on where to focus your efforts, and what baits you think should be effective. Make small adjustments on the water until you figure it out.

 

If you're hanging snot on every cast, consider trying soft jerkbaits and swimbaits rigged weedless, like a fluke, or a paddletail. You can use lightly weighted or unweighted swimbait hooks.

[LionHeart]

On 3/28/2019 at 1:20 AM, Derek1 said:

about fishing this early. I picked up A few jerk baits witch I’m not good with. Don’t matter suspending, floating, slow sink they just come back full of crude. I got one fish on a vile craw weightless around a branch. I’ve went back with the vile craw and around again with a rage craw. It don’t matter. I met another guy who said he caught 7 around the pond and I believe him with a jerk bait. He cut down branches and earned the right to fish the bank.  I’m not there yet with the bc. And that’s fine. But I watch him slowly fish with spinning rod and I can’t do it with my bc. I’m not trying to complain I’m on my second season with bc but sometimes  I could just be fishing. I’m practicing hard but sometimes I just wanna fish, in the wind and go with what it is. This is just a rant cause when I decided to buy good gear I bought Good spinning gear first. I just got home from being cold for a few out playing. I hate to complain I’ve been waiting for this. Let me have it and teach me something. Please. 

I just read my own post. I think I ll use a little more spinning gear. 

Kid I did not understand a word of what you just said. ?

[Jleebesaw]

Ha ha. Is that slang or....

 

I dont know why you can't fish as slow with a casting rig as a spinning one. Do you mean you are having trouble casting with it? If so, there are a lot of good you tube videos about casting them. Bring a spinning rod and the casting rod. If you get a birds nest that's really bad, just use the spinning rod for awhile and fix the line on the casting rod later. They can get frustrating, but dont let learning something new ruin your day.

[thinkingredneck]

You may be trying to fit a round peg in a square hole.  Try weightless or lighly weighted, weedless soft plastics. Nothing wrong with a spinning reel.  A BC has to be matched to your bait.  Yours may be made/ set for heavier baits.  When kayak or bank fishing I carry both.

[Fishes in trees]

Weightless or belly weighted soft plastic jerk baits could be an option - maybe a little more predictable.  Throwing jerk baits from the bank in the wind can be challenging - there is really only a relatively small niche where the bait is in position to attract a bit.  By this I mean you are X distance from the surface and X distance from the bottom and X will vary from time to time and lake to lake.  When your bait gets close to the shoreline, of course it is too shallow and it is going to pick up stuff off the bottom.  If you are gong to do this, you will learn over time when to stop the retrieve, rod tip up, bring the bait in fast and recast.  Trying to do this with a bait caster is going to add some time to the learning curve.   The belly weighted soft plastic jerk bait might be a little easier than say, throwing a Rogue, which is light, not really aerodynamic and has 3 treble hooks flopping around.

 

 

I've been in your situation ( early season bank fishing ) and I don't think that a jerk bait would be my first choice, even though many fishing mags tell you to fish jerk baits in the early spring.  You need something that you can cover the water with, covering the water column from top to bottom from the bank.

I'd recommend first a white or white/chartruese spinner bait and parallel the bank as much as possible.  For pond fishing I'd go quarter or 3/8 oz.,  single Colorado blade, and keep it moving.   A couple of times each retreive, stop & drop, let the bait fall for a couple of seconds, maybe more, if you hit the bottom you let it drop too much.

 

Option B, for me would be a 3/16 or 1/4 oz Brewer Spider Slider Head fished on 6 lb mono or light braid with leader, a 4 or 5 inch worm, maybe a paddle tail, maybe not.  This is the bait that you "polish the bottom" with, the idea being that you fish slow enough/fast enough that you are always near, but not on the bottom and by near I mean 4 or 5 inches.

 

If you do this and cover the water, you will get bit.  If you don't, the previous suggestion of cane pole and worms is a good one.  If you go this route, be mindful that you can "bubba up" your cane pole presentation and spend just as much money on top quality equipment designed for presenting worms, crickets, and other live bait in very much a finesse manner.  Check out match fishing or various European live bait presentations.

 

Last, if you're a bank fisherman, (and most of us, in our youth, start out as bank fishermen)  invest in decent auxiliary gear. . . .by this I mean a decent set of hip waders, which will get you off the bank a little bit and make it much easier to fish parallel to the bank and invest in a decent quality, balanced and sharp machete.   It isn't a sin to take a few moments and open up your casting lanes a little bit.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jrob78]

If you're in New England I imagine the water is still really cold. It's tough this time of year up north. Practice with your baitcaster, fish slow baits and be patient. Also, don't get too hung up on using a baitcaster, obviously learn to master it but if you feel like it's frustrating you, use what you're comfortable with until you get more practice in. In other words, don't let it ruin your day, you'll get the hang of it.

[redmexican5081]

The guys in the eastern mass thread are reporting water temps at ~42-45. Our water in south eastern NH just opened up this past week and a lot of water still has ice on it.  You are going to find lots of dead stuff on the bottoms right now. The leaves from last fall are breaking down and the weedbeds haven't started growing yet. This makes anything touching bottom a magnet for muck. Jerkbaits that run and suspend above the  bottom depth you are targeting should be ok. I fish stuff that runs 4-6' over 8-10' of water this time of year. Find the drop offs on the north side of the pond. Find the hard cover, wood, rocks, concrete, etc.  it warms faster with the sun.  No issues with using a spinning rod for jerkbaits either. I use them all the time when fishing from the bank because my bc casting isn't the best yet.

[txchaser]

On 3/29/2019 at 4:39 PM, IgotWood said:

If you're hanging snot on every cast, consider trying soft jerkbaits and swimbaits rigged weedless, like a fluke, or a paddletail.

 

10 hours ago, thinkingredneck said:

Try weightless or lighly weighted, weedless soft plastics.

 

7 hours ago, Fishes in trees said:

The belly weighted soft plastic jerk bait might be a little easier than say, throwing a Rogue, which is light, not really aerodynamic and has 3 treble hooks flopping around.

 

[scaleface]

If your jerk bait is picking up crud on every cast but another angler is doing well with one then try one that runs shallower and hold your rod tip high . What kind of jerk bait are you using ?

[Glaucus]

I didn't know you fish, Jon Snow.

[The Bassman]

I think the answer here isn't lure choice as much as tackle choice. I bank fish (no straw hat and chair thank you) and fish mostly spinning. I love my BC outfits but day in and day out I have much more flexibility with spinning. I do agree with the lure suggestions to minimize slop issues. Bank fishing a suspending jerkbait isn't the same as casting from a boat.