Ever Shiner / slip-bobber fish for Bass?

[DaubsNU1]

Back in the mid 1996 me and some good buddies trekked down to Lake Fork for some bass fishing. We were young, few of the guys worked at Cabela's HQ in Sidney, NE...Fished hard throwing everything but the kitchen sink...couldn't catch a d**n thing.

 

A few locals suggested we get some big shiners, rig slip bobbers and fish the timber. The bigger the shiner, the better.

 

Had a BLAST!  One guy boated an 8 lb bass.

 

I haven't fished that way since that trip.

 

Anyone toss out the shiners lately?

[Deleted account]

Have fished big shiners under bobbers, (mostly in Fl), but not slip ones, I'm sure it would work great. 

[Johnbt]

Sure, but shiners are so fragile. Buy a jumbo goldfish or two and fish most of the day if you're lucky.

And if they're legal in your state.

 

www.fishingduo.com/is-fishing-with-goldfish-illegal-laws-for-all-50-states

 

 

[gim]

Just now, Johnbt said:

Sure, but shiners are so fragile

You can say that again. They’re about $1.50 each here, if you can find them. And they die if you look at them wrong too.

[diehardbassfishing]

It's not real fishing. I know I'm gonna get a lot of flack with that, but it's the easy way out. I can't see how anyone can take credit for a minnow's work.

 

Was in FL fishing. Getting skunked. Guide wanted to go with wild shiners. Nope. Rather pay what was owed, and get off the water. Better luck next time.

 

 

Karl

[Johnbt]

"I can't see how anyone can take credit for a minnow's work."

 

What? You dive in and grab them with your bare hands or maybe with your teeth? Oh, you use a rod, reel, painted lures and hooks loaded up with colored plastics and scents and stuff? I see.

 

You know the lakes and ponds are chock full of minnows. Scads and schools and shoals and whatnot. Lots 'o minnows everywhere. There's more to it than putting a shiner or a nightcrawler on a hook and taking a nap. At $2 per jumbo you'll go broke and be going home in short order. You still have to find the big fish first.

 

 

[diehardbassfishing]

I guess I gotta look closer to see what the Bass Pros are really doing!

 

 

Karl

[torm]

Fishing with live bait is fine but I tell people to try not to rely religiously on it. I work in a bait shop and you can tell when someone only fishes with live bait. On normal occasions when we have bait they are set, but when the full run of walleyes or white bass happens and we don't they become angry headless chickens. 

[Johnbt]

"I guess I gotta look closer to see what the Bass Pros are really doing!"

 

They're following the rule books trying to make a living. The rule books are written by the owners of the businesses that are paying the bills.

Then there's the rest of the bass fishing world that just likes to go fishing. It has been fun to watch the little world of tournament fishing years ago scratch their way up from nothing and now they're on cable tv regularly and paying good money.

 

The people I fish with don't even watch tournaments or read about them, much less fish them. One guy used to fish them as a semi-pro and did some weekend gigs for Shimano, but he quit the grind in the '80s and stuck to running his 7 day a week retail business. But boy, there for a while I was getting some great deals on Shimano gear. The best deal was an open box demo reel that came from a factory rep. It was a just released first generation 4500 Baitrunner for $40 (I still surf fish). We still laugh about the $40 because my buddy only paid $32 for it. He's fun to fish with until he starts retelling the stories about the times the reps would have him take visiting pros out for a day on local lakes in his boat and he'll name drop one famous name after another.

 

www.gameandfishmag.com/editorial/50-year-evolution-of-tournament-bass-fishing/192993

ctes

[diehardbassfishing]

Saw that coming - money is evil.

 

Still:

Some like the easy way, some like a challenge.

 

Karl

[roadwarrior]

Well, I like fishing, but I like catching better! 

Live bait is just another option that works very well. 

 

[Luke Barnes]

2 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

Well, I like fishing, but I like catching better! 

Live bait is just another option that works very well. 

 

I agree. Lures are meant to mimic a real fish, so if they arent working why not use the real thing. Sure i love fishing, but I LOVE catching! No matter what lure or bait. But live bait besides worms, where I live is hard to come by within an hour drive.

[gim]

The primary issue for me with live bait is keeping it alive. Some is easier to keep fresh than others, but dead or dying bait is pretty useless unless you’re going catfishing. A secondary issue is the mortality. Live bait has proven to result in higher mortality. It’s fine if you intend to keep them but catching a bunch on live bait, releasing them, and assuming they survived is not reality. Especially in warmer water.

[Sphynx]

I fish in too many states to keep up with where live bait is and isn't legal, safer to just avoid it so I don't get myself in trouble, furthermore I don't have to feed, aerate or otherwise care for my artificial baits, it's no skin off my butt if somebody wants to use live bait, hope you enjoy the heck out of it, it just isn't a good option for me.

[Fishlegs]

I’ve never seen a minnow put a single fish in a boat without the assistance of a human so the minnow doesn’t do all the work. Most of us aren’t fishing the pro circuit. We’re just having fun.

[Bluebasser86]

I like using live craws better. Sometimes small sunfish or bluegill. I can't remember the last time I bought minnows.

[Biglittle8]

We used to use chubs under a bobber for Northern Pike all the time. That's some real fun fishing! Nothing wrong with live bait, you still have to land it!

[MGF]

Live bait is a lot of work and mess. I'm happy to do without it when I can. I've never used shiners for bass but I've used lots of nightcrawlers and leeches. I've used plenty of other minnows for walleyes and crappie. 

[gim]

6 hours ago, Biglittle8 said:

We used to use chubs under a bobber for Northern Pike all the time. That's some real fun fishing

 

I used a big 12 inch sucker a few times under a giant bobber for muskie fishing in the fall and I will tell you personally that it is in fact some of the most boring type of fishing known to man.  First you fork over about 11 bucks for each sucker.  Then you hook that slippery thing up to a quick strike rig, cast it out, and wait.  And then you wait some more.  Then you crack open a beer.  Or two.  Then you wait some more.  And after hours of this, if you're lucky, a pike or muskie will attack that sucker.  If you miss, the sucker is dead and therefore useless.  11 bucks down the drain without a fish caught.

 

I went with my parents once and my Father said "I'll pay for the bait" without knowing how much they were.  We each needed two of them for a total of 6.  The bill came to almost 70 bucks.  The look on his face was priceless.

[TnRiver46]

I catch and fish with shad all the time, but please no bobber. I hate those things so much. I can catch them well on free line, attach bobber and nothing 

[Johnbt]

"I can't remember the last time I bought minnows."

 

I can, it was 3 winters ago. We bundled up on a sunny cold morning and bought 4 dozen jumbo minnows and a few big goldfish from a reputable bait shop. I suppose they got them from Perry's minnow farm in Suffolk like everyone else, but I digress. Perry used to get them from Arkansas fwiw.

 

By lunchtime 2.5 dozen had rolled over and died. Yes, we know how to aerate, etc and take care of minnows. It was just bad luck, old minnows, whatever. An expensive experience.

 

The goldfish saved the day.

[J Francho]

I've done it in Florida, but we used balloons instead of bobbers.  It was really boring, but we caught big fish.

[TnRiver46]

1 minute ago, J Francho said:

I've done it in Florida, but we used balloons instead of bobbers.  It was really boring, but we caught big fish.

For me it is anything but boring, it’s constant pain in the butt and fishing with artificial is way more relaxing. Shad are always dying whether it’s in a bucket, flying off the hook or getting gobbled up by smaller fish. There are other days where I have to sweat through my clothes just to catch a bucket full of shad. During certain times of year they are just as hard to catch his bass

[Dwight Hottle]

I have used shiners for bait and always enjoy it. I have three DD's one was caught on a live shiner & the other two on rattle traps. So I don't think shiner fishing is easier or cheating or taking the easy way out. When I first started fishing for largemouth in earnest my buddies & I traveled to some farm ponds in southern Georgia where we had access. We would buy live shiners from a commercial bait facility & keep them alive in several five gallon buckets with aerators while staying in motel rooms overnight. Our trips consisted of two or three days. It was expensive & a pain in the arse. We did well though catching quality bass. One trip the bait supplier didn't have any shiners so we were stuck fishing with artificials. I had some senkos with me which we rigged wacky style & proceeded to slay the bass. We never went back to live shiners down there again. We evolved as fisherman learning new techniques & caught a few PB's in the process. We determined based on that experience artificial baits were as good as live bait without the hassle.  

 

Smallmouth fishing I learned that live bait provided the numbers but not necessarily the trophy's I was looking for. My first smallmouth fishing on the great lakes was done with a guide out of New York state waters. I had 3 or four trips with great numbers but could not get the 5lb smallmouth trophy I coveted. When I finally broke 5lbs & caught my first 6lber in the same weekend it was on a jerk bait. With that early success I stayed with the artificial approach & mostly jerk baits. The only time I tried live bait again for smallies was fishing a hair jig tipped with a lake shiner. It was successful scoring a new PB at 6-14. Within a few weeks later I scored my first over seven at 7-6 on a rapala tail dancer bouncing bottom in 20-22 fow.  I never tried live bait for smallies again. Didn't  need to in my mind as it didn't provide an advantage.

 

When it comes to fishing public waters with lots of fishing pressure like Florida shiner fishing does offer an advantage for trophies based on my experience. So I guess you can say the advantage depends on the species and the body of water you are fishing. I personally don't care if your PB gets caught on live bait or an artificial bait. Both methods are still fishing & provide the fun of catching as well as the fun of planning & chasing a new PB. 

[J Francho]

22 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

For me it is anything but boring, it’s constant pain in the butt and fishing with artificial is way more relaxing. Shad are always dying whether it’s in a bucket, flying off the hook or getting gobbled up by smaller fish. There are other days where I have to sweat through my clothes just to catch a bucket full of shad. During certain times of year they are just as hard to catch his bass

The times I fished them was with a guide that already had the shad.  I would have rather tossed a jig, but the guide said they wouldn't hit anything but live bait.  I didn't have my own tackle, so when in Rome...