Minimalist Fisherman

[Rora]

Is this possible? I told myself I would only carry a single plano box while i bank fish but i quickly amassed more soft plastics than i can carry and more terminal tackle than spots in my plano box. AND I'm literally typing this out as i get my labor day cart ready for tacklewarehouse. 

 

Not sure what i want to get out of this post. but just expressing how i feel. Is there a way i can keep things simple?

[Dash Riprock]

When you find out let me know. I'm embarassed to admit how much nonsense I carry with me when I fish. 

 

I had an idea a while back to dedicate several small(ish) carry bags to specific techniques - one for Ned, one for Wacky, one for jigs, etc. But I ended up dragging three or four bags with me because hey, what if I get out there and want to try those new finesse worms and didn't bring that bag?? Stupid.

 

My latest idea is to store things by technique in dedicated Sterlite boxes, then dedicate ONE small bag and ONE 3600 tray with a LIMITED mixture of things from each technique box, and just take that ONE bag for that trip. That will require a level of discipline I don't yet possess. 

 

Good luck. 

[Mobasser]

When I'm bank fishing, I carry a small 8x8 soft bag, which clips to my belt. It can carry all I need for a 2 to 4 HR trip. I realized years ago that lugging too much stuff around just wasn't productive.                 If you can get the bite dialed in you don't need much. Traveling light is the way to go...

[MIbassyaker]

Paging @Team9nine!

[rtwvumtneer6]

Welcome to the rabbit hole.  Now it's just a matter of how deep you want to go.  

 

Remember the lures are intended to catch fish, but the companies design them to catch you.  Go look at a crankbait that comes in 40+ colors.  You can probably break that down into about 5 actually color categories. 

 

If you can avoid impulse buys, you will be just fine.  Can't tell you how much stuff that I "had to have" that sits unused.  The TW Wish List feature helps me.  I'll throw stuff in there before the actual cart and let it sit for a few days.  When I go back to it, I'm usually able to eliminate a handful of items.  

 

Good luck. 

[WRB]

We all start out as minimalist anglers with a single rod, reel and a hand full of lures.

We go fishing and the bass refuse what we have while another angler down the bank is catching them. 

We go out and buy what was working and try it and it doesn’t work that outing, but someone else is catching them.

Repeat this and we finally learn lures are not the answer. Knowledge of bass behavior, structure, cover, seasonal patterns starts to sink in. 

Know we own a boat stuffed with more  tackle then the local store has on the shelves.

Can you hear those green fish lol! 

Tom

[LCG]

 I think it's safe to say most angling enthusiast go down this road.i have more plastics and lures than I will ever use,but I at the tackle store today and still bought more stuff, why not

 

I started with carrying a small amount of tackle with me, soon went to a bigger bag, then to a backpack, back to a medium sized bag, and now a small Plano 3500 weekender with one Plano double sided 3500 box with both plastics and lures. Still way more than you need for a single day or even a month really,but small and light enough that it doesn't weigh you down or overwhelm you with choices.

 

also downsizing my gear and only bring two rods with me either kayak or bank fishing. This style suits me far better and keeps things light. Also carry a scale,multitool,terminal tackle,sunscreen,etc but in a much smaller footprint.

 

[Kenny Yi]

depends on if I browsed this forum beforehand, the tackle I bring exponentially grows per post I read.  if I don't, a jig rod and a treble hook rod.  not because they always catch fish, I just want to get as good as I can with them. 

[Team9nine]

Young grasshopper - All you ever need to carry is:

 

1 rod, 1 reel, and whatever you can put in your shirt or pants pockets.

 

In the last 10 days, I've managed 110 bass following the above guideline. Here is my tackle pack:

 

 

Beyond that, I have a pair of line cutters, a towel, a pair of forceps, and a small tape measure. Add or take away from that little baggie as necessary. Depending on season I might add a small swimbait, a jerkbait, shallow cranks, a topwater, etc., but everything always fits in the pockets. Right now I'm heavy on soft plastics because of the heat and drought. They seem to be working best, but I caught a bunch in the slop this evening which was a nice change.

 

"The purpose of discipline is to live more fully, not less."

 

-Master Po

 

 

 

[Rora]

15 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Young grasshopper - All you ever need to carry is:

 

1 rod, 1 reel, and whatever you can put in your shirt or pants pockets.

 

In the last 10 days, I've managed 110 bass following the above guideline. Here is my tackle pack:

 

 

Beyond that, I have a pair of line cutters, a towel, a pair of forceps, and a small tape measure. Add or take away from that little baggie as necessary. Depending on season I might add a small swimbait, a jerkbait, shallow cranks, a topwater, etc., but everything always fits in the pockets. Right now I'm heavy on soft plastics because of the heat and drought. They seem to be working best, but I caught a bunch in the slop this evening which was a nice change.

 

"The purpose of discipline is to live more fully, not less."

 

-Master Po

 

 

 

THIS IS THE WAY.

[MIbassyaker]

25 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Young grasshopper - All you ever need to carry is:

 

1 rod, 1 reel, and whatever you can put in your shirt or pants pockets.

 

In the last 10 days, I've managed 110 bass following the above guideline. Here is my tackle pack:

 

 

Beyond that, I have a pair of line cutters, a towel, a pair of forceps, and a small tape measure. Add or take away from that little baggie as necessary. Depending on season I might add a small swimbait, a jerkbait, shallow cranks, a topwater, etc., but everything always fits in the pockets. Right now I'm heavy on soft plastics because of the heat and drought. They seem to be working best, but I caught a bunch in the slop this evening which was a nice change.

 

"The purpose of discipline is to live more fully, not less."

 

-Master Po

 

 

 

 

I knew you wouldn't disappoint!

[DitchPanda]

For me I can't seem to go true minimalist...or maybe I should say I don't want to. Best I can seem to do is one rod for active fish:lipless, chattebait,spinner bait etc....one bottom style rod:Texas rig, jig, senko etc...one rod for finesse which is almost always a Ned rig. Even being bank bound I'm still almost always lugging at least 3 and up to 6 rods.

 That said I'm confident that @Team9nine is right...I could bring a couple packs of TRDs half dozen heads and a pair of pliers and catch fish.

[GreenPig]

I think I can go with these two cases for my plastics. Maybe. Probably not.

[Rora]

On 8/28/2021 at 6:11 PM, WRB said:

We all start out as minimalist anglers with a single rod, reel and a hand full of lures.

We go fishing and the bass refuse what we have while another angler down the bank is catching them. 

We go out and buy what was working and try it and it doesn’t work that outing, but someone else is catching them.

Repeat this and we finally learn lures are not the answer. Knowledge of bass behavior, structure, cover, seasonal patterns starts to sink in. 

Know we own a boat stuffed with more  tackle then the local store has on the shelves.

Can you hear those green fish lol! 

Tom

Do you have any tips or resources to look into for knowledge?  I actually picked up Don Iovino's finesse book per your recommendations in other posts.

[Smalls]

I'm kinda in the middle. My kayak crate is jammed full, but it's also carrying 90% of the tackle I own. The 10% that doesn't fit is a small stock of my most used soft plastics and terminal gear in my closet, and maybe 2 3600's of duplicate hard baits. I made myself stop buying anything that isn't replacing a lost bait, or won't fit in the crate. 

 

I figure that the crate is going on the kayak regardless, full or almost empty doesn't make much difference 

[Jmurphy87]

My strategy is to think of where I am going to be fishing. Then I figure out if I want to use specific techniques based off the cover that I will be fishing. The next step is to choose what you are going to use, sometimes downsizing your enthusiasm to take multiple different techniques with you and just focus on doing 1 or maybe 2 really good. You can have a bag full of tricks but if you’re presentation is not correct will they work. Sometimes yes and others no. My strategy lately has been to take three different types of the same plastics and terminal tackle that suits them and go fish them. I normally never change from my first lure that is tied on, this is because I am focusing on my presentation and trying to learn how to make it work and what doesn’t work for that specific one. I use to take 3 3700 trays with me now all I take is a small 8x4 waterproof tray that fits in the front pocket of my waders along with my pliers. It’s a lot nicer not lugging around a heavy pack of stuff I am not going to use lol. I do have 12 3700 trays full of stuff though and a very large backpack absolutely stuffed with soft plastics. There is a lot of little variables that you will learn about how to catch fish when others are not and this is how you really start to learn how to downsize what you need to bring. There is no better feeling than getting to a crowded body of water and patiently waiting for your spots to open up and fishing right behind someone who just left without catching anything and you pick up 2 to 3 fish or more right where they were. Sorry for the long wall of text and good luck.

[QED]

I believe minimalist is best when hiking/bank fishing.  Pick ~5 known productive lures that are collectively capable of covering the entire water column and also bring the minimal amount of ancillary gear (knife, nail clipper, snaps).  I used to bring a backpack, with a couple of utility trays, but now I just use a zip lock bag for the lures/tackle (BTW, that will easily fit in a pocket).  Also, iPhone + earbuds for taking pictures and playing music or foreign language lessons.  I learned functional French and Italian while fishing.  Came in handy when I traveled to the corresponding places.

[Kyle S]

6 hours ago, Rora said:

THIS IS THE WAY.

[NYWayfarer]

I ponder these things as well. I carry way too many tools.

 

I realized it yesterday while going through my fishing tackle bag. I had a jig eye buster tool. I make sure to clear all jig eyes before they go in the bag, why do I need to carry the tool?

[Catt]

Bank fishing

I'll have 4-5 rod-n-reels in the car/truck depending on where I'm fishing. When actually walking the bank I carry 2, bottom contact & topwater/mid-depth.

 

Tackle

Again in the car/truck I have a soft bag the holds 7 Plano 3700 series boxes. I customize those 7 boxes depending on where I'm fishing. Out of this I replenish my attack bag.

 

I have a small camera bag converted to tackle storage. I call this my attack bag, inside are various sacks of plastics that are currently producing. Along with plastics there's 1 or 2 terminal 3500 series boxes. There are scissors, hook remover, dipping dye, & worm juice.

 

This bag is with me at all times bank or boat. 

 

[MGF]

 

Yesterday I waded the river and only carried the tackle I could fit in my pants pockets. I carried 3 extra #1 ewg hooks, a few nail weights, a few split shots, 3 TRD, 4 zoom finesse worms, 4 strike king finesse worms and 4 yum dingers. That was in plastic bags in my front pockets. In my back pocket I carried a small pair of scissors and a pair of long nose plyers. I pack and carry that way because I know it's all going to get wet. I did have more tackle in the truck that I could get if I wanted to trek back for it...not likely.

 

I lost track of how many brown bass I caught and I caught a bunch that went 17"+. LOL I told my wife that it was time to quit because my arm was too tired to handle another big bass...they really fight this time of year.

 

When I fish from the bank I either do the same pocket carry thing or wear a small back pack. The places I've been bank fishing are pretty rough country so I travel light.

 

 

[CountryboyinDC]

When I wade, I only carry what fits in my PFD.  I don't fish from the bank that much.  Essentially, I'm carrying some tools (pliers and line cutter) very little terminal tackle and some soft plastics.  The difficulty of movement makes you slow down and fish thoroughly and approach stealthily.  I rarely find that I chose the wrong bait - the fish are either biting or they aren't.  

[Rora]

I think a lot of it is due to inexperience. I really only started like 3 months ago. So that with learning the pond + learning about bass behavior + learning how to use my lures + FOMO = a good quarterly report for tackle stores. 

[WRB]

11 hours ago, Rora said:

So I'm guessing it takes experience to get there?

Do you have any tips or resources to look into for knowledge?  I actually picked up Don Iovino's finesse book per your recommendations in other posts.

My Cosmic Clock and Bass Calendar put bass behavior seasonally together. Bill Murphy’s book In Pursuit of Giant Bass has good behavior chapters. Bill’e presentation are geared for his personal techniques however over all good knowledge source.

Tom 

[ironbjorn]

There are some days where I just go to a nearby pond with my 693sf Sierra with a few Ned rigs, a handful of Senkos and a few 1/0 Gammy octopus circle hooks, a few Flukes and a couple 4/0 Gammy EWG hooks, and a popper. Thanks to @MN Fisher letting me know that a 1/4oz lipless will throw fine on a 3sf Dobyns I fished it and it worked like a charm, so I added that to the list a couple days ago. The soft baits fit into an empty plastics bag that goes into one pocket similar to Team 9 and the hooks and popper and now lipless fit into an empty glasses case that does into another. Makes for a very easy bank fishing time.