Top 5 Best/Worst Bank Fishing Techniques

[Firstoutfisher]

As we all know there are unique challenges that fishing from the bank poses. Some techniques are more well suited for this style of fishing and some are almost unusable. In your experience what are the top 5 best and worst techniques when bank fishing and why?

[roadwarrior]

Best: Texas rigged soft plastic, Texposed

 

Worst: Treble hooks and the Alabama Rig

[PressuredFishing]

39 minutes ago, Firstoutfisher said:

top 5 best and worst techniques when bank fishing and why?

Depends on the lake and cover, it's easier to list the ones that don't work well vs the ones that do

 

-clearly bad things for bank fishing

Extra Deep diving cranks

Jigging spoons

(I wouldn't use A rigs)

Heavy jig weights made for deeper water

 

--a  special bonus nobody uses but works as a good niche

Flutter spoons 

 

 

 

 

 

[PaulVE64]

Split shot rig for soft plastic

Drop shot for soft plastics and hair jigs

Unpegged texas rig for bass streamers, usually in baitfish patterns

 

I fish river banks.

 

[Bass Rutten]

For my waters which is mostly submergent vegetation most of the year my best 5 would be inpo: swimjigs, weedless plastics in 2 forms; jika rig and bubba shot, chatterbaits in light to moderate cover, and topwaters if the weeds are subsurface obviously. I also use shallow cranks and spinnerbaits early and late in the year.

 

Can't really comment on the 5 worst but obviously deep cranks are out, otherwise the vast majority of presentations can be adapted for shallow water bank fishing.

[WRB]

Lure selection should based on where the bass and baitfish/prey are at, same as from a boat.

Obviously the bank angler is limited where they can fish and should select where to fish before trying to figure what lure to use.

For example it’s late fall early winter at the moment, if the aquatic cover is turning brown, no longer green bass and bait are unlikely to be located in that area. Deeper water close to shallower water on the wind blown side of the lake is a higher % choice. Baitfish and crawdads type lures are a good choice. Select lures that can be cast and retrieved without snagging. Surface lures, wake baits, shallow to mid depth diving lures that float up when stopped/ single replacement hooks, soft plastics like bullet weight worms, slip shot rig.

I live to fish jigs but not  casting from shore working deep to shallow during the late fall-early winter. From a boat jig is my 1st choice. Seasonal periods matter to me.

Top 7 in general

1. T-rigged /sliding bullet weight worm. Mono/ copoly line.

2. Slip shot (finesse C-rigs) Mono/ copoly line.

3. Unweighted Senko or Ike.

4. Buzz bait.

5. Wooden top water dog walking lure or weedless spoon.

6. Big slow sink swimbait or wake bait.

7. Scrounger jig w/Sluggo.

Worst;

1. Deep diving treble hook lures.

2. Heavy jigs.

3. Structure spoons.

4. Any lure that snags and can’t be retrieved or hooks bass that can’t be pulled out of heavy cover.

90% for me from shore is #1, 2 and 3 and carry 1 rod-reel.

Tom

 

 

[Will Ketchum]

I don't think it's technique so much but which bank you are fishing from. You have to hit them where they're at and not where they aint. Any type of structure is better than none at all. Right now when the water is cooling, the crappie have been congregating along a steep bank. To them it must be structure because the lake was originally built for flood control and is featureless, although steps are being taken to add some structure.

[Deleted account]

So we are still doing the boat fishing is different than bank fishing thing?...

I use lures based on the water, structure and cover in front of me that I intend to fish, if I'm standing on fiberglass, or dirt has no bearing on it. Is this bank fishing a sheer quarry, rip rap 45 degree stretch, a shallow pad field, something in between? Never mind, a Senko...

[Firstoutfisher]

1 hour ago, Deleted account said:

So we are still doing the boat fishing is different than bank fishing thing?...

I use lures based on the water, structure and cover in front of me that I intend to fish, if I'm standing on fiberglass, or dirt has no bearing on it. Is this bank fishing a sheer quarry, rip rap 45 degree stretch, a shallow pad field, something in between? Never mind, a Senko...

Do you often park your boat where you are casting out and working the bait uphill? Or throw your lures where you cant move the boat to unsag or retrieve them. Or fish offshore structure from the bank? Often deal with brush and other obstacles that may impair your casting ability when in a boat? If you answered no to any of the above then yes boat fishing is different than bank fishing. 

 

WRB, I keep seeing you mention that slip shot rig(finesse carolina rig) I have never fished a crig before but I will have to try that sometime. 

[WRB]

45 minutes ago, Firstoutfisher said:

Do you often park your boat where you are casting out and working the bait uphill? Or throw your lures where you cant move the boat to unsag or retrieve them. Or fish offshore structure from the bank? Often deal with brush and other obstacles that may impair your casting ability when in a boat? If you answered no to any of the above then yes boat fishing is different than bank fishing. 

 

WRB, I keep seeing you mention that slip shot rig(finesse carolina rig) I have never fished a crig before but I will have to try that sometime. 

PM your email and will send you a sketch how to rig it.

1. Cylinder (mojo) weight, 1/8 oz to 3/8 oz.

2. 8mm glass faceted bead.

3. Carolina Keeper or rubber Peg-It.

4. Owner 5133 Down Shot hook, size 1/0 or 2/0 depending on worm diameter. This hook is light weight for weedless hooking finesse soft plastics.

5. Mono or copoly line that doesn’t sink, 5 lb Max UG lightest to 8 lb for finesse spinning. 

Using main line is 1 knot at the hook, weight to hook length is adjustable to suit conditions.

Bait casting tackle you can double the weight and use larger hooks with standard soft plastics.

Tom

 

[Deleted account]

44 minutes ago, Firstoutfisher said:

Do you often park your boat where you are casting out and working the bait uphill? Or throw your lures where you cant move the boat to unsag or retrieve them. Or fish offshore structure from the bank? Often deal with brush and other obstacles that may impair your casting ability when in a boat? If you answered no to any of the above then yes boat fishing is different than bank fishing. 

Interesting perspective, wrong, but interesting...

[Bankbeater]

The worst part about fishing from the bank is that you don't know what is under the water, especially when fishing a new body of water.  There are some baits I fish with just to feel out the bottom, and to try to get a handle on what type of cover is out there.

Best

1. Texas rig with less than 1/4 weight

2. Split shot rig

3. Weightless Fluke or Senko

4. Topwater

5. Wakebait

Worst

1. Carolina Rig

2. Diving or sinking treble hook baits

3. Jig

4. Texas rig with more than 1/4 weight

5. Drop shot

[Firstoutfisher]

6 hours ago, Bankbeater said:

The worst part about fishing from the bank is that you don't know what is under the water, especially when fishing a new body of water.  There are some baits I fish with just to feel out the bottom, and to try to get a handle on what type of cover is out there.

Best

1. Texas rig with less than 1/4 weight

2. Split shot rig

3. Weightless Fluke or Senko

4. Topwater

5. Wakebait

Worst

1. Carolina Rig

2. Diving or sinking treble hook baits

3. Jig

4. Texas rig with more than 1/4 weight

5. Drop shot

Thanks for your input, good to hear from a fellow Missourian bank beater

[Darth-Baiter]

i think vertical jigging a spoon or blade bait would suck from shore, but the rest could work.

 

oh..trolling from shore would be exhausting

[Jmontgomery87]

Best

1. Texas rig

2. Spook

3. Spinnerbait

4. Swim jig

5. Senko

 

Worst

1. Deep diving crankbait

2. Dragging any bottom contact up rocky slope

3. Dropshot on rip rap

[Bankc]

43 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

i think vertical jigging a spoon or blade bait would suck from shore, but the rest could work.

 

oh..trolling from shore would be exhausting

Agreed.  A lot depends on the bank you're fishing from.   Like if there's 400 feet of shallow vegetation between you on the bank and open water, that's going to limit what you can throw and still get back to you.  But if you're fishing from the bank of a rocky d**n, you might be able to get away with some deep-water techniques that you wouldn't ordinarily associate with bank fishing.  

 

For the banks I frequent, I'd say my top 5 in order of most used are:

1. T-rig worms

2.  Jigs

3.  Shaky head

4.  Squarebill crankbait

5.  Ned rig

 

My five least used, in order from least to most, are:

1.  Jigging spoon

2.  Jerkbait

3.  Glide bait

4.  Deep diving crankbait

5.  Wacky rig

[KSanford33]

On 11/7/2022 at 1:05 PM, Darth-Baiter said:

i think vertical jigging a spoon or blade bait would suck from shore, but the rest could work.

 

oh..trolling from shore would be exhausting

I wish I was making this up, but I once saw a guy walking the Hudson River with a planer board on his line to keep it out there...

 

To answer the OP's question, a fluke is my go-to for bank fishing almost any body of water, and an A-rig would probably be the worst thing you could throw.

[casts_by_fly]

28 minutes ago, KSanford33 said:

I wish I was making this up, but I once saw a guy walking the Hudson River with a planer board on his line to keep it out there...

 

To answer the OP's question, a fluke is my go-to for bank fishing almost any body of water, and an A-rig would probably be the worst thing you could throw.

 

 

That's not a half bad idea actually.  There's enough current that you could tie off a planer board to get your bait to pull a ways out.  For stripers and holding a herring under a float that might be just the ticket.  A pain in the butt, but I can see some scenarios.

[KSanford33]

22 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

 

 

That's not a half bad idea actually.  There's enough current that you could tie off a planer board to get your bait to pull a ways out.  For stripers and holding a herring under a float that might be just the ticket.  A pain in the butt, but I can see some scenarios.

I know he caught a few that day, and it was still early March. I skunked that day, so I can't criticize him.

[waymont]

Best:

wacky worm

spinner baits 

t rig plastics 

buzzbait

swimjig

Fluke

[Kirtley Howe]

On 11/6/2022 at 12:57 PM, Bass Rutten said:

For my waters which is mostly submergent vegetation most of the year my best 5 would be inpo: swimjigs, weedless plastics in 2 forms; jika rig and bubba shot, chatterbaits in light to moderate cover, and topwaters if the weeds are subsurface obviously. I also use shallow cranks and spinnerbaits early and late in the year.

 

Can't really comment on the 5 worst but obviously deep cranks are out, otherwise the vast majority of presentations can be adapted for shallow water bank fishing.

I often use deep diving crankbaits that dive to 20-22ft in rivers that may only be 10-15Ft deep. It works only if there is a rocky bottom, or sand/mud. If there are a lot of wood snags, it is a great way to lose a lot of lures. The reason for using lures that can dive much deeper than the water depth is that that type of lure has a large bill which will bang off rocks better than ones that are rated for the "proper" depth, and actually...at least in my experience...hang up in the rocks less. In a sand or mud bottom, the deeper running crankbaits will churn up a lot of mud or silt, and I think they appear to be a crayfish trying to escape. That triggers a lot of strikes for me. Your experience may well vary, especially if you fish in heavy weed area or places with a lot of wood snags. I usually use 8-10 lb test mono as a main line but use a much heavier leader, often in the 15-20lb range as the lighter mono will get abraded to pieces pretty quickly. I check/change the leader often. 

[WaterOtter]

59 minutes ago, Kirt Howe said:

I often use deep diving crankbaits that dive to 20-22ft in rivers that may only be 10-15Ft deep. It works only if there is a rocky bottom, or sand/mud.

That's a really solid tip!!  I used to do this on a lake where I used to live.  It had a concrete boat launch straight into a narrow channel with a clay bottom and vertical sides, probably 6' deep and 20 yards long.  Before I put my kayak in the water I used to sneak up to the launch and cast a medium sized deep diving crankbait straight out the launch and I would reel it in slowly.  The crankbait practically stood on its nose as it came along the bottom.  Often I caught bass after bass, and when a cast would come in empty I would sneak along the side of the channel to cast further along it into undisturbed water.  My best was 8 bass in 12 casts.

[Kirtley Howe]

On 11/7/2022 at 5:06 AM, Bankbeater said:

The worst part about fishing from the bank is that you don't know what is under the water, especially when fishing a new body of water.  There are some baits I fish with just to feel out the bottom, and to try to get a handle on what type of cover is out there.

Best

1. Texas rig with less than 1/4 weight

2. Split shot rig

3. Weightless Fluke or Senko

4. Topwater

5. Wakebait

Worst

1. Carolina Rig

2. Diving or sinking treble hook baits

3. Jig

4. Texas rig with more than 1/4 weight

5. Drop shot

If I am in an area I don't know I will often tie on a bare hook and either tie a bass weight on my line, or put split shot on the line, and cast that out and reel it back a few times. The amount of weight is determined by the current and depth of the water. That allows me to determine the bottom composition and find out if there are a lot of snags without losing lures. It does not seem to disturb the fish. What can I say, I am cheap.