Minimalist Fishing

[bigbassin']

14 hours ago, Scott F said:

If I’m a minimalist, I’m only taking one rod,  a few EWG hooks, a bag of Senkos and a few Ned rigs. I don’t even need an average sized fanny pack. My stuff will fit in a pocket.

 

I agree with this. Even if I’m taking my whole tackle bag I’m still just taking 1 rod bank fishing. 

 

1 MH bait caster, 1 pack flukes, 1 pack swim baits (either going to be rage swimmers or Big EZs), 1 pack worms, couple hooks and weights. Can shove all of them into my pocket.

[scaleface]

I carry an ultra light travel rod and a small box of various jigs and beetle spins. in  my truck .   If I happen on a public lake with a rip rap dam   "there are plenty of those here in northern Missouri" , bass are almost always willing to hit a small jig bounced in the rocks. I'll lose a few but they are cheap. 

[Bankc]

18 hours ago, bp_fowler said:

I thought it would be interesting to pick everyones’ brains.

 

Here’s the scenario:  It’s early summer and you’re a bank angler at your favorite hole.
 

You’re limited to two rods & reels and an average sized fanny pack to fill with what ever tackle you want.  
 

What are you taking, and why?

I do a bunch of bank fishing in the summer.  And I only need one rod and one bait.  A Texas rigged worm or craw of some kind.  If I think the bite will be slow, I'll even go with a shaky head and trick worm instead.  Sometimes I won't even pack a backup worm, weight, or hook.  If the worm gets worn out, just cut the top off and rehook it half inch down to get the hook buried into new plastic.  If I get hung up and have to break off, call it a day.  

If find that with bank fishing, that setup is generally all I need.  And if I concentrate more on placement and pace, I tend to catch more fish than if I'm constantly swapping out lures.  Plus, bank fishing where I fish, you almost HAVE to use a weedless presentation of some kind.  Even things like spinnerbaits and jigs don't pull through cleanly enough to be of much use.  

[TLHSS]

I only bank fish and I’m always a minimalist.  I use a 5ft 6in spinning rod with a 500 size reel, so I can cast regardless of cover. I throw mostly small soft plastics stored in a leader wallet. Senkos and Nikkos that I wacky rig or Texas rig based on weeds. All my terminal gear fits in a Plano Mini Magnum Vest Box - hooks, sinkers, jig heads (fished with Crappie Magnet plastics), mini chatter baits (fished with Keitech trailers), and small floats.   Everything fits in a small 6th Sense bait bag. 

[Heron]

On 6/29/2023 at 4:29 PM, bp_fowler said:

I thought it would be interesting to pick everyones’ brains.

 

Here’s the scenario:  It’s early summer and you’re a bank angler at your favorite hole.
 

You’re limited to two rods & reels and an average sized fanny pack to fill with what ever tackle you want.  
 

What are you taking, and why?

I’ll provide a general overview response, because quite honestly, my specifics really don’t matter, as that can vary from place to place.
 

Minimalist fishing comes having the fish in your favorite hole pretty well dialed in.   Learning over time what their behavior is like over the changing seasons, and changing daily conditions.  After dissecting the water and gaining an understanding of what baits they hit the best, with the most consistency, then how to minimalize your bank fishing becomes second nature.

 

Therefore, I take with me only the baits I’ve had the most consistent success with, under all or most conditions, at THAT specific location.

 

That being said, being early summer, I’ll be packing for both bass and big Bluegill.

[MGF]

4 hours ago, Heron said:

 
 

Minimalist fishing comes having the fish in your favorite hole pretty well dialed in.   Learning over time what their behavior is like over the changing seasons, and changing daily conditions.  After dissecting the water and gaining an understanding of what baits they hit the best, with the most consistency, then how to minimalize your bank fishing becomes second nature.

 

Therefore, I take with me only the baits I’ve had the most consistent success with, under all or most conditions, at THAT specific location.

 

 

Yes. I often wade the river or walk the bank of a pond with one rod and only tackle that I can fit in my pockets. Last night wading the river it was one spinning rod, plyers, 2 sizes of ewg hooks,  bag of assorted plastics split shots and nail weights.

 

At one of the ponds it might be just a bag of senkos and some hooks with maybe a small surface bait thrown in.

[Bazoo]

I often fish minimalist, but with 2 rods. One rigged with a frog, and the other with a worm/lizard. Sometimes I'll carry a small box in my pocket with a popper, extra frog, small crankbait, beetle spin. I often take sometime new and or different to try if things are slow.

[RRocket]

I'm extremely dedicated to ultralight minimalist fishing.

 

I'm was extremely careful choosing my gear, particularly for my tackle and tackle bag. I put the utmost importance on tackle that could be used for multiple rigs.  For example, my drop shot and wacky hook are the same. And the weights I use can work for Jika, Free Rig, Drop Shot, etc.

 

My rod is a JDM Shimano Expride 264UL-2. Reel is Shimano Vanford 2000SHG. I use Sunline Super Natural 4lb. One rod. One reel.

 

My tackle bag is a small shoulder backpack style. It contains:

 

First Aid consists of a couple of tampon and medical tape. This is sufficient for fishing injuries.

 

I have a headlight affixed to the front of the bag. I can wear on head or just turn on and point bag where I need to see. I have a red flashing light on the back of the pack that's visible shouldered as I often walk on the side of the road after fishing is done.

 

On the exterior affixed with lanyards are 2 forceps, a nail clipper fishing tool combo and an aluminum lip grabber. In the side pocket is a squeeze tube of Bait Fuel. 

 

On the inside are 2 compact 3600 boxes. I carry mostly #1 and 1/0 hooks and sufficientv interchangeable weights and tackle to rig: Jika, Free Rig, Drop Shot, Wacky, Carolina. I primarily fish Free Rig followed by Jika. I'm particularly proud of my hybrid Jika set up that enables me to make a hook or weight change without re tying. 5 seconds top for any change. I also keep a small Chatterbait in this box.

 

In the bait box I keep several different Z-man baits suitable to be used in all above rigs. TRD Ticklers are used often as well as the Big TRD worm. For topwater, the Goat family has been exceptional. 

 

All in, the bag weighs 7.5lbs  My entire kit.

 

I've also taken the minimalist path with my boat. Though that's another thread perhaps? 

[Bird]

@RRocket

Impressive 

[RRocket]

9 minutes ago, Bird said:

@RRocket

Impressive 

Thanks! I spent a lot of time on this.

 

Not sure how much detail to provide though! Could literally list every item in my bag! 

[VolFan]

@RRocket - I have a very similar set up, with some of the same plastics- what are you using for hooks/weights? I use mostly z-man Ned heads for everything from trick worms to swim baits to actual Ned’s.

[RRocket]

52 minutes ago, VolFan said:

@RRocket - I have a very similar set up, with some of the same plastics- what are you using for hooks/weights? I use mostly z-man Ned heads for everything from trick worms to swim baits to actual Ned’s.

I found (for me) that the Jika and Free Rig offer greater presentation possibilities than Ned. Particularly with the buoyant Z-man baits. For the Jika, I'll either use a plain tungsten cylinder weight or if coming through weeds, a flat weight (looks like a cylinder has been crushed flat) called "The Dredge". It comes through weeds like nobodies business!  Again, I use these weights for free rig and drop shot too. I do carry a couple specially weighs for no other reason than I really like them! I always keep a Ryugi Bean and Decoy DS-9 in the box. I consider these "splurge" items since I could do without them.

 

For wacky and drop shot, my hook is the Hayabusa Spin Muscle. It's probably the best hook I've ever used.  I don't think I've missed a hookset.

 

For a straight hook, I love the fine wire ReBarb. For EWG, I like Ryugi Infini. I've also used ringed hooks which I'm rather fond of, particularly Decoy Ringed KG. Have tried most other popular hooks on market. But I prefer the hooks listed.

 

Lots of extensive use before settling on these.

 

[Bazoo]

2 hours ago, RRocket said:

I'm extremely dedicated to ultralight minimalist fishing.

 

I'm was extremely careful choosing my gear, particularly for my tackle and tackle bag. I put the utmost importance on tackle that could be used for multiple rigs.  For example, my drop shot and wacky hook are the same. And the weights I use can work for Jika, Free Rig, Drop Shot, etc.

 

My rod is a JDM Shimano Expride 264UL-2. Reel is Shimano Vanford 2000SHG. I use Sunline Super Natural 4lb. One rod. One reel.

 

My tackle bag is a small shoulder backpack style. It contains:

 

First Aid consists of a couple of tampon and medical tape. This is sufficient for fishing injuries.

 

I have a headlight affixed to the front of the bag. I can wear on head or just turn on and point bag where I need to see. I have a red flashing light on the back of the pack that's visible shouldered as I often walk on the side of the road after fishing is done.

 

On the exterior affixed with lanyards are 2 forceps, a nail clipper fishing tool combo and an aluminum lip grabber. In the side pocket is a squeeze tube of Bait Fuel. 

 

On the inside are 2 compact 3600 boxes. I carry mostly #1 and 1/0 hooks and sufficientv interchangeable weights and tackle to rig: Jika, Free Rig, Drop Shot, Wacky, Carolina. I primarily fish Free Rig followed by Jika. I'm particularly proud of my hybrid Jika set up that enables me to make a hook or weight change without re tying. 5 seconds top for any change. I also keep a small Chatterbait in this box.

 

In the bait box I keep several different Z-man baits suitable to be used in all above rigs. TRD Ticklers are used often as well as the Big TRD worm. For topwater, the Goat family has been exceptional. 

 

All in, the bag weighs 7.5lbs  My entire kit.

 

I've also taken the minimalist path with my boat. Though that's another thread perhaps? 

Awesome and well thought out rig, thanks for sharing.

[RRocket]

Thanks for the kind comments.

[MAN]

I'm digging those low profile plano boxes.  As I condense and minimalize my stuff even more I need to consider something like that. I think I saw Diawa has released some lo pro boxes as well.  My goal is to get everything I need both fresh/salt into 1 backpack.  And that 1 backpack accounts for ALL species salt and fresh.  

[JackstrawIII]

Most small bodies of water around here are full of weeds this time of year. So

MH baitcaster with braid for frogs, toads, paddletails, t-rigs. 
 

I also like to bring a ML spinning rod to throw a dropshot or Ned rig if I can find suitable areas. 

[you]

Hmmm, I'd pick a UL and a M spinning setup. My usual tackle bag has the volume of about 2 fanny packs. Narrowing that down would leave me with a small box of terminal tackle (worm hooks, weights, jigheads) and a small box of plastics (tiny swimbaits, straight tail worms, small flukes), along with a pair of hemostats, a couple mini-spools of leader material, and a hook sharpener.

 

Sometimes I think I should challenge myself to a one-lure trip, but it's always hard to commit to that. You never know what situation will present itself.

[SpellCaster]

I know I'm way late to this, but the OP very much describes how I fish year round, so I can't resist. 

 

My go-to is a 7'1" Medium Fast spinning, 15lb braid to 10lb mono leader (but lately I've been moving to 10lb braid with 8lb mono leader).

 

90% percent of the time I'm throwing a weightless fluke (Zoom Salty Super Fluke) on 2/0 Gama round bend offset worm hook. 

 

In my fanny pack (Topo Designs Mini Quick Pack) I can fit a small box for terminal tackle - packed with hooks, a few bullet weights, rubber bobber stops, maybe a Zara Puppy or popper, or a spoon. I can also fit a few packs of soft plastics, which will be flukes, some kind of worm, and maybe some kind of craw depending on the season.

 

In the front pocket I keep pliers. Tied onto the front of the pack is my spool of leader (sometimes two different leaders if I feel I need to switch to fluoro). And I keep a pair of line cutters on a carabiner clipped to my pack or belt loop. 

 

I love fishing this way more and more. When I first started out I was hauling a huge tackle box filled with everything I owned and I would sit in one spot and just run through every lure/technique in the box, without catching fish, and I was mentally exhausted from trying to figure out what other combination of weight/color/profile I hadn't thrown yet. Over time I learned that I just needed to pick a reasonably versatile lure and run and gun the banks. Far more enjoyable because I almost always catch more fish, I don't overthink anything, and even if I'm not catching fish I still feel like I'm getting something done just by progressing along the bank. 

[MidwestBassAttack]

Texas rig setup and frog setup.

Bag of Missile Baits D-Bombs in GP3 on a pegged 1/4 oz weight.

[Zcoker]

Let's see, for bank fishing with two rods, I'd take along a bait caster for plastic worms, the other would be a spinning rod with 4k saltwater reel for topwater lures, which is usually the main player for the bigger fish where I fish. I'd use my surf fishing belt/bag for the extra storage or even just my shirt or jacket pockets. That's about it. I've won tournaments fishing in the everglades off the bank with very minimal tackle, like with only one lure and a spinning rod. A minimalist approach is a good approach. Makes ya use what ya got to the MAX! 

[FishTank]

If I'm bank fishing and going with the bare minimum,  1 setup (probably BFS), 2 packs of soft plastic, a small pair of needle nose pliers and a small pocket box with a couple baits, weights and hooks. 

 

 

[Zcoker]

15 minutes ago, FishTank said:

If I'm bank fishing and going with the bare minimum,  1 setup (probably BFS), 2 packs of soft plastic, a small pair of needle nose pliers and an small pocket box with a couple baits, weights and hooks. 

 

 

 

I forgot about the tools! Always need those pliers with cutter. Must have.

[greentrout]

I did this yesterday. Took 1 pack of Yum Dingers, (2) 3.0 hooks in the pack with (2) 1/8 oz worm weights in the pack if needed. Pliers attached on my belt. 1 nail clipper in my pants pocket. 1 spin cast rod and reel spooled with 12 lb. mono.  Nice pond to bank fish.

 

Good Fishing