fishing without electronics

[rebel909]

being a nonboater, i am almost always fishing from shore, whether it be ponds or the local lake.  i am always beating the bank, and have limited success, and never catching bigger fish.  what should i do to fish deeper without using electronics to find underwater structure and channels/dropoffs?  i was also curious as how to fish deeper in ponds, which may not have creek channels or significant drop offs.

[Cajun1977]

buy  a map        ask some of the locals who do fish from a boat    or throw    a carolina rig way out there

[flechero]

I spent several years from the bank... granted that was many years ago but I think all the lessons learned will still apply.

Your best friend should be the c-rig.  It will allow you to "map" the entire area that is accessible to you.  If it is a pond you will be fishing a lot, slowly start at one end and c-rig in a fan pattern, then walk about 20 feet and repeat... do this until you are out of bank.  By the end of it you will have a mental picture of the structure and cover as complete as if you had a map full of notes.  It can take a whole day to "map" out a pond... but if you are going to be spending time there in the future, it will be WELL worth your efforts.  As you throw a c-rig more and more, you will be able to distinguish bottom compisition different types of cover (grass, brush, rocks, etc.) as well as any irregularities in depth (drops, humps, creeks, etc.).  And the bonus is- you will likely catch some fish while "working" on your map.  If you get into a lot of cover and start hanging up, switch to the t-rig and resume where you left off.

Also, use tungsten for "mapping" it telegraphs much better than lead, even if you don't plan to use it for normal fishing... it's well worth the $5 for the tungsten c-rig/t-rig weights for this purpose.  I would take a piece of paper and a pen or pencil... a crude sketch of the shoreline and then add notes.  You will likely lose the paper and notes but writing them down will burn it into your head.  To this day, I could draw you a detailed map with good notes on some of the ponds I fished 15-20 years ago... because I took the time to do all of this.  I have a brother who still fishes some of these ponds and he still calls me every few weeks for info on one or more of them.  ...lol  

I know it seems like a pain, but it will help you out down the road... I have a Lowrance LMS 332C on my boat but I still use the c-rig/t-rig to verify and compliment what I see on the screen.  And I still pick up on many things that I didn't get from the electronics.  

You can make it as involved as you want, just remember to have fun out there!

[paparock]

It has always amused me how so many people fishing from the back try to cast as far from the bank as they can while so many anglers in boats cast up to and even onto the bank and then bring their baits back out from shore. Like has already been said get a map or over time make your own but remember it is not how far from the bank you can fish that counts but finding the bait and structure that is holding the bait and the bass will follow. That some times means you may have to fish very stealthy because you just might catch fish close to your feet.

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

In the many campgrounds around lake Ouachita I deal with hundreds of bank fishing visitors expressing mostly frustration. Instead of waiting for them to ask for tips I now walk down to them. I carry some slip floats in a pocket. A strategy that works very often is to quietly approach the shoreline, then cast a short distance each way right onto the shore. Then the short cast is moved out 10 feet, doing that each way up and down shore. Then longer casts are made up then down shore, easing those farther out into the lake. Once any catchable bass have been hooked close in, it's time to use the float. I recommend 1/8-1/2 oz feather jigs with a 2-3" grub most of the year, letting the float bob in waves to impart action. Each cast the jig is lowered 5 feet by sliding the bobber stopper up the main line. That's repeated until it's obvious the jig is in the feeding zone or is on bottom (float not drifting, easy slack in the line) when the stopper is then moved to raise the jig off bottom to prevent it's being lost. If any bass are in the area, and the feeding depth is found, those people catch bass sometimes better than passing bass boaters in $40k rigs casting to their area. I haven't heard reports of large bass being caught that way, nothing over 4# I'd say, but they are all good eating size. Our large bass are mostly offshore out over structure except during the spawn. They're already down to 22 feet out from main creek mouths, and getting deeper.

The following might sound off topic, but I'm getting to another method for shore/bank fishing. Before electronics came my way it was easy to figure depths in a boat or off a bridge by counting how many times the level wind travels to ends of the spool. You just let the bait sink while counting travels until it stops. Knowing how many feet (for example 9') are taken up per travel across the spool I could judge how far down a suspended bait was, and I still do that. If it took 4 travels each way to reach bottom I knew the water was 36 feet deep. But if fish are biting at 12 feet I'd let the bait sink 1 1/3 travels across the spool. That works out well for trolling, too, say if you want 100' of line behind the boat, let out 11 travels. Another popular method is to figure out how fast a lure sinks in a known depth before going to the shoreline to fish. Knowing it sinks let's say 1' per second, let it hit bottom counting seconds, thus maping out the area, maybe finding a nice hump or hole out there. If you get a bite at 12' on a spinnerbait then next cast begin reeling after 12 seconds to keep it at 12'.

Jim

[Garnet]

With that slip float get a rubber core sinker big enought to sink the float and go to work. The steelhead guys call it pluming.

Garnet

[senile1]

Flechero, I like the c-rig idea.  I'm going to use this technique on a tiny lake/pond near me.  Thanks for the info.  

[paparock]

Ouachitabassangler, you are obviously an experienced bank fisherman. Great suggestions!!!

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

I started fishing from the bank until old enough to help noodle catfish. I was taught to bank fish so my family would have something besides garden veges to eat. I learned very early there's probably some good catchable fish right where most people blunder up to and begin casting straight out, spooking any nearby bank dwelling fish. I always dipped a bait first where I would stand fishing, before getting to the spot. Before sitting down on the bank I'd make sure every little pocket up & down the bank saw a bait. Once I got a shot at all bank fish I then fished out using a cork bobber holding an earthworm, catalpa worm, grasshopper or cricket caught on the way to the pond. I was taught to go barefoot when fishing, not only to save good shoes for school and church, but to be quieter, never rattling a rock underfoot, or banging around. When I began float tubing in a big truck tire tube I began hauling fish home faster than we could eat them. When I first fished the shore with artificial lures from a boat my catch rate fell drastically until I learned the differences. It took a while to learn shoreline bass fishing since my uncle always took the boat stright out to the deepest hole to soak minnows, until he saw someone catching bass along shore with topwaters. It was out deep where we caught monster bass and catfish, but we brought home more fish by taking up classic bass fishing to include shore pounding. We learned together, becoming crankbait anglers, mastering Heddon River Runts and later learning to use the "new" Creme worms that didn't come with instructions. We just nose hooked them like a live worm and clamped a lead sinker o nthe main line. It worked. It later worked better when we embedded 3 hooks threaded through the worm with needle and mono.

Just yesterday while fishing I was taking a break in shade, pulled up to a popular island camping spot. I ate lunch, then remembered I had a new crankbait that I needed to observe swimming before using. Standing on the bow of the beached boat I pitched it between a floating log and a tree root on the shore, and before engaging the reel a 2 pound largemouth in two feet of water maybe 20 feet from the boat and two feet from the shore jumped on it. I wasn't expecting that, but it reminded me of the old bank fishing days. I still do bank fishing when camped like that and catch my fair share of smaller fish.

Jim