NEED TIPS

[nearly_sober2]

Hello everyone.  I'm new to this forum but from what I've seen everyone here is pretty nice.  

But, I need some help.  I love fishing especially catching a beauty of a bass.  But, in the past I've primarly used live bait (minnows).  And I've never had any real luck fishing with lures.  I know it takes practice, but it always seems I never catch anything when fishing with anything plastic or artificial.  I don't own a boat and don't know anyone that has one, so I've always fished off the bank.  So, I don't know if I've just been unlucky with lures because I'm not finding good enough spots with enough cover for bass to hide out in, or maybe it's my lure presentation in the water.  Typically, when fishing with lures I just tie a swivel to the end of my line and clip the lures directly to that.  That way I can unclip from the swivel and easily change lures on the fly.  I don't know if that might give the lure an unnatural appearance or not.  So, any tips anyone might have for a shore line fisherman would be helpful.

Thanks

[Troutfisher]

Welcome aboard!

I recommend either dropping the snap swivel or using a very small one. Those can be good with live bait, however, they can interefere with lure appearance, as well as the action.

As far as lure selection, try to mix it up and use differing tactics. Try a white 3 or 4 inch senko, I have had very good luck with those lately. Hook the lure through the middle, and pitch it to good looking areas such as fallen timber and weeds.  If you do good with minnows, try using a small minnow crankbait, just about the size of the minnows you use to fish with. Move around and try different spots. The key is variety, and eventually, you'll find a pattern and hook up with some fish!

Thanks and see ya around!

-Troutfisher

[BucketmouthAngler13]

Here is a quick list of some lures you might want to give a try:

Senko 5" black

Rapala #7

Rat-L-Trap (silver w/ blue)

Buzzbait (1/2oz black)

Double bladed spinnerbait (colarado blades, 1/2oz, black/white skirt)

You can read several articles one each of these baits in the article section. Once you get the hang of these pretty simple lures you can fish at most depths and all sorts of places. These baits catch alot of bass, so they are good to start out on. Once you get a lure down, keep on fishing it and learn a new one!

Good luck

Matt

[skillet]

WELCOME to the forums!!

 I fish ponds and small lakes from the bank mostly and do pretty good I think. Go thru the article section (like BA13 said) and pick out what you think applies to the places you fish. Keep notes and then come back and ask some questions about some of the things you found. The folks around here are GREAT about sharing what they know. I would imagine with the number of people that post pretty regular and how much fishing they have done and do, the number of hours spent learning things approaches the infinite . The good and bad of that is about the only thing we have to show for all that time is experiences to share and some great memories. Which ain't a bad thing ...

                                                  As Ever,

                                                   Skillet

[Red]

there is also some great articles for bank fisherman on here too, i have read them all!

Cliff

[WhiteMike1018]

Welcome Aboard!  

[Catt]

How y'all are?  

There are some excellent bank fisherman here but one thing you may want to do is tell us where you are located?

[roadwarrior]

Welcome aboard!

This is the place to start:  http://bassresource.com/beginner/beginner.html

[buckdawg]

I'm a noob to bass fishing as well AND i strongly encourage you to read the articles.  My goodness there is a lot of info on this site, more than enough to get you started.  I am just now getting back into fishing after a 10 year break and had never fished plastics before either but reading the articles here has at least given me an excellent starting point to try different stuff.  I have a bag of flukes, tubes, craws and worms in my arsenal.  Haven't caught anything on 'em yet but it's early.   Probably go out later today, supposed to be in the 70's here in scenic Central Ohio  

Also, have you considered a float tube or pontoon boat?  A regular boat is definitely not in my budget so I chose a pontoon boat for a little mobility.  I've had it out a dozen times or so and it's better than being stuck on the bank if you're fishing a decent sized body of water.

[Grey Wolf]

WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you learn to use spinner baits and rat-l traps to start off with , I believe your luck will start to change.

[Guest avid]

Don't use snaps on anything but crankbaits.

Buy 5" senko's with the color "watermelon" or Pumpkin" in the name.

read the senko sticky. It will answer all conceivable questions about this amazing bait.

get a 1/2 oz ratltrap in chrome/blue.  use can use the snap, just cast and crank.

And now for the "tip"

Bank fisherman typically walk right up to the edge of the water and then cast as far out as possible.

this is a mistake.  Notice the guys in the boat are casting close to the bank.

There are almost always at least some bass in shallow.

As a bank fisherman, you need to approach with stealth.  Stay back 20 feet or so, and cast your senko no more than 3 feet out from where the water meets the shore.  Do this up and down the bank.  Only when you have caught the shallow fish do you then go to the waters edge and cast out that ratltrap.

Senko's often outfish live bait.  Especially if numbers is the name of the game.  but a 5" senko has also accounted for many many lunkers as well.

Good luck and have fun.

avid

[nearly_sober2]

Wow thank you all for the tips.  I've yet to pick up any senko worms (all my worms are the curled end variety) I thought the tubes I had would work instead buy I will look into it.  Because it seemed like most of y'all swear by using them.  I actually have a nice assortment of lures so I already have quite a few rapala cranks, Rat L Traps, buzz, spinners, jigs you name it.  But thanks for the suggestions Troutfisher, Matt, Bass-Brat and avid.  As for the articles, I started reading them - there's quite a lot there (might be until next fishing season until I get done  ;D ) but thanks Matt Cliff and roadwarrior for suggesting that as well I didn't know they were there until then.  I already learned some stuff.  But nothing beats going and putting that to use, so I plan to do that today.  Oh and Catt just so you know it in the DFW area in Texas.  I live pretty close to Lake Lewisville but have bee known to travel to other lakes that are near the area as well.  

One more question (I haven't seen it in the articles - well not yet at least)... would putting a swivel on the attaching a leader to it with the lure tied on the leader line (sorta like a carolina rig) lessen of the unnatural appearance?  If you couldn't tell I suck at tying knots quickly.  I only have the one pole (well 2 actually put one is pretty light it's like 6'6 with 10 lb line on it)  so switching from a crank to a spinner or worm takes a while for me.  

[jomatty]

when i first started fishing i tried the snap with a leader idea and would tie the leaders onto the baits beforei went out.  i found it was much more trouble than it is worth.  keeping all of those leaders straight is a big pain.  i would suggest just learning an easy knot like the palamor or uni and the more you tie them the faster you will get.  also if you are going to use a snap with cranks consider using a snap rather than a snap swivel.  

matt