shorebound fishing

[Charlie_N]

What would the best lures to use when fishing from shore?

[SoFlaBassAddict]

The same lures you would use from a boat.  The water doesn't change just because you're standing on a bank.  Use whats appropriate for the conditions you're fishing.

[Pikesnogle]

The same lures you would use from a boat. The water doesn't change just because you're standing on a bank. Use whats appropriate for the conditions you're fishing.

BOOM! X2

[Shane Procell]

Keep it simple and light. Plastic worms, spinner bait or beatle spin, shallow running crankbait and a popper.

[evrgladesbasser]

What would the best lures to use when fishing from shore?

[evrgladesbasser]

What would the best lures to use when fishing from shore?

More info would be helpfull. Conditions, vegetation, etc.....

2 things I always recommend though; 1. A pop-r for topwater, any idiot could use it and 2. A senko cause it's good for dang near any condition and my grandma could catch fish on a senko.

Good Luck!

[Charlie_N]

Thanks

[unageo09]

Watch for snakes!

[nern]

While I'm certainly no expert, I fish from shore and have always had luck with plastic worms and floating rapalas.

Plastic worms are nice because the can easily go through the shoreline weeds and can be presented lots of different ways.

The rapalas are nice because you can twitch them on the surface for top water hits or cast and use a slow retrieve to get the lure under the water.

I'm extremely new to senkos, but so far I like them for shore fishing. They cast really far for a plastic bait, and seem to work pretty well

Good luck!

[B A S S E R]

I love my weightless texas rigs from shore. Add some weight in windy conditions and deep water. Topwater poppers are good and so are spinnerbaits and rattletraps.

[LAO162]

Use baits to fit the cover & conditions where you are fishing.  The biggest challenge I have is getting snagged on the bottom.  Unlike boaters, bank anglers cannot reposition their boat to tug from a different angle.  So, deep cranks are likely to be off your list since as they go deeper, the bottom will be getting shallower as it comes closer to you.

[Raul]

Which lures are "best" depends upon many factors, what may limit your selection would be cover density/ type, bottom composition and slope degree of the impoundment, adjust your baits to those factors, if there 's a lot of woody/weedy cover  then fishing with exposed hooks in not a very good idea and so on.

[Crestliner2008]

What have you been using? And what conditions are you presented with? Which species of bass are you targeting? What is the forage base? Weed conditions? Water temperature?

Ya just gotta give us something to work with here my friend. 

[NateFollmer]

I wrote a small article on this for my WFN Ambassador page, here it is:

A lot of people are under the impression that they need a boat to get the most from their fishing. While it does make life a little easier, especially on large bodies of water, you can still find the fish from the shores! Nearly 75% of my fishing trips are without a boat and some of my most memorable and biggest fish have come from the shoreline. Here are some techniques I use when I'm not floating.

Move!

I see it all the time - Angler's pick their spots and don't move for the rest of the day. If you're not catching fish in a boat, don't you usually move? Yes, so start walking! I will fan cast an area with a few baits and if I don't hook up or get a bite, I move on. Normally, I stay in an area without a bite for no more than 20 minutes. This should be all the time you need to find fish. Don't be afraid to get in the water either!

Stay downstream from a good spot

Another mistake I see people make is standing right next to a good fishing spot. When I see a spot I know will hold fish, I ALWAYS stay downstream from it. Normally, fish will be facing into the current. If you stay downstream from them, you'll more than likely keep yourself in their blind spot. Also, this will allow you to cast upstream and bring your offering to the fish with the help of the current. Fish will normally be hanging out in slack water, watching the current for small fish or forage that comes by.

Find spots that are hard to reach

I love going off the beaten path to find great fishing spots. Why? Because for one, I just love to explore and this will add another good spot to my list of secret holes. Also, if a spot is hard to get to, it probably doesn't get a lot of fishing pressure and the fish may be more willing to bite. Access points are magnets for anglers because they are easy to get to. All the activity of boats going in and out of the water and the added pressure from anglers will usually send the fish packing!

Change your cast

I see it all the time - anglers casting straight out from where they are standing and just reeling the bait straight back. They may catch a straggler here and there, but they are missing the fish that may be holding right beside them. I rarely, if ever, cast out to the middle of the body of water I'm fishing. Almost all of my casts are made paralleling the bank or a nice piece of cover I find.  Analyze the current, depth, cover and structure of the area and make your casts count!

Analyze the area

This obviously isn't something you want to do right before you decide to fish an area, but this is an important step for unfamiliar waters. If I find a spot that looks great, I'll go back to it, not to fish, but to analyze the area. Try to get a good idea of what's going on under the water. Find out where the current breaks are (some could be hidden under the water), see what the bottom type is, look for quick depth changes, and look for hidden cover. If you can't get in the water, poke around with your rod or a long stick. You can even explore with a jig, I will tie on a heavier jig (3/8 to even 1 oz. depending on depth) and bounce it along the bottom. Try and paint a mental picture of what's going on under the surface so you have a better understanding of where the fish will be holding.

The surrounding banks may also help you understand what the bottom looks like. If the banks are steep, more than likely they continue the same slop under the water too.

Hopefully these techniques will help you from the bank. Give it a try and I bet you'll get bit!

[roadwarrior]

This is what's working for me right now:

#1 Rage Tail Baby Craw, 2/0 or 3/0 EWG Offset Worm

Hook, 1/8 oz bullet weight, #6 Yo-Zuri Hybrid on

spinning tackle.

#2 3/8 oz GMAN jig, Baby Craw trailer, #12 Hybrid

on baitcasting gear.

#3 Bandit 200 series

#4 Swarming Hornet, LFT Live Magic Shad trailer

#5 River2Sea frog

I expect to bring the Rage Tail 10" Anaconda and

Thumper into the mix soon. For a BIG presentation,

GMAN 3/4 oz Mop jig, RT Lobster. One more suggestion,

especially for bigger fish, Mattlures Baby Bass.

Good luck!

[zbigbadaaron]

I use pretty much every thing: soft plastics, jigs, top waters, soft plastic frogs, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jerkbaits, hollow belly swimbaits, and other stuff I might of forgot

[kms399]

hop in the water and get off the shore, a little weeds and water wont hurt you. if the bottom is too mucky get on craigs list and get a cheap used canoe you should be able to get one for under $100 and you can put it on top of your car.

[Charlie_N]

Thanks for all the info. I have been using zman chatter-baits with some success and worms. some of the lakes are pretty weedy with pads and lots of some type of grass we have mostly large-mouth bass in the lakes and ponds with sunfish (pumpkin seeds and bluegills some perch ) not sure of water temp. I am going to give some of the suggestions a try I am supposed to be on vac next week but my truck just broke down today. 

[Hammer 4]

With weeds, and pads, I'd be tossin a frog in there somewhere. A topwater frog like the Spro or a weighted frog i.e. ragetail toad..ect.

If you have shad in there, a baby fluke on a scrounger head works well, use the lightest weight possible for a jerk type bait, or a heavy weight to get through the weeds. This rig is fairly weedless, so you can run it through weeds, unless they are really heavy.

A texas rigged roboworm on a splitshot w/o the ears on the weight works good in sparse weeds, I use a #5 splitshot, with a 6" flat tail roboworm.