Bank on It; Bank fishing 101

I thought one day it might be interesting to start a little informational project I called SkinFlint Outdoors. Being broke most of the time, yet still hopelessly addicted to all things outdoors, it seemed like a good idea to discuss some of the ways I had learned to save money so I could afford to go out and play in the woods or on the water. But, like the man who got naked and jumped on a cactus because he thought it was a good idea at the time, I came to realize that even in my impoverished state I had still gone far and beyond some people’s financial means. I feel guilty that I clean missed the mark regarding a show of respect for the hard-working folks who can’t afford a boat or other such gear, yet still want to get outside.

So, I have decided to put together a guide for the beginning fisherman. I wanted to explore some tips for fishing on the cheap, yet still being successful.  After all, you don’t need a fancy watercraft to get out and fill your freezer with some nice catfish filets. More importantly, you don’t need to make a big production to get your children out to the water on a Sunday afternoon. Make your fishing as simple as possible. Trust me, the kids will love you for it some day.

Tip number one is to wear dark cloths. While this is not always necessary, it does help depending on the body of water and species you are targeting. Being a northern boy, I spent many days wondering along mountain streams in central Pennsylvania in search of the illusive native brook trout. In my home area this species usually didn’t get to be more than seven to nine inches in length, and they generally lived in equally small bodies of water. I often fished for these awesome little predators because I enjoyed the colors they boasted, but always set them free unharmed because they were hard to make a meal of.

Hunting for native brook trout often had me fishing in streams seldom deeper than a foot and not wider than five feet across. You would have the occasional hole or washout, but they weren’t te be counted on. The mountain waters were crystal clear so you could easily see everything going on beneath the surface. That was a double-edged sword. If you can see down, the fish can see up. So in those circumstances it was necessary to have your cloths on the darker side so as to not announce your presence to the fish you climbed so far to hunt.

Clothing choices aren’t so important in bigger bodies of water. If there is more space between you and the fish, or cloudier waters, you can get away with pretty much anything. But it’s always better to be on the safe side. There have been a number of days I found myself working close to a brush pile or other structure while fishing a large body of water. Just consider what you’re fishing for and where your fishing at. Then you can dress accordingly to maximize your chances. The biggest disadvantage to shore fishing is you can’t move across the water if you scare the fish.

Tip number two is be quiet. How many times have you had a parent tell you to stop throwing rocks and be quiet? Again, the size of the body of water has a lot to do with how much freedom you have. The smaller streams with the trout in would allow for a bit more noise. This was because the rush of the flowing water would cancel out some degree of noise. On the other side of that, if you are fishing a larger body of still you’ll see the sounds travels. Not only does the sound travel, it travels forever.

Sound is a funny thing. It travels in waves, and it can be absorbed by or bounce off a surface. So when you make a noise the sound waves will hit the water. Simultaneously, some of those sound waved bounce off the water and some are absorbed by it. In that case both the absorbed and the bounced off sound wave go on for a good long while. This is why they don’t like it when you tap on the aquariums in the pet store. What is a little tap, tap, tap to you is a series of detonations to the fish. Moral of that story is if you think you’re not making that much noise you are wrong. You are being too loud and the fish hear you.

This will undoubtedly ruin your chances of success if you are too loud. However, certain species of fish may not be as frightful as others. In a nut shell, you need to consider how much noise you make. On one late night fishing excursion a friend and I sat along the banks of our favorite river, leisurely sipping the finest, most eloquent of alcoholic beverages and catching a decent number of channel cats. Suddenly, there was a loud bang, sharp and crisp enough that my friend spilled his Coors Light.

We couldn’t figure out what it was and it wasn’t until three days later we learned it was the sound of a car accident about four miles downstream. I’ve always taken this as an example of how far sound can travel over water. It doesn’t seem like any form of small coincidence that we weren’t able to catch one more fish for the rest of the night. So keep your conversations to a normal level, cast as softly as you can, and make every effort to not drop or throw anything in the water.

The third tip I can offer is to keep a distance from the water whenever you possibly can. Going back to my beloved native trout, there were many times I would be fishing fifteen feet away from a section of stream no wider than four foot. I did this so the fish wouldn’t see my movements when I made my cast. Even when targeting less skittish species you would do better to avoid close proximity. I have seen carp, bass, and pike run from an area when a myself or someone I was fishing with stood in a clear spot on a sunny day.

The best practice is to take your favorite fishing rod, a bucket, and a lead weight into your back yard. Spend a quiet Sunday afternoon making cast after cast until you can consistently cast that lead weight into that bucket. When you develop that highly trained degree of accuracy you will have more success bank fishing from a distance to avoid the fish detecting you. You will also make smoother casts which will reduce noise and allow you to put your bait quietly in the strike zone.

My forth tip is to fish by sight. Try to observe the area you are targeting from a height. Look for weed beds and structure. Look for fish as you fish around those areas. Look for trees overhanging the water or anything else you can identify that you think will give you an edge. Look for fish jumping and check the wind direction. Use your sight sense in every way possible to devise a game plan.

If you see a weed bed, look to see if the weeds are green or brown. Green weeds mean they are alive and producing oxygen. This alone makes them attractive to the lower members of the food chain. If you have brown weeds they are dead, not producing oxygen, and most likely uninhabited. You should never go fishing without polarized glasses, which will allow you to see smaller bait fish among the weeds. If you can see them and identify them you can adjust your bait accordingly to mimic what is going on there.

Also look for ripples in the water that tell you the wind direction. When the wind blows it tends to push things along, both on top of and below the water. Again, were following the food. If there is a good wind blowing into a cove you can almost bet any structure in that cove will have fish in it. If the wind is blowing straight upriver or downriver you’ll simply need to look for an area that catches that wind and holds some of the food it is moving along.

Any structure or vegetation hanging over the water is also good for attracting fish. For one thing it helps shade the water, which is important on super-hot days. It is also something bugs and other things will perch on before falling helplessly into the water. I’ve even witnessed a musky leap out of the water and grab a small bird out of a tree on one occasion. My fishing partner that day swore he’d never tell anybody about that because nobody would ever believe it.

Look for little fish jumping close to the shore. When you see a school of small fish acting like this it means there is a predator chasing them. Now you have two pieces of recon that improves your chances. You know there is a larger fish there hunting minnows. You can now cast a minor in the area and improve your chances of a strike. Large fish jumping is a good sign that they are present but it doesn’t always mean they are feeding. You want to look for smaller, gentler swirls on the surface of the water as this is what happens when a fish draws in something to eat.

Remember, fish don’t chomp their food like in those cartoons from our long-lost childhood. They open their mouths quickly to create a vacuum that draws in smaller fish or other food items. So you want to look for small, gentle disruptions on the surface to see where a fish is feeding. Another thing to look for is a flash under the water. Fish mostly swim straight, but can show some color under the water if they turn fast trying to catch a snack. This is an especially common thing when fishing for larger fish, like musky.

My fifth tip is to do some serious research. You’ve heard me say this before and I will no doubt say it again. In today’s world of internet technology you can find the answer to any question. Take some time and view fishing reports, guide tips, weather reports, tackle shop websites, social media, and any other resource available to you. This is especially crucial if you’re leaving your comfort zone to fish an area unfamiliar to you. Find maps, information on species, special regulations, and anything else important. One tip is to use packing tape to make a skinflint laminated copy of a map that you can reference throughout your trip. I know they sell laminating kits but they’re more expensive.

Tip number six is simply to be creative. It’s inevitable there will be days where nothing works. You’ve done your homework and still have no luck. These are the days you need to step outside your bubble and come up with something off the wall. Creativity partially goes hand-in-hand with research in this case. So one year when we find ourselves unable to catch catfish on worms, chicken livers, or dough baits we had to take drastic measure.

We learned through some research that you can make an awesome catfish bait with steak and hot sauce. The recipe is simple. Go to the grocery store and get the cheapest steak you can. Place it in a freezer bag with a generous amount of the hottest hot sauce you can and find. Leave it there for a few days and be careful when you fish with it. It sounds crazy, but we’ve managed to catch a lot of catfish with this method.

So to bring it all together, you need a nice day away from work where you can get the high ground and observe the water. You want to go to a place on the bank where you can see the wind is blowing into the bank and there is a structure or weed bed under the surface, and some sort of vegetation hanging over the edge of the bank. You want to know what kind of fish are in the water and what they’ve been hitting on. You need to be wearing darker cloths to fish smoothly and quietly from a distance. If you can manage to bring all that together you have the perfect scenario.

These are tips for the most extreme of circumstances. Don’t forget to have fun when you go out. The one big advantage to shore fishing over fishing from a boat is on shore you have more space for a cooler contacting a picnic lunch. You also don’t have to worry about your kids going overboard. Another skinflint trick is to get a cheap cart or wagon of some type and fit it with PCV pieces to store rods in so you don’t have to carry as much gear. Life was made better by the wheel after all. Be sure to look for snake and other dangers and then just have fun.

In conclusion, the funny thing about fishing is you always see guys on a boat fishing the shore and you always see people from shore fishing where the boat is drifting through. But the reality and point is you don’t need a boat to be successful. You’ve just read six quick tips I would put forth for the beginner, but there are literally hundreds of other ideas and techniques you can apply. Everything you may learn is a new starting place that you can build from. As years pass you’ll build memories like nobody ever did watching television.

Fish often, my friends.