Fishing with Shiners

    For most modern bass fisherman the words "live bait" are banned from their vocabulary, and they snicker at the old man on the lake with his bobbers floating around just waiting for a bass to pull his "minner" and bobber under the water. Fishing with, and catching fish on artificial baits is very rewarding and its a great accomplishment to fool a bass in its house, but as you hold up your 2 lb bass and thank god for such a wonderful day, that old man you were laughing at is trying to hoist an 11lb monster out of the water that pulled his live "minner" and bobber under the water.

    By minner I’m referring to a golden shiner, these baitfish inhabit most bodies of warmer freshwater. Golden shiners are the most popular baitfish in bait shops in southern states and for good reasons. They can reach 18" or more and above 10lbs. But for fishing purposes we are going to stick with 5 - 12 inches. They usually sale between 6 dollars a dozen for smaller shiners up to 15 or 16 dollars a dozen for larger shiners. For a good day of fishing, an angler should have at least 4 dozen shiners because they aren’t very hardy and die quickly!

     Most anglers use an aerator to pump oxygen into whatever you put the bait in and add special products like STAY ALIVE or CATCH AND RELEASE, which help keep the bait alive longer and energized, so when you do use them they swim around a lot more. But for anglers who can't hand over that kinda cash everytime, invest in a castnet or canepole. No matter which tecnique you use, you must bait them up first and to do that you can use a bunch of different methods.

    Some people use a can of dog food and poke holes in the can so that the aroma flows out and disperses all over to attract the shiners. Some also use regular dog food and just throw the bait out over an area. For the best results, find vegetation such as hydrilla or lillipads and begin baiting them up however you choose. Be patient as it takes some time for them to arrive. You will know when they arrive when you see them breaking the surface around the area you baited. Once you see the signs of shiners in the area, begin cast netting where you see them break, or use a wet bread ball on a small panfish hook with a small splitshot above the hook and catch them one by one. Usually the shiners are all about the same size in a school so if you want bigger shiners its best to move to another area and bait up again somewhere else. The best size shiners are about 9-12".

    Now that you have some shiners to fish with your problably wondering how to fish them and catch big bass! When I use shiners, theres two basic rigs I use. Thats a shiner under a bobber or freelining. When using the bobber technique, you'll need a big bobber so that a big shiner won't be able to pull your bobber under and defeat the purpose of the rig. But you also don't want a bobber that is to big and doesnt allow smaller bass to take it under when they bite because theyll usually feel the tension and blow it out!

    I use a good 7' or 7 1/2 rod with a medium/heavy or heavy action when fishing around heavy cover. In some instances when your catching bass in open water on shiners, you can use a longer rod if you want. I use an 8ft allstar coastal series rod for open water fishing. It gives me longer casts and better hooksets on fish that take the bait along ways. Mono line is a good all around choice. I use 20 - 30lb test and I don't have any problems with it even in heavy cover. Hooks on the other hand are another story. Most people use a big straight shank bait hook for shiner fishing. That works well but I like to use a 5/0 extra wide gap worm hook for my shiner fishing. I can't explain how, but I get better hookups and the hooks dont go deep as much as a straight shank version. Just try out different hooks until you find the one that works or at least you think works better.

    The bobber rig is simply just a bobber anywhere from 1-4 ft above your hook and with a split shot in between, usually about 12" above the hook which keeps that shiner down. I sometimes don’t use a weight and the shiner will swim close to the surface and sometimes a big bass will hit it on top of the water and there's nothing like it. I usually will vary my rigs until I find out which one works better. For example, one rod may be set for the bobber to be 4ft above the hook with a split shot, and the other rig will be set for a bobber just 2ft above the hook with no weight. The bass will tell you what they want! I fish this rig usually around any vegetation and it excels over submerged cover where you can set the bobber depth to where the shiner is right above the grass. I usually don’t mess with wood cover at all because you’re normally just asking for a hang-up!

    Once you’ve found an area to fish and have some shiners out, make sure there swimming a lot. Sometimes they just swim in bursts and others will never stop. Usually the ones that never stop attract more attention from bass than the other ones! If the bait stops swimming all together just lightly jerk on the line enough to barely move the bobber and that will usually get them swimming again. If that doesn’t work, it may just be time to change shiners. Most people throw the dead or dying shiners over board, but I like to keep them and once the action slows on live shiners, I cut up the dead shiners and put them on another rod I rigged just for that, and toss em' off the other side of the boat and catch catfish. You'd be surprised how many bass i've caught on dead shiners. Nice size ones too! Plus you’re getting more bang for your buck. I usually release the bass I catch and keep whatever catfish I catch and have a good ol' fish fry! When using smaller shiners or anything less than 6", a bass will usually swallow it without much trouble so you can usually set the hook fairly quickly after it initially takes it under. For bigger shiners, the process takes longer. A bass will usually make two passes at a shiner. The first pass it may take the bobber under a little bit, or run with it a little ways, but they usually wont eat the shiner on the first pass. They usually try to injure or kill it first. Once it comes back again though, it will usually take it under for good but DONT SET THE HOOK YET. I usually wait 10-20 seconds because a bass will turn the shiner so that it goes down head first and then it will scale it in its mouth before eating it. Once you believe it’s been long enough, set the hook hard and hold on!

    My other rig is free lining the shiner I usually don’t use this much at all but it's deadly in the spring and in clearer water where you can see the beds. I use the same tackle minus the bobber and once I find a bed, I look to see if the big female is on it. If it is and takes off, I usually wait and watch the direction it goes and then pitch my shiner near that area. A female will usually only retreat about 15 to 20ft away from the bed before stopping. If the bed has a buck but I can't see the female, I will pitch the shiner near the bed itself and wait because the buck will just try and chase the shiner off but wont eat it. The female will usually get frustrated and come up and just tear into it like a tiger! Believe me when the water is clear enough, you can see all this unfold right in front of you. I’ve seen 8lb females chase a shiner into about 6" of water and then smash it and take off out towards deeper water. If you still feel like you don’t understand shiner fishing one of the best methods is to hire a guide and they can teach you a lot about it! Most any guide is good with live bait and not only will they teach you how to use it, but they can put you one some monster bass.