Hey everyone, Big Bite Pro Mike McClelland coming to you for the Bass Resource, and today we're going to talk bank fishing. You know, one of the biggest questions I get asked by so many people that don't have the opportunity to get out on a boat is, you know, "What are good baits that I can throw from the bank in a creek, in a river, you know, even fishing some of the bigger reservoirs?"
And one bait that definitely comes to mind is a bait that I work with Gamakatsu to design. It's the Gamakatsu Hybrid Swing Head. And the reason I feel like this is such an effective bait to fish off the bank, again like I said, whether you're fishing creeks, rivers, is it's a bait that is totally weedless. When you rig this hybrid swing head, you're able to rig that at it in a completely weedless fashion. So one of the big hangups is getting hung up when you're fishing from the bank and the ability to rig that completely weedless is going to help.
Now if you're fishing around, you know, a lot of big rock and things like that, it's going to get a little tougher but the beauty of this hybrid swing head is the fact of how it's designed and the fact that it's going to come through some of that stuff, a little bit better than a standard Texas rig. It's kind of a cross between a football shape and the old bullet-style jig heads that we used to fish but again, it is a swing head that actually allows you the ability to change your hook sizes and accordingly be able to fish with various sizes of bait.
So all you got to do is just slip that little hook on the pigtail, roll it around, and you're rigged and ready to go. Another thing that's great about this is the sizes it comes in. It comes in 4 sizes, a 3/8, a half, a 3/4, and a 1-ounce. If I was fishing from the bank, I'm probably going to focus my attention more towards the 3/8 and the 1/2-ounce version.
Generally, you're not able to reach, you know, extremely deep water unless you're fishing, you know, along a bluff line, along a channel swing or a deep dropping point, 3/8 and 1/2 is probably going to be the way to go, but when you get into those situations where you need to go deeper, the 3/4 and 1-ounce will help you get that done as well.
Fishing from the bank, though, there's a lot of different baits that I think can be really effective, whether you're fishing creeks or ponds or, you know, reservoirs. Like I said, a Big Bite Tour Series Swim Worm is a great bait to throw on that hybrid swing head and the reason I like to throw the swim worm is a lot of times when I'm fishing this hybrid swing head, I'm throwing this bait out, letting it hit the bottom and I'm continuously winding that bait back through the course of my retrieve. I'm not doing a lot of stopping and starting. If I get up against a piece of brush, or some rock or something like that, I'll give it a shake or two and let it sit there for a minute, but I think this bait is most effective when you just keep it moving. You kind of have to visualize this as being a bottom-dwelling crankbait style bait. You want to throw it out, let it hit the bottom, and just keep it in contact with the bottom.
Some other good baits to throw from the bank would be a bait like the Big Bite Baby B2. It's a little 7-inch worm. It's a real finesse-y style profile bait that, you know, will just get a lot of bites.
You know, youngsters, kids fishing off the bank, little baits like this, finesse-y style baits are really be something to focus on and really try to throw on that swing head. Other options would be a bait like the Big Bite 3-inch Fighting Frog, a small profile looking for a lot of bites, it can get it done. Another one would be the big bite 3-inch Kamikaze Craw.
So next time you're going to get out, whether you're fishing from a...on a creek bank, lakes, rivers, be sure and throw the Gamakatsu and hybrid swing head.
BassResource may receive a portion of revenues if you make a purchase using a link above.
