Advice for Bank Fishing

[alek]

Hi all,

New here. Here's the tl;dr:

Do you have any advice for bank fishing with a spinning rod & reel along the Bull Shoals Tailwater, preferably at public accesses?

Now for the too long part:

I'm essentially new to fishing; I did fish a few times growing up, but it was probably only a handful of times. And I certainly don't remember anything that I would have learned. I'm in my early forties now, and my six year old son wants to fish. Last Labor Day, an uncle took us along to trout fish at Wildcat Shoals public access, showing us how he does it. We've been out there a few times now--we visit the area about four times a year--repeating his process, which is using a ultralight/light spinning rod/reel, baited with Powerbait dough and a few small split shot weights about two feet up the line.

That has worked out pretty well for my son on his Thomas the Tank Engine kiddo rod--he's caught 17 trout, including a small brown with it. Now I'd like to set him up with a spinning rod and reel of his own. We actually have quite a bit of equipment that we got after my father-in-law died 10 years ago--lots of spinning and casting rods with various reels and about four tackle bags/boxes full of stuff, including spinners, crankbaits, jigheads, hooks, etc--and that's after we gave about half of it away. I've been using his old stuff when we go. I'm sure that there's something that my son can use.

From what I've seen on YouTube and most internet articles on how to fish the White is via boat, either with or without a guide. While I would love to take my son out guide fishing someday, I just don't think it's appropriate at the moment. I don't think he'd have the patience for even a half-day with a guide. When we're out there now, he likes to split his time with the rod in his hand and his hands chasing crawfish. I would also like him to be proficient with regular gear and handling his own tackle and such before taking him out on a boat.

So for now, we're on the bank. I've been watching a lot of Fishing with Nat and FishHawk on YouTube, and I think they're great channels; I've learned quite a bit about fishing in general and trout fishing in particular. I also like watching as many videos on fishing the white, but again they're almost always from a boat.

We both have chest waders, and I'm willing to take him into the water about his waist high when the flow is low, but we stick to the bank when the water is high and/or fast moving.

Given that we're stuck on the bank for a while, do you have any advice for a newbie fisherman and his young son that use spinning reels/rods?

Thanks!

[dpitt]

I fly fish pretty much exclusively and mostly on Taneycomo, but it's basically the same river system as the White. Your question has a large response surface area, many ways to fish from the bank and wade for trout. Very cool getting your son exposed to fishing.  You also noted your precaution to the ever changing CFS of the white, that's a big determining factor.  When water is minimum flow there are lots of wading opportunities at the Bull shoals dam, but there are restrictions, i.e. barbless, catch and release, research those. There are other wading locations on the White and Norfork, but will let others chim in on those, also googling that will produce locations.  I'm not experience wade fishing with spin gear, but you should be able to pitch spoons,   rapalas,  jigs, rooster tails,  etc. and get results,  you can target fish you see, or "read the water" where they should be and put your lure in there vision, they eat most of the time, just not the same thing.  You can also fish flies with spinning gear using a weighted indicator(so you can cast tiny flies)   Water running,  power bait, worms, minnows, etc... from a dock/shore, just make sure you are getting down to them.

[Terrierman]

We used to catch trout at the Corps park on the south side of the Bull Shoals tailwater below the Taneycomo dam.  Fished with mepps spinners, little cleo, daredevil and bait.  Corn or worms for bait.  Good luck.

[Flysmallie]

When my girls were young I used to take them fishing all the time. We would be gone all day. Come home just worn slick. 

I'd say that most of those days included a good 20 to 30 minutes of fishing. 

Take a bucket and a minnow net and just go have fun. 

[Quillback]

6 minutes ago, Flysmallie said:

When my girls were young I used to take them fishing all the time. We would be gone all day. Come home just worn slick. 

I'd say that most of those days included a good 20 to 30 minutes of fishing. 

Take a bucket and a minnow net and just go have fun. 

Yep, if you can keep a 6 yo interested in trout fishing for more than 15 minutes, you're doing pretty good. 

[alek]

Thanks @dpitt, @Terrierman, @Flysmallie, and @Quillback for the advice!

I also had checked out a book from the Mountain Home Library, Ozark Trout Tales, that I thought it was really helpful. It was published in 1995, but I imagine the fishing techniques haven't changed that much.

I plan to try the White River Drift Rig for bait like Powerbait, worms, and such. I guess one that has changed--in the book, they mentioned using a No. 9 or No. 10 bell sinker with the set up, depending on the flow, but I'm not able to find bell sinkers using numbers for sizes. I'm seeing only weights. Anyone know how much a No. 9 or No. 10 bell sinker from 1995 would weigh?

Thanks again!

[Quillback]

Never have heard of them being numbered.

When they talk about a drift rig, they are probably talking about fishing that setup from a boat.  I haven't fished worms from a boat on the White river since we made a trip over there in the mid-80's, but what we did then was use a bell sinker, with about a 3 foot leader to the hook.  You'd want just enough weight so that as you drifted down river in the boat the weight would tick off the bottom every now and then as the boat and your bait moved down the river with the current.  Good way to catch trout, but lots of snags, you end up spending as much time tying on tackle and re-baiting as you do fishing.

I always used an egg-shaped slip sinker when bait fishing from the bank.  Run your line through the slip sinker, 2 or 3 feet up the line, then clamp a split shot below the sinker.  Easier IMO then tying on a bell sinker, then tying your leader to the sinker and it allows the trout to pull line through the weight when it bites, more likely they'll hold on.

I always liked to use enough weight so that the sinker would anchor itself to the bottom.  That way you can tighten up your line and prop the rod in a forked stick and wait for a bite.  Might be the best way to fish with an impatient 6 yo, you can do other things, while waiting for a bite.  If you're drifting that worm, which is an effective way to fish, you've got to be holding on to your rod and dealing with getting frequent hang-ups, and it may be hard for a 6 yo to do all that.  Not to mention bite detection on a moving setup that is bouncing off rocks on the bottom.

If you want to do the anchor to the bottom deal, It all depends on how fast the current is and how deep.  I'd bring weights from 1/4 oz up to 1/2 oz.  

If I had to choose one bait, I'd go with Power Bait in pink or chartreuse.  I'd use a #10 Eagle Claw gold treble hook and mold a ball of bait just big enough to cover the hook points.  I always like to use night crawlers.  I always used a whole crawler on a #8 Eagle Claw bait holder hook from one of those snelled leader packs.  Hook that crawler through the middle so that those little bait holder barbs are in the body, but leave both ens of the crawler free to wiggle.  You have to be careful casting the crawler as it might fly off if you snap that cast out there, so just lob it.  Redworms are good too, so are crickets, use a smaller, lightwire hook for crickets and worms.  

Another idea and a way to keep the 6 yo entertained is go catch some grasshoppers, trout will eat them too.

I'm sure you know this, but the White river can come up really fast when they release water.  Make sure you are fishing from a place where you can get up on the bank quickly if it starts coming up.

If the 6 yo isn't having fun with the trout thing, you can always go over to Bull Shoals, find some place where you can fish off the bank, and toss a cork out there with a red worm 3-4 feet below the cork, try and find some bluegills, the size won''t matter much to him, but if you can find them, the action will be fast and nothing is better for a youngster than seeing that cork get pulled under.  

I don't know that area too well, but maybe there are some small ponds around, usually the ponds will hold a bazillion little gills and are a great place to take a really young fisherman.  And gills love grasshoppers too.  It would be great to find a grassy bank where you could catch hoppers and then use them to catch gills.  You'd stay pretty busy and have fun.

Good luck!

'

[dblades]

Out of all the times my grandpa took me fishing as a kid, I remember the bait catching more than the fish caught. We alway caught our own bait, dig worms, catch hoppers and little frogs, seine a few crawdad and minnows, scour riffles and grab hellgramites by hand (takes some skill). Great times and really learned a lot about nature. Oh and occasionally find a big wasp nest to use the pupa for bait. 

[alek]

2 hours ago, Quillback said:

Never have heard of them being numbered.

When they talk about a drift rig, they are probably talking about fishing that setup from a boat.  I haven't fished worms from a boat on the White river since we made a trip over there in the mid-80's, but what we did then was use a bell sinker, with about a 3 foot leader to the hook.  You'd want just enough weight so that as you drifted down river in the boat the weight would tick off the bottom every now and then as the boat and your bait moved down the river with the current.  Good way to catch trout, but lots of snags, you end up spending as much time tying on tackle and re-baiting as you do fishing.

Yeah, I think you're right about fishing it from a boat.

2 hours ago, Quillback said:

I always used an egg-shaped slip sinker when bait fishing from the bank.  Run your line through the slip sinker, 2 or 3 feet up the line, then clamp a split shot below the sinker.  Easier IMO then tying on a bell sinker, then tying your leader to the sinker and it allows the trout to pull line through the weight when it bites, more likely they'll hold on.

I always liked to use enough weight so that the sinker would anchor itself to the bottom.  That way you can tighten up your line and prop the rod in a forked stick and wait for a bite.  Might be the best way to fish with an impatient 6 yo, you can do other things, while waiting for a bite.  If you're drifting that worm, which is an effective way to fish, you've got to be holding on to your rod and dealing with getting frequent hang-ups, and it may be hard for a 6 yo to do all that.  Not to mention bite detection on a moving setup that is bouncing off rocks on the bottom.

If you want to do the anchor to the bottom deal, It all depends on how fast the current is and how deep.  I'd bring weights from 1/4 oz up to 1/2 oz.  

This sounds an awful lot like what I'm seeing called a Carolina rig, which looks like another good way to fish from the bank.

2 hours ago, Quillback said:

If I had to choose one bait, I'd go with Power Bait in pink or chartreuse.  I'd use a #10 Eagle Claw gold treble hook and mold a ball of bait just big enough to cover the hook points.

This is actually the way we've been doing it most of the time, which is how my uncle showed us. We bait the hook as you say and then cast about 45 degrees or more upstream to let it drift downstream. When the line is essentially as far downstream as it can go, reel it in and recast.

I got ahold of the AFGC guidebook, and it says that only single point hooks can be used with bait on the Bull Shoals Tailwater. Since then, we've been using single hooks with the Powerbait. Do you, or anyone else, know if Powerbait counts as bait, and as such, we should be using single point hooks, or can we use treble hooks?

Thanks again, Quillback!

[alek]

45 minutes ago, dblades said:

Out of all the times my grandpa took me fishing as a kid, I remember the bait catching more than the fish caught. We alway caught our own bait, dig worms, catch hoppers and little frogs, seine a few crawdad and minnows, scour riffles and grab hellgramites by hand (takes some skill). Great times and really learned a lot about nature. Oh and occasionally find a big wasp nest to use the pupa for bait. 

Yeah, my son enjoys going after the crawfish as much as he enjoys the fishing. Last time out, he caught one, and we used the meat as bait; didn't even get one bite on it, but he had a good time.