Can I fish for Bass off a pier?
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I just started fishing, and had a question on fresh water pier fishing. When I go with my friend, we rent a Jon Boat and fish all over the lake. But if I just want to fish for a couple of hours in the morning, or go by myself, I don’t want to spend the money on a boat and motor etc.
So, am I going to get as many strikes fishing from a pier, and do I need to change up my bait and fishing style?
Thanks for your help.
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I hate to state the obvious but it all depends on whether or not there are any fish there. If there are, then you can probably play around with different presentations until you find one that works, If there aren’t any fish there it won’t matter what you throw.
The structure of a pier is a great place to fish. You want to be able to cast underneath or into the shadows if possible. Try different times of the day and diffferent lures to pass time. Try bouncing a worm off the bottom when reeling it in, try a dropshot rig or just bring a lure down the length of it, try everything and you will get a bite.
Lots of times they sit in the shadows once they come back from topwater feeding. They will still strike when you put something in front of them.
If you do that every time, it could well become one of the better spots you fish, with or without the boat once you know how to fish it.
I guarantee you, if there are bass in that lake, some are under the pier, you just need to figure out how to get them out.
I have relatives in Northern Az near Sedona. To this day I have caught more bass on Oak Creek than any lake or river I’ve been on and it’s not a huge water way (20-30 feet wide). Granted they don’t get real big (best largemouth I pulled from there is 3.5lbs) but I know how to fish and can just about guarantee bass on any given day, sometimes by the dozens.
Look at it this way. You go for a few hours. You fish different baits.You soon learn what works and what doesn’t. And you get the technique of fishing the different baits down pat. This is what is known as getting experience. It will make you a better fisherman. Many years ago there was what we called a bar pit or a “borrow pit” a few hundred yards from my house. Every year the backwaters would flood and go back down leaving fish in the bar pit.This is where I spent hundreds of days fishing for crappie, bream and bass.This is where I learned the ins and outs of fishing. The pier and the banks would be a great place for you to fish.Good luck!
DumDum got it right on the money! Try casting parallel to the bank with single Colorado bladed spinnerbaits or a tandem bladed spinnerbait. I recommend the colors white or white w/ chartreuse. Also, fishing a Senko weight-less in VERY VERY shallow water is VERY VERY productive! Fish the senko with lighter than normal spinning equipment and 6 lb. test. You can also throw some of those Mann’s 1-Minus crank baits around the shore line and work it back. A Rat-L-Trap works good.
But really you should always have a bunch of lures ready. I would bring 3 or 4 rods. One with a Senko, one with a spinnerbait, one with a shallow crank bait, amd one with a Rat-L-Trap. Along with that bring all your normal lures and thingamajigs. Poppers or walk-the-dog type baits work good early morning. Buzz baits will too. But all lures really work, you just need to know what is right for the conditions. These kinds of things come along with being out doors and actually fishing and not setting in front of a computer and researching “bass fishing” 1,000 times.
Everything comes with experience. Remember that.
well it depends if it hevily used if its one of those rele high ones or how far out it goes but u primarily only use worms and live bait under a pier or u could use gulp lures but thats the only exeption as for the fish u could catch brim bass and rarly catfish