Anyone fish from shore recently?

[el_pescador]

Is it even worth it to try?  With the mild temps so far I'm curious if anyone tried it with any luck lately.

Thanks,

[Cny]

In the past month I have fished from shore 6 times with each trip being about 3 hours and I have only caught 1 brown trout.

[Ihor]

I have tried four times near the bridge for a couple hours each time with no action.  Disappointing.  I have tried spoons, plastic worms, and crankbait without success.  I have cast out at least 30 feet.  Am I doing something wrong?

[Cny]

I have tried four times near the bridge for a couple hours each time with no action.  Disappointing.  I have tried spoons, plastic worms, and crankbait without success.  I have cast out at least 30 feet.  Am I doing something wrong?

your best bet would be to use a krocodile spoon(unless you use live bait) . After casting, let it sink to the bottom and try different retrieves. You might not be doing anything wrong ,its just tough from shore.

[Ihor]

Thanks Cny.  Will try the krocodile.

[Gordon]

Ihor, You mention casting out 30 feet- you might want to think about an outfit that can get you out further. For shore fishing where I have some room to cast, I use steelhead outfits (9-10' rods) with braid and a flouro leader. You can really get some casting disatance with a 1/2 to 1 oz. spoon. Good luck out there, Gordon.

[KenH]

The shore fishing is very tough right now. The Lakers have moved to deeper waters
and the shoreline isn't warm enough for the Browns to come in. You might connect with a
stray Brown or small laker but both will be sluggish. I would drop from 1/2oz Krocs down to
3/8ths and even 1/4 to allow extremely slow retrieves. As Gordon said the longer rods are much
better for shore casting. I use 8t 6in steelhead rods with 4000 class reels. Go with winter tactics;
don't even bother starting early because the fish won't bite until the sun is up high. A couple
winters ago, I cast spoons from 7:00am nonstop until my first hit and landed fish at 11:00am.
This was on March 1st right after ice out. Afternoon hours are the best as the waters have warmed up the most.

[el_pescador]

Thanks for the feedback gents.  Unfortunately I figured as much.  I guess if the weather's nice I'll go our and cast a bit...  It's not like I catch 'em every time I go out when I fish from shore in March or April 

[Montrose]

All good advice pescador.  The only thing I can add is along w/ sunny afternoon days, fish into the wind.  Not as comfortable for you , but the windward side of the lake will have churned warmer water along that shoreline and even a 1-2 degree change can spark more bites.

[G.Freshwater]

I would disagree and say that shore fishing has been very productive in January. Many good fish have been caught from shore on at least 5 different reservoirs and a couple of lakes. Not every outing produces but some guys are killing it!  Many people aren't catching any at all.

While I believe in the conventional wisdom, early morning has been a winner. Basically the rules are out the window.  The fish are all over.  I know of a couple of browns that came from really deep(they were caught from boats).  I wouldn't be afraid to try anything at any time

[scubatic]

Last week my father was starting to troll about 20 ft of water close to shore and got a big brown, unfortunately he panicked and lost the fish. Guy on Rye Lake told me that earlier this week he caught nice brown from the shore.

[Ihor]

Thanks for the advice gentlemen,

I need to get a longer rod but will need a two-piece as I drive a Honda most of the time (my wife takes the safer outback).

Gordon, what weight braid (20 lb?) and fluoro leader (10 lb?)?

Ken, I'm a little new at this so I'm sure what you mean by a 4000 class reel.  I hesitate to get a baitcasting reel for fear of backlash (unless they make one easy to use).

Can you recommend a rod/reel?  I want to get something decent but don't want to spend more than $150.

Thanks.

I took out the jonboat on the Kensico yesterday (Saturday).  A little windy and the water was choppy.  Rowed out to the big bridge and had what felt like a couple of bites (took the minnow of the hook) but no catches.  I thought I landed a monster when the rod bent 3/4 but soon realized my spoon was stuck at the bottom.  At least I was able to retrieve the spoon.  It was a beautiful day. I didn't catch any fish but saw an eagle around 1 pm
.
Ihor

[KenH]

Ihor, practically all 8ft plus steehead rods are two piece.
I use Fenwicks that are Medium action, rated for 1/4-5/8 oz lures
and 6-17 lb line. That's just a guideline, you might prefer a medium
light action. All the top makers offer steelhead rods of this type from
st.croix, Gloomis to shimano to ugly stik and everything in between so it's a matter
of personal choice.  Such rods are available in both spinning and Baitcasting
formats but I refer the spining. With a 8ft plus rod it balances out with a 3000
or 4000 class reel, whereas a 7ft rod does with a 2500 class.
I use a Shimano stradic in 4000 size which is really about the largest you'd
want to go for freshwater use around here. But you can definitely put together a
decent rod/reel setup for $150.
For example just browsng he cabelas site showed these:

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Fishing/Fishing-Rods/Spinning-Rods%7C/pc/104793480/c/104764680/sc/104836680/Berkley174-Air8482-IM8-SalmonSteelhead-Spinning-Rods/738849.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Ffishing-fishing-rods-spinning-rods%2F_%2FN-1102841%2FNo-48%2FNs-CATEGORY_SEQ_104836680%3FWTz_l%3DSBC%253Bcat104793480%253Bcat104764680%26WTz_st%3DGuidedNav%26WTz_stype%3DGNP&WTz_l=SBC%3Bcat104793480%3Bcat104764680%3Bcat104836680

Or the Ugly stik lite:
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Fishing/Fishing-Rods/Spinning-Rods%7C/pc/104793480/c/104764680/sc/104836680/Shakespeare-Ugly-Stik-Litereg-SalmonSteelhead-Spinning-Rod/738359.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Ffishing-fishing-rods-spinning-rods%2F_%2FN-1102841%2FNo-48%2FNs-CATEGORY_SEQ_104836680%3FWTz_l%3DSBC%253Bcat104793480%253Bcat104764680%26WTz_st%3DGuidedNav%26WTz_stype%3DGNP&WTz_l=SBC%3Bcat104793480%3Bcat104764680%3Bcat104836680 

Over at FishUSA, I found the Shimano Convergence series rods also at a good price.
http://www.fishusa.com/Shimano-Convergence-Salmon--Steelhead-Spinning-Rods_p.html

Ken
 

[Brooklynite]

All good advice pescador.  The only thing I can add is along w/ sunny afternoon days, fish into the wind.  Not as comfortable for you , but the windward side of the lake will have churned warmer water along that shoreline and even a 1-2 degree change can spark more bites.

I agree about windward fishing, it works under many different conditions. But I went out for a couple hours on Friday afternoon on Kensico and cast into the churned up waters (from the west bank into the windward side of the area I was in). I had a AMAZING follow by a HUGE laker or brown that I can only describe as a slab. My heart was pounding! He followed my kroc in very slowly. I tried to slow my retrieve down and the spoon stopped and fell to the bottom on a boulder. The fish took one more lazy pass and swam off. Try as I might, I couldn't raise anymore interest or hits, but I imagine I had at least the luck of seeing my quarry because I was in the "warmest" spot I could find. I also figure he was the only laker up on the shore---I would have KILLED for a live shiner under a bobber at that moment, hahaha. At this point, I'm just gonna wait for ice-out in mid March though.

[Ihor]

Thanks for the info and links Ken.  I'm glad to see the rods come in two piece.  Maybe I'll run into you sometime casting from around the bridge.