A few tweaks to increase your odds when fishing with shiners.
The mirror-like surface rippled ever so slightly as the red and white bobber moved towards the shadow line of the pebble-strewn flats, the ledge a short distance away, where the bottom dropped off. A chill in the air meant big smallmouth bass were on the move, hunting in the shallows, fattening up for the oncoming winter. The water, the color of peach tea, tannic, recently turned over with the dropping temperatures, mostly kept hidden the mysteries underneath, and the shiner swimming a couple of feet below the float barely flecked a spot of sunlight.
In spite of the season, the morning sun teased of Indian summer, warming my face, and catching me for a brief second in a daydream, soon to be realized, as my eyes glanced towards the distorted surface where my bobber had been seconds earlier. Instinctively, I reeled my line, and hauled back when it came tight. My rod buckled over, and what I expected to be a cookie-cutter smallmouth turned into something much larger. The big fish headed for the safety of the depths, as she put the drag to work. Then she changed tactics, steaming toward the surface, but this smallie would not clear the water completely, shaking its head and shoulders, the massive bronzie half-jumped, half-rolled, gills flaring as she returned to the depths.
More violent head shakes would follow, threatening to leave me in my own puddle; but soon, luck and a touch of skill paid off, and I slid a monster bronzeback onto shore. Easily 5 pounds, perhaps closer to 6. A mean, fat bass, who was sent shortly back to the task of adding to her girth for the coming cold season.
This was essentially the method I grew up with; bobber, hook, bait. It may seem pretty basic, and that’s because it is. It has also been an effective method for catching big bass across the country, especially places like Florida, including Lake Okeechobee, where I would top my personal best largemouth, with a fish over 8 pounds. But regardless of the simple description, there really is a method that defines what kind of success you’ll have, based on what kind of environment you’re fishing. Rigging your bait, particularly live bait, such as shiners, and what a difference hook placement makes, is something to take note of.
Hook Placement
In my introduction story, you’ll recall my shiner was approximately 2 feet below the bobber; but what I didn’t mention is how the shiner was hooked. In this case, as is the case with many an angler, I had hooked my shiner through the bottom of the jaw and just to the side of a nostril. This results in a secure connection, capable of being cast a great distance, without fear of flying off the hook from the force of the cast. But, what it also does, in most cases, is encourage the shiner to swim down. I wanted my shiner near the bottom, but not on the bottom, keeping it deeper, where the bigger, cold-water, bass tend to hang. And yes, some days it may not matter, if fishing very shallow; but getting your bait more in line with the strike zone can be key.
Compare this with hooking your shiner just behind the dorsal fin, which so many of us do, and the shiner will panic, swimming up and away. When you fish a bait like this, you’ll see it on the top for the majority of the time, until it tires. This frantic, topwater behavior can also draw savage strikes, as a hungry predator cannot resist struggling prey for long. And this is where location plays a key role. If you’re fishing in deep water, the chances of drawing fish from the bottom are much lower, but if you can present your bait deeper, your chances will increase.
You target species may also play a role, take landlocked salmon for example, these slivery salmonids prefer the upper levels of the water column in spring, fall and early-winter. However, if you set your baits struggling on the surface in the shallows along a drop-off, you may get the best of both worlds during these fringe seasons. Denizens of the deep, and big beasts on the edge. Essentially, when hooked through the nose, your bait swims down. When hooked through the tail, they swim up.
Other Considerations
Now that we have the basics laid out, there are some nuances to consider. What of those outings where you need distance and depth? When fishing certain bodies of water, particularly if shore-bound, the same benefits of hook positioning come into play, perhaps even more so. Take, for example, a local body of water I frequent, which is “shore fishing only.” Wachusett Reservoir or “The ‘Chu”, as it’s lovingly referred to by the locals, is well-known for producing impressive catches of lake trout, landlocked salmon, and smallmouth bass, as well as outsized rainbows. With such a wide range of species, each has its own preferred location in the water column, season to season. In the springtime, as the water warms and turns over, the shallows, close to deep water can hold smallmouth, lakers, and salmon. These same areas will hold these species again in the late-fall.
While some anglers prefer to walk the shores casting lures, such as Kastmasters or Krocodiles, working various depths, many others stick with the tried-and-true live bait option. For these fishermen, the old reliable, live shiner on a leader with an egg-sinker, is one of the main methods to land that lunker. For this method, I’ve found, the best configuration for this offering is to slide your preferred egg-sinker on the tag end of your main line, tie a swivel, and attach approximately 24 inches of leader material, finished off with your hook.
Hook-size comes into play, of course, based on your target species, and I typically go as small as I can to offer as little resistance and drag on the bait. For the medium-sized shiners I use at The Chu, this is a size 10 Gamakatsu octopus hook. This allows for a longer-lasting and healthier bait. This rig allows you to cast relatively far, and get your bait in the strike zone, whether trying to reach a distant ledge or trying to bomb a cast out to deep water hoping for a giant laker. With this setup, you obviously want your bait actively swimming up, not down and burying itself in rocks and safely hidden in the weeds. I want my shiner twitching, frantically swimming up, as if it were trying to escape whatever is pulling on it (the hook). The dorsal hook placement gets the nod here; but is it really that simple? Not exactly.
Another Trick
One particular day, I was struggling to reach the edge of a drop-off, a favorite spot, as a result of high water. I just could not keep my shiner from flying off the hook with the amount of power needed to reach the spot. It was then that I recalled from fishing chunk baits for stripers, how after the head and midsections were gone, we would trim the fins off the tail piece, and hook close to the tail because the meat was much firmer there, then it was closer to the mid-section along the spine. I hooked my next shiner just ahead of the tail and, sure enough, it splashed down right on the ledge. A perfect landing.
It was just a matter of minutes, if not seconds, before line started leaving my spool as I turned my back to rig another outfit. Closing my bail, and tightening my drag, I set the hook on an unexpected treat, where instead of coming tight to a lake trout, a monster smallmouth broke the surface. Re-hooked and re-cast, a nice 2-foot laker ate the next one. The bite stayed consistent through the morning, until I had exhausted my stash of shiners. And, I hadn’t lost another that day, due to some slight-tweaking of my rigging. Does hook placement matter? It sure does. I’ll see you in the suds!
