Not everybody has a boat to fish out of. This shouldn’t stop anybody from trying to fish. There are plenty of opportunities in our area to fish from the bank. You can fish ponds, rivers and lakes from the shore. 

In the Sartell community, there are many ponds that hold fishable populations of largemouth bass. We are also very lucky, because the Mississippi river runs right through town. 

When I go to fish a pond, lake, river or stream from the bank there are a couple baits that always come with. The first one would be a jig, 90% of the time it is going to be a ⅜ ounce jig. I suggest bringing three colors, and two of each color. Black blue, green pumpkin, and brown. Jigs are a very versatile bait that can be fished in any water depth, water clarity and any cover. Jigs can be fished on the bottom or you can use them as a swim jig.  Most importantly, they catch fish!

The next bait types I always have with me are Texas rigged soft plastics. This could be soft stick bait, a creature bait or a soft plastic worm. These are similar to a jig in the sense that they are fished on the bottom, except a Texas rigged plastic will have a more finesse look. Again I would bring a blue, green pumpkin and a more brown color.

The third bait type I would have along would be a very finesse style. This could be a ned rig, wacky rig or neko rigged stick bait, shaky head, or drop shot. These super finesse type techniques would be used when the bite is tough. Fishing these on the bottom and fishing them very slow will most of the time be the most beneficial. For these styles and techniques, green pumpkin, blues, purples and even an orange color would work.

Lastly, it is always a good idea to have some sort of moving or reaction type bait. Examples would be a swimbait, chatterbait, spinnerbait, crankbait or a swim jig. These types of baits are going to be fished faster and can be fished from the bottom all the way to the surface of the water. For these moving baits, white is always a good choice. For the crankbaits, a red color will work as well. For the swimbait, swim jig and swimbait, blues, blacks and green pumpkins work extremely well. 

When fishing from the shores, I usually bring three rods with me, one spinning rod and two baitcasters. I would bring one spinning rod for the super finesse baits, I would put 20 pound braid with a 10 pound fluorocarbon leader. This rod for me would be a 7 foot medium power rod.

The first baitcaster would be for the jig and texas rigged baits. This would be a 7 foot medium heavy power rod. I would put 15 to 17 pound fluorocarbon line on this one.

As for the moving baits rod, I prefer a slightly longer rod, about 7’2” medium power rod. For this I would put 15 pound fluorocarbon line on.

Hopefully, these tips will help you fish offshore.