By Don Norton
In 1990, I moved to Florida from Ohio, and I couldn’t wait to fish Lake Okeechobee and catch one of those trophy bass. I had been bass fishing my whole life, not only in Ohio but in several other states as well. However, I had never fished for bass with shiners or any other type of live bait.
I quickly learned that if you wanted to catch a real wall hanger, your chances were significantly increased using a large golden shiner. Since I’d only ever fished with artificial baits, I hired a guide, and I was surprised by how many bass we caught that day. I was even more surprised when he charged me an additional $100.00 for five dozen shiners.
That was when I decided to catch my own.
I started a bass fishing guide service on Lake Istokpoga, but I rarely took clients fishing with shiners. I did, however, fish quite a bit with my brother, who loved fishing with shiners. We figured out pretty quickly how to fill the livewell with big, fat golden shiners, and we seldom had trouble catching them.
Back then, we started fishing at daybreak and seldom got off the lake before dark. At first light, we fished topwater lures for an hour or two, and as the sun came up, we’d run over to another spot and “chum” the water with dog food or animal feed. We always tried to pick an area with little to no vegetation on the bottom, so we didn’t end up with a lot of weeds in our cast net.
After we chummed three or four places, we went back to fishing with artificial baits until lunchtime. When we returned to the spots (we always marked them with a ½” PVC pipe), we’d throw out some more chum and either use the cast net or our cane poles baited with doughballs. It never took us long to catch dozens of shiners.
I don’t fish too often with shiners nowadays, but if I did, I’d catch my own. At $24.00 a dozen, and even more in some places, I know just where to go and what to use to catch all I need.
I’ve used just about everything for chum over the years, including some pretty smelly stuff I made in the kitchen that my wife made me throw out. I still have a mix of chicken and hog feed, but if I were going after shiners today, I’d stop by and get some more at Glissons Animal Supply, 4525 US Highway 27S in Sebring. That’s all you need!
At home, I feed the bluegills and tilapia daily with a combination of catfish pellets and freshwater fish pellets. I would use it to chum with, but the chicken and hog feed is cheaper, and the shiners seem to prefer it.
