Shiners?

[hookedonred]

Anyone know the closest bait store around here that has shiners? Preferably in leon county.

Thanks

[hookedonred]

so I take it no one buys their shiners and instead just catches them?

[micci_man]

When I use them I catch them. An older retired friend of mine has several spots baited up on the lake. You can try the bait stores on Iamonia and Jackson. I know Reeves on Miccosukee doesn't have any.

[RCS]

Shephard's has them in Thomasville. Straight shot up 319, but that's still pretty far out of the way.

[Danibeth]

forgive my ignorance....but what do you use shiners for? i mean when you use them for bait what are you hoping to catch?

[FUTCHCAIRO]

DANIBETH, YOU JUST SHOWED US YOUR HAND, ALL OF US PO FOLKS USE SHINNERS TO CATCH THOSE 18-19 POUND BASS OVER IN
SEMINOLE, IAMONIA, TALQUIN
PA
SEMPER FI

[Danibeth]

hahahha Pa....my experience with fresh water fishing is pretty much limited to sitting back in the shade (whether on shore or in a canoe) with a bobber and drowning worms or grasshoppers that i've caught or dug up and I spent many a day doing just that growing up. I've got limited (as in very limited) experience using lures to catch sunfish and bass. I never was very interested in lures since I couldn't figure out what was so neat about them....they were such a boring way to fish to me and I never caught anything on them. I was later introduced to lure and saltwater fishing by my best friend and I've come to enjoy it very very much, but haven't had much experience with fresh water since then....I've got much to learn and happy to learn it

So how big a shiner do you guys like to use for your monster bass? I know when using bait for big snook fishing we were using 1-3 lb croakers and sand perch, fish that size a lot of people would be happy to take home and eat. That was big snook candy...

[micci_man]

I like using a 6-8" red roach shiner (gold colored with red tipped fins) under a cork. Some bait stores have them but most sell the commercial small (3-5") silver shiners. A 3 finger bream works well too

[FUTCHCAIRO]

DANIBETH, I ALWAYS USE SHINERS ABOUT 10-12INCHES LONG WHEN FISHING LAKE JACKSON,, HAVE CAUGHT MANY BASS IN JACKSON THAT WENT OVER 10 POUNDS USING THIS METHOD. I , TOO, DO NOT LIKE TO SIT WATCHING A BOBBER ANY LENGTH OF TIME, I USE TO DO THIS BACK WHEN I WAS A BOY, NOW I MAINLY USE TOP WATER PLUGS FOR ALL MY FISHING FOR THE THRILL OF THE STRIKE , IF IT BE FOR BLACK BASS IN FRESH WATER OR A BIG TROUT OR RED FISH IN SALT. WHEN I AM IN SOUTH FLA. I ALWAYS USED TOP WATER BATES FOR SNOOK, REDS, TROUT, AND JUST ABOUT ANY OTHER SPECIES IN SALT WATER. WHAT IS REALLY FUN , TO BE FISHING FOR SNOOK OR TROUT DOWN AROUND FT. MEYERS, TEN THOUSAND ISLANDS, AND HAVE A 150-200 POUND POON COME UP AND SWALLOW YOUR PLUG, MOST TIMES YA ONLY GET ONE JUMP BEFORE THE POON SLASHES YOUR LINE WITH ITS TAIL, I HAVE LOST MANY LURES WHEN THIS HAPPENS.
PA
SEMPER FI

[big bend gyrene]

More to the comments of throwing artificials than the subject line shiners, but growing up in South Carolina I loved fishing for bass with plastic worms around structure (we didn't have lily pads). Fished every single day I could until dark, staying until my dear 'ol Mom yelled at me it was time for me to stop.

Moved here to FL, and the diversity of what could be caught in our salty waters, and yes a bad case of cobia addiction fever, saw me go without freshwater fishing for almost 10 years. That is until I bought a place with a pond ringed with lily pads around the edges.

Can't say the big bass put up quite as long of a fight as cobia, but CAN say that casting a topwater frog from a canoe to nearby lily pads, working it over and through the pads, only to have bomb-like explosive hits close enough to the canoe to splash me gets my heart racing about 100mph EVERY time!

[big bend gyrene]

Should have added a quick question for those that do fish with shiners, with many of our lakes similarly ringed with lily pads is the strategy with cork to get them as close to the lily edges as possible, or are you targeting summer bass in deeper holes, or some other strategy. Not having grown up around lily pads, not sure if the shiner fishing targets them (at least edges) or not?

[FUTCHCAIRO]

HEY JARHEAD, WE USE TO JUST THROW A 10-12 INCH SHINER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LILY'S , GENERALLY WE WOULD GET A STRIKE ON THE BATE IN LESS THAN 30 MINUTES, MOST TIMES THE SHINER DID NOT HAVE TIME TO PULL THE LINE TIGHT TO THE BOBBER BEFORE IT WAS INHALED BY A LARGE BASS. OF COURSE THIS WAS 30 YRS AGO, I HAVE NOT BEEN LAKE BASS FISHING IN OVER 20 YRS, I DOUBT THAT IT IS THAT SIMPLE NOW WITH THE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE FISHING THESE DAYS. I STARTED FISHING FOR SALT WATER FISH MORE ABOUT 40 YEARS AGO AND HAVE STAYED WITH IT, MAINLY BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT WILL STRIKE NEXT. CARL BROWN AND I WENT FISHING IN THE GULF 2-3 DAYS A WEEK UP TILL HE DIED 3 YRS AGO, I JUST DON'T SEEM TO ENJOY FISHING AS MUCH AS I DID WHILE CARL WAS ALIVE. SINCE I HAD MY HEART ATTACK 3 YRS AGO, THE DAY CARL DIED, I JUST DO NOT SEEM AS MOTIVATED TO FISH AS I USE TO. BABE JUST DOES NOT WANT ME TO GO BY MYSELF AND SO FAR I HAVE NOT FOUND SOMEONE TO TAKE CARL'S PLACE WHEN IT COMES TO FISHING.
PA
SEMPER FI

[Danibeth]

Nice bass there BBG.

So Big baits catch big bass too. makes sense.....

so can you cast net your own shiners or do you have to trap them or buy them?

[wally]

Growing up we used to stop by Hall's Minnow Pools on highway 20 in route to Talquin. Sometimes we would stop by a bait shop in French town. No shiners but you could get crickets and worms.

[BloodyChamp]

Here's another way to find shiners in lakes and stuff. Go wherever you've been bream fishing and wasted 67,875 worms or crickets in 1 spot and caught nothing lol! All those bites you were getting were shiners.