What should I look for when shore fishing?

Question

I don't own a boat so I am always fishing from shore. What are the best times and lure/baits to use. Some days I catch alot of fish and others nothing at all. How do I avoid snags, I've used the snag free lures and weedless lures but I don't have much luck with them. Any one from the Rochester, NY area? Where might the hot spots be?

Answer 1

Look for any "difference" in the water, weed line, currents, etc.  Anything that looks out of the ordinary is typically a good fish attractant.

Snags are a fact of life. Rig your worms and soft baits weedless style, and for your plugs and spinners, if you are constantly getting weeded, then you should retrieve them faster to keep them our of the weeds.

What are you fishing for ?

Answer 2

I'm from the North East - (W Mass) what kind of fish are you going after - more info and I can give you specific feedback...

different fish like different bait and hang out in different areas

Answer 3

Although I dont personally condone this. (<<<disclaimer)Try this, if you are fishing in the lake for perch, since they school together, when you catch a small perch that you don't intend to keep, sacrifice a cheap bobber and hook it to the fish's dorsal fin with about 15 feet of line. Release the fish and it will swim back to it's school. As the school moves on, just follow the bobber down the shoreline casting a bit ahead of where th bobber is. The hook will rust out in a day or two and the fish should be fine, but you've caught your limit of perch by having your own "spy" swimming right along with them.

Answer 4

when there are a lot of birds on top of the water that usually means that there are bait fish and these bait fish atract bigger fish and some times you can just see the baitfish if you have a good enough fishin eye