Bank Fishing: Brim Catching

            One sunny afternoon I headed out to Watkins Landing. It is down a straight road with some beautiful houses on each side. Then you get to some gates as you get close to the river that appear to be hunting land. One of the gates seemed to have a hundred buzzards around it.

          I kept driving and the road dead ends at a cement boat ramp with a gravel parking lot on either side.

          I parked my truck, grabbed my pliers, and my one rod, and walked down to the water.

          It was a beautiful view. A thin part of the river with a lot of gravel in it, some dead wood, and large rocks along the bank. As well as pretty tree lines on both banks.

          I casted my trusty rooster tail into the middle of the river right over top of the boat ramp. As I reeled it in, I could see in the clear shallow water there was a large amount of bait fish following my bait. I thought this was a good sign. If there is a lot of minnows there has to be some bigger fish around.

          I casted down the rocky bank to my left. I started reeling and quickly felt a bite. Then I felt the typical wiggle of a brim on the line. I fought him a long way down the bank and when he got about five feet from me, he came up to the top of the water. He showed his colorful scales and then abruptly got off the hook. I had lost the first fish that bit but I was encouraged there was something bigger than minnows in the water.

          I casted down the bank again and had another bite. I thought I might have found a honey hole. This fish felt heavier than the last one, and was making my rod bend a little more. I reeled in a small largemouth bass that got me more excited about this spot.

          Then I started making my way down the bank on the rocks. It wasn’t treacherous but it did require a little bit of agility. Some of the rocks did move and I had to step into the water a few times to keep working down the bank.

          The bank was full of gravel and very shallow right by me. I could see into the water pretty clearly. There was a steep drop off not far into the water and several down trees in the water. Wonderful fish habitat and ambush points for bass.

          I slowly moved down the bank and casted in different directions. The idea of this being a honey hole started to fade with the time I had between those first two bites and the third one.

          About 15 minutes had passed and I caught another brim. It was exciting just to be catching fish. But it took quite a lot of effort to move down this bank.

          I could see into the water where it dropped off. I could see fish moving between a down tree on the bottom and the steep bank. I kept casting around them and would occasionally see them following my bait but they weren’t biting.

          I kept moving down the bank and finally got to a part that was just a flat gravel beach. I finally wasn’t standing on rocks that would move slightly as I casted and make me a little nervous about falling in the water. I breathed a sigh of relief and started casting in every direction.

          I casted long toward the middle of the river. As I started to reel my bait back in. I had a fish hit it furiously. I set the hook hard and the fight was on. He started coming in and I felt that distinct shake and wiggle of a brim on the line again. I got him into the beach and pulled him up. It was a little bigger than the other two brim I had caught but still not much to him.

          I was just relieved to be reeling in a fish without rocks moving under my feet.

          I made a few more casts while standing on the beach with no action and decided to start making my way across the rocks back toward the boat ramp. I had to put my hand down on the moving rocks a few times and I kept stopping every ten yards or so and fishing the whole way back.

          I caught one more brim once I got right next to the boat ramp. I felt like I had a solid afternoon by catching five fish and not falling in the water. Despite my shoes being soaked all the way through and my feet being wet, I was pleased.

          That afternoon reminded me that it doesn’t take much to have a good day of fishing. All you need is access to some water, a rod and reel. And if you are fishing the bank by Watkins Landing you need some agility to make it down the rocks.