Unlock Classic Shiner Tactics to Catch the Biggest Bass

Want to catch the biggest bass in the lake?

How about breaking your personal best?

Try shiner fishing! There’s no better way to consistently catch big bass in Florida. Shiner fishing can be so good that many artificial bait purists call the act of fishing with live shiners “cheating.” Although perfectly legal, the use of live shiners for bait is highly effective. As with most fishing techniques, there is an art to fishing with live shiners that can fool the wariest and biggest of bass. Try these tips and techniques for catching giant bass off live shiners.

WHY SHINERS?

Central Florida fishing guide Capt. Dan Hand uses live shiners on many of his charters on Headwaters Lake and other waters. “My catch rates are higher, and the quality of my catches are bigger and better with shiners,” he explains. Hand feels that as shiners are one of the natural forages of largemouth bass, their instinctive swimming action is recognizable to bass in ways that anglers using lures can only strive to imitate.

WHICH SHINERS?

There are two types of shiners commonly used for bait, domestic shiners and wild shiners. Domestic shiners are hatchery raised and consistently available at many bait and tackle shops. They are much cheaper, costing around $11 to $15 per dozen. Many hardcore anglers feel that since domestic shiners are farm-raised, they do not possess the wild shiner’s natural instinctive fear of predators. These farmed shiners will swim lazily without a care in the world.

Some anglers feel that this carefree attitude will turn stubborn bass off and will not trigger them to bite.

Wild shiners can be found at select bait and tackle shops and cost substantially more at $20 to $30 a dozen. Since they are caught from the wild by commercial bait fishermen, availability can be sporadic, especially in the winter months when visiting anglers flock to Florida. Wild shiners tend to be larger than smaller domestics and can be found as big as 10 to 12 inches.

For most of his guided fishing trips, Hand uses wild shiners, but he will occasionally use domestic shiners during the busy season when wild shiners are not as readily available. “I’ve been in situations when I’ve used domestics, and they can occasionally work just as well as wild shiners,” he explains.

For fast action and a good number of bass, try 3- to 4-inch shiners. However, know that small shiners can be difficult to cast. Upping the size to an easier casting 5- to 8-inch shiner will limit the number of smaller bass caught while also appealing to bigger bass. If a trophy bass is strictly your quarry, a big 10- to 12-inch shiner can often attract and fool the biggest bass in the lake. As a word of caution, big shiners can be difficult to cast and tend to die easily as a result of an aggressive cast. A gentle cast is recommended.

KEEPING SHINERS ALIVE

The key to keeping shiners alive is to frequently replace or turn over livewell water. Shiners tend to secrete a good amount of waste into the water creating a nasty film on the surface of the water. “I recommend turning the water over every half hour,” explains Hand. “You don’t want the water to get too hot or stagnant.”

Since he keeps his livewell pump running continuously and changes the water so frequently, Hand does not use any aftermarket additives in his livewell to keep shiners frisky and alive. The health of wild shiners may vary depending on how and where they are caught by commercial bait fishermen and how well that they are handled after being caught. “How well the shiners are taken care of from the cast net to the bait shop makes a big difference,” advises Hand. He looks for good, clean and healthy shiners that have been handled well without missing scales.

DISSECTING THE TECHNIQUE

Look for areas with heavy vegetation. Hard edges along weed lines or adjacent to deep water can be excellent locations to use shiners. Matted vegetation such as water hyacinths, water lettuce or other types of weeds that are blown into an area can often produce great results. Canopies of hydrilla (which are becoming less frequent in Florida) can be magnets for big bass.

Hand routinely uses two different types of rigs to fish shiners. The first and most common is to utilize a 2-inch float placed 2 to 4 feet above the shiner. Leader length may vary below the float based on depth of the water being fished. Shallow water requires a shorter leader. A float rig can be excellent when cast in and along heavily vegetation.

A second popular way to rig a shiner is to freeline the shiner without a float or weight. This rigging can be very effective in more open water or in deeper areas. Hand will often start out with a float rig for his clients but will also cast one freeline rig to see which the fish prefer.

When using a shiner for bait, a hook gently placed up and through the bottom lip and out through a nostril is the most common rigging method. A hook placed on the back below the dorsal fin works well, but shiners tend to die quicker than with a nose hook rig. Hooking a shiner below the dorsal fin can allow an angler to guide the shiner (with practice) to where you would like it to go by using your rod tip. By gently applying pressure, you can direct the shiner to swim into bass-holding cover. “Sometimes I’ll reuse a shiner that I’ve nose hooked, after catching a fish,” advises Hand. “I’ll put it back in the livewell, then reuse it later by hooking it in the back.”

Choose the size of your hook depending on the size of your shiners. It is recommended to use a 3/0 to 4/0 hook for small shiners and up to a 6/0 for large shiners.

“I don’t like tiny hooks in really big shiners, and I don’t like big hooks in small shiners because the shiners cannot swim really well,” says Hand. When fishing at Headwaters Lake—so named because it is near the headwaters of the St. Johns River—the use of circle hooks is legally required.

As a result, Hand has gotten accustomed to using circle hooks and will use them on other bodies of water (where not required) as well. As an alternative, a kahle style hook or any type of live bait hook in the 3/0 to 6/0 size is common on other bodies of water.

Basic strategy is to cast your bait into a productive-looking area and let it sit. “Let the bait stay out there without messing with it. It will get more bites,” Hand advises. Shiners will tend to swim into vegetation or heavy cover and not move. A good way to tell if your shiner is buried into cover, is if it hasn’t moved during a 4- to 5-minute period.

Pulling gently with the rod can reveal if the shiner is buried. When using a float rig, the float will go under the water when gently pulling, if the shiner is buried in the weeds. When using a freeline rig, an excellent way to tell if your shiner is buried in the weeds is by reeling in any slack of the line and feeling for movement.

Any movement in your line while pulling indicates a fish. If your bait is buried in heavy cover, pulling a little harder on the rod will often free the shiner from the weeds resulting in a vicious strike from a waiting bass.

Bass fishing with shiners is not a cast it and forget it type of technique. Paying attention to details will result in more fish in the boat. Watching your line may result in seeing a big movement or jump in your line which indicates a bite. If using a bait running feature on a spinning reel or free spool clicker on a baitcasting reel, a live shiner is seldom strong enough to pull line from your reel. Any line being pulled from your reel may indicate a fish!

SETTING THE HOOK

When to set the hook is the age-old question for shiner fishing. Hand advises that it’s not so easily answered and depends on the day. Let the level of activity from the bass be your guide. Sometimes an angler must immediately set the hook to avoid gut-hooking a fish and other times letting a bass run to the count of 10 will not be long enough resulting in missed fish. If you are missing a lot of fish, allow a few additional seconds before setting the hook.

Above all, try to avoid gut-hooking a fish by allowing it to swallow the bait. If using circle hooks, try avoiding setting the hook with slack in your line. This will often result in missing fish. Hand advises that a small hookset is still required when using a circle hook for bass, however a snappy sharp hookset may be too much. Lean into the fish while reeling.

TACKLE

Shiner fishing tackle can vary with the type of cover that you are fishing. For open water areas without vegetation, a 2500 or 3000 size spinning reel is recommended. A bait running feature on spinning reels allows a fish to take line without feeling any resistance. For open water fishing, Hand uses 20 pound Cortland braided line with a 15-pound fluorocarbon leader. Lighter lines will allow the shiner freedom to move around causing more fish attracting attention. For fishing in and around heavy vegetation, a 3000 or 4000 size spinning reel is required to get fish up and out of heavy cover. Hand spools each reel with 30-pound Cortland braided line with a 25-pound fluorocarbon leader.

“Typically, bigger fish are harder to control and will bury their head into vegetation. They will swim sideways, and you can’t pull them out of there with lighter line,” explains Hand. With heavier braided line, pressure can be applied to pull fish free. Hand recommends a 7-foot medium heavy action rod with a stiff backbone and forgiving tip to keep bass hooked and brought to the boat. The guide’s rod of choice is an Ugly Stik GX2 rod because it is nearly indestructible and can horse bass out of thick vegetation.

WHEN TO NOT USE SHINERS

Occasionally, bass will school, and action can be fast and furious. Casting a lipless crankbait or fast-moving fluke can quickly put fish in the boat and out-fish live bait. Fishing in and around running water and spillways can attract schools of bass and lures can often catch them much quicker than live bait. “I save my shiners for the harder, more challenging bass,” says Hand.

For fast action and to target the chance at a Trophy Catch, try shiner fishing. Or, connect with one of the many Florida guides who specialize in these techniques.

Captain Dan Hand guides at Headwaters Lake, Stick Marsh, Farm 13, and Lake Garcia in East Central Florida. Phone 772-202-0483 or info@fishhand.net. Follow Capt. Dan on YouTube.

Farther up the state, on the St. Johns and Suwannee rivers, Capt. Larry Blakeslee, 386-717-5652, is a noted expert on catching big bass on shiners.

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• This article was featured in the December-January 2025 issue of Florida Sportsman magazine. Click to subscribe.

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