Fishing With the Birds - You Don't Need Electronics

Okay, so if you look dead ahead, there's some birds up there on those rocks, right? So that is a fish finder.

The reason why birds are so good to use as a fish finder is because birds make their living fishing.

I mean, if they weren't able to fish well, they would not eat and they would starve and they would die.

And so what you're looking for are bird activity with either herons or loons or really anything that eats fish, because the birds that eat fish are oftentimes eating the same kind of fish that larger fish like to eat.

So bass and pike and things like that, they feed on smaller fish. People call them bait fish.

And so do herons. So if there's herons around, there's definitely bait fish around and if there's bait fish around, there's a very high probability that there's bass or larger fish around for you to get as well.

And so if you see that, it might be a good idea to go towards them and to use lures that imitate small bait fish.

In this video, I'm using a Strike King Rage Swimmer swim bait attached to a weighted wide gap hook.

And this is the color Pro Blue Red. This is going to be great, I think. Oh, there's a bunch of birds over there.

So I'm going to approach cautiously. So these rocks right here, these are the rocks that the birds

I saw in the distance were on. And so let's see if my theory is right.

If you notice, the transponder of my fish finder is not even in the water. The water in this section of the river is so shallow that the fish finder is basically useless.

In fact, if I use it, I could actually hit the rocks in the bottom and that could, at least I think it could damage it.

And this is why you need other options besides a fish finder to find fish. If you notice the herons, they keep seeing me coming and then they fly away, but they don't fly very far.

It's very clear they want to stay in this area, which makes me think that this is definitely the right area to be fishing.

There he goes. Oh, there's two of them. They don't want to leave this area, which means

I'm probably in the right area, but they also don't want anything to do with me.

Oh, ran aground. I've run aground on probably that exact rock numerous times, so it's very hard to see in the water, which is always why you should wear a life preserver.

Although here, there's no way to drown in this part of the river. This is a great spot.

There's one. There's one. I think that's three casts.

Usually it doesn't happen that fast, but three casts later and I got one. You see, birds are a great bait for it.

There we go. Well, my bird trick worked pretty well,

I'll say. This is a smallmouth bass, not a very big one, but awesome colors and these fish are notorious for fighting like fish twice their size.

Like smallmouth bass are just so much fun to catch. If you heard the drag being pulled, it felt like definitely a three, four pounder.

So, got this guy right here in this clear, deeper pool with a swim bait.

Yeah, pretty nice fish. Probably less than a pound, about 11 inches, maybe 12. Nice fish.

One last look at him. All right, let's put him back. People ask me all the time if I keep the catch that I fish and eat them.

And the answer is that I do both. Sometimes I'll release, sometimes I'll keep. I usually release them if they're pretty big.

This is the size I normally would keep, but I had forgotten my ice pack and I didn't want it to spoil in the heat because it was like 100 degrees this day.

Let's try to fish this pool a little bit. See what we can see. There's one.

Right away. Right away. Got one. Woo! Big jump.

Big jump. Big jumper here. He's taking a significant amount of drag.

It's a good one. I can see one fish following him. See, there's a few fish following him.

Get away from those trees. All right.

Yeah, so I saw a few fish following him, so I'm going to stay here for a bit. Here's a nice one. Here's a nice one.

Got a measurement on this guy. He was well hooked.

He was not coming off. All right,

I got about a pound. One nine. And there off he goes. So there you have it.

It doesn't always work quite that well. But if you are struggling to find fish and you don't have a fish finder, you don't need one.

Just look for birds that eat fish. Herons, ducks, saloons, whatever it could be.

Eagles. And go where they are because they know where the fish are. Because they need to find fish in order to live.

And so if you see a bunch of birds somewhere, there's a good chance that there's going to be some bait fish there. Which means there's a good chance there's going to be some bass there.

There's going to be some larger fish. And so find a lure that looks like a little minnow or imitates a minnow.

Or if you have live minnows to use as bait, use live minnows. And if you do that,

I think there's a really good chance you'll get at least a few bites. So anyway,

I hope you found this video helpful. I hope you found it enjoyable. And God bless you.