Lots Of Techniques Can Be Honed From The Banks

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A lot of what Fred Roumbanis knows about bass fishing, he learned before he ever set foot in a bass boat. He grew up in the Bay Area region of California with several golf course-type ponds and small reservoirs within bicycling distance and could usually be found at one or another on most afternoons, and all day on weekends, during breaks in his school schedule and throughout his summer vacations.

"I like to learn new techniques and I've always used small bodies of water to help me build confidence in them," said the Bassmaster Elite Series angler who now resides in Oklahoma. "People see us (on TV) fishing out of these fully rigged boats and they might be a little bit intimidated, but I never once fished out of a bass boat until I was 18.

"I fished from shore, and that's really where I learned how to fish."

His primary haunts were two small reservoirs – Lafayette and San Pablo – near his hometown of Orinda.

"I had a big Plano Over/Under box and 6 or 8 rods, and I'd carry them and fish around the whole reservoir. Catching a bass was the most exciting thing, and catching a few of them made it just an awesome day."

A Solid Foundation

Roumbanis said the skills and knowledge he acquired during his shore-fishing days are invaluable to him today. For instance, he learned to cast with laser-like accuracy because there was a minimal amount of cover he could reach from the bank and precise presentations were critical. He studied the ways in which crawfish moved and reacted to the threat of a potential predator and saw what sometimes happened to creatures that lived on land but attempted to flee into the water – they became fish food.

He also learned a great deal about bass psychology and developed a strong foundation for employing one of his favorite techniques – swimbaits.

"I taught myself the art of swimbait fishing there. The trout-planting truck would show up every Tuesday at 10:00, and if it was spring break or the early part of summer, I'd be there.

"You could literally watch the truck drive across the dam and see all the giant bass rise to the surface. Things like that taught me a lot about their behavior. The original AC Plug was about the only swimbait on the market then and it was made for stripers, but we were catching so many big bass on them that the rangers actually tried to get us to stop using them."

He offered up a few pointers for swimbait fishing from the bank.

"Go with a green-pumpkin or perch-colored bait. You can put it on any line you want – I prefer braid, but anything 15-pound or heavier is fine. If it's a heavy-action rod, you might want to go with (monofilament line) to get that little bit of stretch.

"Instead of casting toward the middle, try to almost parallel the bank and then fan-cast out from there, or get on a point and cast back into the coves. I always fished pretty fast – I'd make three or four casts and then pick up my stuff and move. I was trying to pick up those easier, more-aggressive fish.

"And if they plant trout in there," he added. "If they do, then the bigger baits will be productive. And definitely find out when they do it, because those will be your funnest times."

The Tradition Continues

To this day, Roumbanis still does a lot of experimenting on small waters. There's a pond that butts up against his property in Bixby, Okla. that's populated by a healthy number of decent-sized largemouths, and it's where he developed the swimjig-with-a-swimbait-trailer technique that's become a big part of his arsenal.

"I was just messing around with tackle and came up with it during the off-season," he said. "It has the most amazing profile and it's a bait you can throw anywhere without worrying about getting snagged or hung up."

He uses a 3/8- or 1/2-ounce Black Angel swimjig and a 3-inch Optimum Double Diamond Swimmer.

"The horizontal line-tie on the jig pulls it up in the water and helps keep it planed. And you need a full-bodied swimbait, not a hollow-body. A hollow bait alters the action, but a full body is more dense and it maintains the streamlined presentation.

"I went out (to the pond) and caught 10 fish on it right away, including four in four casts. That gave me the confidence to try it in competition, and it's been amazing in the last few tournaments."

Notable

> Zack Thompson and Jason Cordiale, regulars in FLW Outdoors events out West, were often with Roumbanis on his youthful excursions. "The three of us and another guy named Beau Jodery, who also fishes tournaments, all grew up almost within sight of each other's houses," he said.

> He said one of his buddies once caught a bedding largemouth that was in excess of 15 pounds from the bank at Lafayette.

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