Fishing from the bank of a river, lake, creek or pond offers distinct advantages over the boating approach. Among the most significant advantages are reduced cost, convenience for easy outings, access to many areas, and fixed positioning. The same advantages apply to wade fishing.
Reduced Fishing Cost
This advantage is pretty straightforward and so obvious it almost doesn’t seem worth mentioning. It’s too important to ignore, though. Simply put, shoes are cheaper than boats.
This is true at the most basic level. Even renting a simple boat for a few hours costs more than walking the bank of a waterway, which might involve some parking or area access fee, but that is usually it.
When you’re taking about owning any kind of boat, the cost difference is much more extreme, and any boat owner will tell you that the cost doesn’t end with the purchase! Fuel, repairs, insurance…
Increased Convenience
One of my favorite things about Fishing on Foot is that quick spontaneous outings are so simple. I can grab a few things from my basement (or even just go with the travel rod and a bit of tackle that’s always in my car hatch), drive to a nearby park or river access and be fishing almost immediately.
Many days, when I only have a short window, I wouldn’t end up fishing if I had to hook up a trailer or load a kayak on top of my car, load the boat at water’s edge and then get to my fishing spot — and then do all the same steps the other way when I’m done fishing. I like to maximize my fishing time with the simplicity of the bank or wading approach.
Similarly, I’ll commonly use the gear in the back of my car or tote a specific rod and reel and lures when I know I’ll be passing an interesting access area or be near a fishing spot when I’m doing completely different activities. The simplicity of bank fishing makes those bonus fishing stops practical.
Exclusive Access
It might sound strange hailing the unique fishing access afforded by fishing from the bank. Without question, a boat allows you to reach far bigger portions of many bodies of water, and I’m certainly not suggesting otherwise.
That said, there are many small streams, shallow flats and waters protected by shoals or sandbars that most boats simply can’t get to, and many of these areas are accessible by bank or by wading and provide excellent fishing opportunities.
Additionally, some entire waterways have no place to launch but can be fished from the bank.
Fixed Positioning
A final highly practical advantage of an on-foot approach to fishing is complete control of your positioning for fishing the shallow zone where so many fish feed.
From solid ground you can work the shallow zone thoroughly with no concern of drifting out of casting range or over the fish, which is sometimes a real challenge from a boat.
The same control of positioning makes it easy to work every piece of cover from exactly the right angle and to repeat casts that produce fish. Sometimes the exact cast that produces a fish will produce more fish, and repeating a cast is far earlier when your position is unchanged.
Fishing on Foot 