HELP!! I'm a Newbie to fishing. What do I need to buy?

[Carrie]

I had the privilege of going fishing with Knot Right and caught my 1st bass! Now I'm hooked and don't know where to get started. Can anyone tell me what kind of rod and bait to use?

[leo]

You have just opened the ultimate can of worms

You will get lots of different opinions but I think it all depends on what kind of fishing you are going to do and how much money you want to spend.

If you are talking bass fishing, I would start with a 7' Medium Power Fast Action spinning rod and a 1000-1500 size reel spooled with 20 pound braid. You can throw lots of things with this set up. It would be specially good for soft plastics which is one of the main weapons on a bass angler's arsenal. Buy the best quality tackle you can afford so you don't end up having to upgrade to soon.

You can get some 2/0 worm hooks, 1/16 or 1/8 bullet weights and some plastics worms. I good star will be 'ribbon tail worms' and senkos. I would also grab a couple of spinerbaits, they are a easy lure to work; you can just cast it reel it in and catch some fish. With these basic things you can go out and start catching some fish. It is easy to get a little overwhelmed with all the stuff that is out there but as it is with anything else you should start with the fundamentals

Good luck and welcome to the addiction!

[Carrie]

Great!! Thanks for the advice. It is a little overwhelming but this will help me get started

[Giant607]

Read Chad's book. It is full of that kind of info.

[Turtle135]

If there are any kayak fisherman in your area see if you can tag along for a fishing trip. Even if you just observe it will speed your learning curve. Find out what kind of rods and reels and presentations they are using.

Good advice from Leo. You can't go wrong with that type of setup.

[Hanover_Yakker]

There's a few GA boys on here that would probably love to take you along on some of their outings. Heck they might even let you borrow a setup or two to see if you like it. Some things to remember when purchasing your gear.......

1. Get the best that you can afford and don't worry so much about the high end stuff.
2. Don't focus so much on name brands when first starting out - plenty of good Bass Pro Shops branded products and discounted popular brands at the local wallie world.
3. Spinning setups are easier for newcomers to start out with.
4. A 2500 series reel will handle most any presentation that you will be making at this point.
5. Here are some common and my personal faves when I first started out.....

a. 1/4oz Rooster Tails - white w/ silver blade, black w/ silver blade, chartreuse w/ gold blade.
b. #2 bladed Johnson's Beetle Spins - various colors but the orange, green and chartruese were my faves.
c. 1/4oz. Strike King Rocket Shads - you can find them at BPS in the Crappie section.
d. 1/4oz jig heads and white Kalin's 3" twister tail grubs
e. 4" stick baits - green pumpkin, watermelon seed, pumpkinseed, june bug colors.
f. Confidence Baits Draggin Heads in 1/4oz size for rigging your soft plastics
g. 2/0, 3/0 and 4/0 EWG hooks (that's extra wide gap - helps when setting the hook on soft plastics)
h. Stanley Bitsy Bug jigs and Netbait Baby Paca Craws or Zoom Mini Chunk trailers (classic jig-n-craw or jig-n-pig) - cast it, let it sit and subtle hop then wait and repeat.

Now, once you start getting more confident and understand where there are structure and other forms of hang ups where fish might congregate, then you are ready for the next level of gear and the fun begins......

i. Manns -1 or any square billed shallow running crankbait
j. 5-6" soft plastic jerk shads
k. soft plastic and hollow bodied frogs
l. bait casting reels and medium heavy rods with heavy braided line
m. deep diving and lipless crankbaits
n. swimbaits
o. larger soft plastics like 10" power worms, 7" stick baits, centipedes, snakes, etc.

You can see, it can get out of hand real fast!!!!

Get out there, get some confidence in a few items you can work with on the water in your kayak, follow the posts on the this forum, ask some questions when something doesn't make sense to you and watch the BASSifieds on this forum - lots of good gear gets passed around and bargain prices!!!

Send me a PM with your address, and I will send you a "Welcome to KBF" care package to help get you started.

[Bass & BBQ]

Beer for the rest of the forum.





Sorry, sometimes I just cant control myself. Good advice above. My only advice is dont buy much to start with. Get a pfd, get a rod and reel, get a couple of baits and go fish. Time on the water will tell you far more than a forum. If you come back from multiple trips thinking you need something, you probably need it.

[ecu daniel 14]

Id say go to WalMart and get a nice spinning combo and a pack of green pumpkin worms, 1/8oz bullet weights, and 3-o offset widegap hooks and go to work. I think Chad would hook you up on some advice if you ask him. I also have a bunch of crap I can get rid of if you wanna get started.

[CTGalloway21]

first thing a fishing license

[CrX970]

Great!! Thanks for the advice. It is a little overwhelming but this will help me get started

It can be overwhelming to those of us who have been in the game for 20 years as well. The best thing you can do is listen to all the good opinions you are going to get and make educated decisions. Take your time on your choices and I'm sure you will do great.