Starter Tips For Brand New Anglers

Starter Tips for Brand New Anglers

Best bet for fishing lakes and ponds, get yourself a medium weight rod and reel. 6'6" rod with a reel that holds ~150yds of 8lb or 10lb mono. The rod size and weight will be printed above the handle and the line capacity for the reels will be printed on the spool. Spool it up with decent 8lb monofilament line, most fishing outlets can do this for you. Trilene, Stren, and Suffix are good bets for line, and line is the last thing you want to cheap out on. If you want to fish for carp or catfish a bit but still want to use the rod for panfish too, 10lb line might be a good choice. But 8lb is good for just about anything you will catch from shore in the average freshwater lake. You can still cast panfish lures with it and haul in bigger carp and bass. Remember that while heavier line might make you feel more confident, you will get less distance on your casts and the reel will hold less line.

Then grab assorted hooks, a couple bobbers, and some split shots. Pliers or a multitool too. Learn to tie a couple knots like the "Palomar" and "Improved Clinch" knots. Easiest way is just to run nightcrawlers on a baitholder or aberdeen hook with a basic red and white bobber and get comfortable with casting and setting the hook as well as seeing what fish you can catch at these lakes and where the good spots are. Near weed beds and underwater structure like fallen trees, branches, or dropoffs are good places to try your luck. Then you can start with some lures. Ask what other anglers are using, or if you are catching crappie, largemouth, whatever, you could ask here for reccommendations or look elsewhere online. Local tackle shops will also help you out with tackle choice and may even let you in on some of their secret fishing holes. Watch youtube vids on how and when to fish the lures if you aren't sure. Find out what works well at your lakes, and just keep going from there.

For a medium weight rod/reel combo (spinning reel of course), you can grab something for $40. But if you think you will stick with the hobby or aren't too strapped for cash, you can buy a combo closer to $75 that will be much nicer and you won't want to replace after a couple months.

They do sell little starter kits with a couple hooks, weights, shitty bobbers, and a lure or two, but it isn't enough go last very long. Often times you won't use 3/4 of the stuff, and you will need to buy more of the 1/4 you do use almost immediately.