Where to begin

[soflabasser]

Reading articles about Bass fishing is very helpful ,but nothing replaces time spent on the water!

["hamma"]

some things not mentioned:  get you and your wife both a hat with a visor and pair of polorized sunglasses, a pair of pliers and fingernail clippers ,... and learn a couple of knots to tie, the polomar and improved clinch are a good start. fish are actually offended by the oils humans produce in the skin, so get a fish scent to mask the oils, i like real craw as its a sticky oil itself. If you bought spinning rods, look into videos and tutorials regarding line twist, best way to avoid line twist is to never reel in when the fish is pulling drag, another good trick is to tie on a snapswivel and attach it to a fence or something and  open the bail and walk further away from the fence than a casts distance. now close the bail, hold the spool with your hand, and apply enough pressure to the line by walking a few more feet away and pull a few times to stretch the line some. now reel in the line as you walk towards the snapswivel. this will stretch that new mono line and take any twist out. 

 the info about rigging lures and such here on this site is incredible,,..you could spend a small fortune on lures and such. keep in mind that there are six basic lures for bass fishing,: spinnerbaits, topwaters, crankbaits, jigs, worms, and spoons.,.. within each category there are a myriad of choices. I recommend you find out what the previlant baitfish are for the lakes you are going to fish. mirror these baitfish within the "six basics" of your choice

id imagine that walleye isnt a good pattern for a crankbait in ok   (just for an example) but shad, or crappie may