Havong some trouble beginning..looking for help:)

[USMCKoontz]

Ok so just starting to get more serious into bassing. So i bought some Yum Dingers and put them on a spinning rod i have.its a cheap walmart one. Went to lake and tried to fish them. One thing i noticed is theu sink slow and my line has alot of slack and seems to float on water. I would have to reel in to take out the slack. Is this normal when fishing senko type baits? 

Also since i am here. I plan On mainly fishing seno type baits, worms, jigs, frogs and dropshots and spinner or chatter baits. I may try out crank baits later on. Want to buy two or three pole and reels to combo that can cover most everything. Could you make some recommendations?

[PennBass]

For soft plastics like the Yum Dinger, you probably want some slack in the line - even though you might not be able to be directly connected to the bait per say, having tight line will make the lure move towards you and ruin the action. The slow sink of the worm is what catches the fish - you want that! If you have trouble detecting bites, pay attention to your line. If you see a jump, twitch, or your line moving - reel in the slack and set the hook!

With the techniques you want to cover, it's my opinion that you could cover all those bases with a good spinning rod for finesse (soft plastics, drop shot, worms, etc.) and a Medium Heavy Power, Fast Action baitcaster for jigs, frogs, spinners, and chatterbaits paired with a decent reel. 

What's your budget like? I'm sure we could point you in the right direction. 

 

[CenCal fisher]

Soft stick baits are made to fall slow and yum dingers fall slower than others. If you want them to fall a little faster you could use a bigger hook or get a nail, cut off the head and shove it in the tail of your bait. First I would try it out without adding weight then if you don't have the patience to wait that long stick a nail in it. Like previously mentioned, there should be slack in the line

 

 

[Simp]

Welcome!

 

The best advice I can give you is to look through the wealth of articles here at bass resource. They will offer some great advice on beginning gear and techniques. You have certainly picked a good one to start with.

 

The yum dingers, stick baits of all types are a very versatile bait that is commonly fished slow on slack line. You generally want to free fall with out tension on the line but not so much line out you won't see your line jump if you get a bite. A very popular technique is to wacky rig rig them. A wacky rig is a circle hook or drop shot hook threw the middle of the bait. Just do a YouTube search for senko and wacky rig and u will see a million videos demonstrating how it's done. They also sell some wacky rig hooks with weights that speed up the fall and can be used to cover more water and trigger more aggressive fish.

As far as frog fishing I wouldn't suggest you start there as a beginner unless conditions require it. Frog fishing with something like a spro frog require braided line and a powerful rod. Something you certainly want to have at some point but maybe not right off the bat. That is unless your primary body of water has so much grass that you REALLY need to start with it. I would suggest a pop-r or buzz bait to use on your spinning tackle to start off with for top water.

A red eye shad or medium sized spinner bait are also good early lures you can use in many conditions and catch tons of fish. 

 

I would suggest you also invest in a medium sized tackle bag that comes with some Plano boxes aka plastic lure containers. You want a bag that won't weigh a ton when you go fishing ponds and not so small that you out grow it to fast. 

Rods- I would suggest a 6"6 medium rod and a 6"10-7"2 medium heavy. The bigger rods would be for your frogs with braid and other heavy cover situations. The 6"6 medium is a great rod for crankbaits and spinner baits and many many other applications.

 

Reels- A spinning real is a good place to start and even Walmart specials do a decent job. It's when you move to learn bait casters that a quality reel makes a difference. I have no idea what your budget is but bass pro shops generally make quality real for all budgets. I'd suggest a carbon lite if you can afford it. 

[roadwarrior]