New to Bass Fishing needed some general advice

[Eric NY]

Hello everyone,

 

I always fished Salt Water (on the east coast) mostly bottom fished for Fluke, Blue's etc. I never been freshwater fishing before. Every year I go away and there are a few freshwater lakes where we go and I wanted to try my hand at some bass fishing.  Watched a ton of youtube videos but still had some questions:

 

1. I know the lake has Large and Small mouth bass, Carppies, Sunnies, and eels. What size / type of hooks would I be looking to go with for the bass?

 

2. What type of baits should I look to buy to try out? Stick, Spinner, Chatter, Jigs all? I guess i'd be interested in a decent variety to give a try but anything to help narrow things down since the selections and varieties are so vast would be a great help! (I'm going first week of October so weather should be about 60's during the day and there isn't much cover in the lake).

 

3. Any other general advice with regards to technique would be awesome! (Salt water fishing experiences are pretty much take the boat out, drop a line, drink a beer while waiting for a bite to happen and reel it in)  Thank you so much for any help in advance!
 

Some Specifics:

 

Rod/Reel: Daiwa Samuri X 5'6" light 2500 reel

line: 8lb mono Suffix Elite

Lake: it is a private grounds lake called Pine Lake Catskill NY

Budget: 30 bucks or less?  Not really sure but less is better ?

[Choporoz]

https://www.bassresource.com/how-to-fish/

 

Lots of good articles here, though, admittedly, it can get a little overwhelming.

 

Just a little more specificity could go a long ways....what lake/river....what rods, reels, line do you have already....do you have a budget...

[J Francho]

Read this, go fish.

 

 

[Eric NY]

6 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

https://www.bassresource.com/how-to-fish/

 

Lots of good articles here, though, admittedly, it can get a little overwhelming.

 

Just a little more specificity could go a long ways....what lake/river....what rods, reels, line do you have already....do you have a budget...

Thank you for the reply.  I started reading that link prior to the post, it is very overwhelming but a great resource!

 

Here are some more specifics:

 

Rod/Reel: Daiwa Samuri X 5'6" light 2500 reel

line: 8lb mono Suffix Elite

Lake: it is a private grounds lake called Pine Lake Catskill NY

Budget: 30 bucks or less?  Not really sure but less is better ?

[J Francho]

Definitely keep it simple.  Pick a couple colors of Senkos and some Fat Ikas, go fishing.  You already have the perfect gear.

[WRB]

Search "slip shot rig" ideally suited for your tackle and 4 1/2" to 6" Roboworms in oxblood/red flake worms, works everywhere.

Tom

[J Francho]

This is the place:

http://www.pinelakemanor.com/photo-gallery.html

 

What has been suggested will all work.

[Eric NY]

5 minutes ago, J Francho said:

This is the place:

http://www.pinelakemanor.com/photo-gallery.html

 

What has been suggested will all work.

Yes that is the place!  Thank you very much!  I am going to give it a try when i go in 4 weeks and hopefully I catch some bass.  I'll def report back on my results.  

[thedilettantedad]

I am a noob and I will tell you I have had good luck throwing a white spinnerbait early in the morning and then a Texas rigged baby brush hog later in the morning from the bank. Basically learning off of Youtube right now. BassResource and Realistic Fishing have been helpful.

 

Good luck!

[Darren.]

Welcome aboard! All good info above. Best is to keep it simple. Soft plastics

tend to work the best, and they're a reason I have stuck with them for so many

years! More fun *catching*  

[soflabasser]

Welcome to the forum

 

[LCG]

Welcome. I would recommend learning the Ned rig, neko rig, drop shot,and Texas rig techniques. Highly productive and simple to learn. YouTube can help a lot. 

[scaleface]

Over 90 per cent of the bass I catch are on texas rigs , crankbaits , spinnerbaits and buzzbaits . You already have soft plastic recommendations. I suggest to get a couple of inexpensive cranks, spinnerbaits , buzzbait or other top water that fall within  your rod ratings . You want to be able to fish top to bottom and  any cover you may encounter . 

[Harold Scoggins]

On ‎9‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 2:38 PM, J Francho said:

This is the place:

http://www.pinelakemanor.com/photo-gallery.html

 

What has been suggested will all work.

That looks like a nice place! My wife will retire in a year, I think I might make this a possible choice for a vacation.

[Eric NY]

So I went on my trip over the Columbus Day weekend, here is a recap for anyone interested:

I was able to fish for about an hour on two separate days.  I ended up buying 2 different packs of 5" stick baits: First was the Greg Yamamoto Watermelon with Blk/Rd flakes and the second was a pack of 5" Yum Dinger Black with red Flakes that was on sale for $2.

I started out using the Yum Dinger (since it was the cheaper of the 2 I bought). I used a Texas Rig (1/8oz bullet weight and a 3/0 Hook) and texas rigged (wow that is confusing) the bait onto the hook.  Being my first time no idea was to expect so I sweep dragged about 10" then reeled in some slack...rinse repeat.  I had TONS of problems with my line on my spool so I spent a good 30 minutes trying to let out line and reel back into to get out twists and avoid birds nests (never had this issue years ago).  I finally got that sorted out and threw my line out and as the bait sank i felt a tug...gave it a good yank and pow! Caught my first bass. After that excitement, I moved around using the same method (and same stick bait after re rigging it) and within 10 minutes caught another bass!  So 2 bass in about an hour after some technically difficulties with my equipment and I was a happy fisherman!

Next Day I tried my luck again (Same stick bait from the day before, still looked in good condition). I spent about 45 minutes casting in all sorts of directions, moving around the lake and nothing was really happening. I decided to move over to by a metal dock that extended out into the lake and figured to cast by that. I read somewhere bass liked cover and figured maybe they were hiding out there. My first cast over I got a bite and snagged a bass!  some kids around the lake got super excited and came running over to see.  Another few casts over by the dock I caught another bass and my fan section of kids went wild again ?  

All in all about 2 hours of fishing and I caught 4 Bass and had 1 hell of a time!  best part was I used 1 piece of bait for 4 bass and the thing still looks like it could be useful.  That seems like $2 well spent and I have plenty of bait for next year!  I don't think the bass were that large but I added some photos below.  I appreciate all the help and advice you all gave!  I am now hooked on bass fishing and I am going to want to go and find more lakes to fish!!

[Mobasser]

5 hours ago, Eric NY said:

So I went on my trip over the Columbus Day weekend, here is a recap for anyone interested:

I was able to fish for about an hour on two separate days.  I ended up buying 2 different packs of 5" stick baits: First was the Greg Yamamoto Watermelon with Blk/Rd flakes and the second was a pack of 5" Yum Dinger Black with red Flakes that was on sale for $2.

I started out using the Yum Dinger (since it was the cheaper of the 2 I bought). I used a Texas Rig (1/8oz bullet weight and a 3/0 Hook) and texas rigged (wow that is confusing) the bait onto the hook.  Being my first time no idea was to expect so I sweep dragged about 10" then reeled in some slack...rinse repeat.  I had TONS of problems with my line on my spool so I spent a good 30 minutes trying to let out line and reel back into to get out twists and avoid birds nests (never had this issue years ago).  I finally got that sorted out and threw my line out and as the bait sank i felt a tug...gave it a good yank and pow! Caught my first bass. After that excitement, I moved around using the same method (and same stick bait after re rigging it) and within 10 minutes caught another bass!  So 2 bass in about an hour after some technically difficulties with my equipment and I was a happy fisherman!

Next Day I tried my luck again (Same stick bait from the day before, still looked in good condition). I spent about 45 minutes casting in all sorts of directions, moving around the lake and nothing was really happening. I decided to move over to by a metal dock that extended out into the lake and figured to cast by that. I read somewhere bass liked cover and figured maybe they were hiding out there. My first cast over I got a bite and snagged a bass!  some kids around the lake got super excited and came running over to see.  Another few casts over by the dock I caught another bass and my fan section of kids went wild again ?  

All in all about 2 hours of fishing and I caught 4 Bass and had 1 hell of a time!  best part was I used 1 piece of bait for 4 bass and the thing still looks like it could be useful.  That seems like $2 well spent and I have plenty of bait for next year!  I don't think the bass were that large but I added some photos below.  I appreciate all the help and advice you all gave!  I am now hooked on bass fishing and I am going to want to go and find more lakes to fish!!

Looks like you did well for just getting started in bass fishing. Plus, your own cheering section too! Nice job. Now your hooked!

[thedilettantedad]

Congrats! Senkos can get pricey, but if you live near a Bass Pro Shop, their house Stik-O worms have a very similar action to the GY and are quite a bit cheaper. Of course at your rate you won't need new worms for a bit.