Best advice to give newer guys

[Surfcaster79]

Best advice I could give to any new to the scene fisherman and fishes from shore / wading is knowing when to fold em. Know when to move. If your fishing a spot or area you aren't familiar with and see no signs of life, no hits, no fish in 10 .. 20 minutes tops.. keep on moving on! Go to the next piece of structure you find in your lake or pond. The only time I don't apply this rule is if I'm familiar with a spot and it has times when the bite turns on and turns off. It blows my mind that I see someone casting over and over again in the same spot for hours and expect a favorable outcome. 

 

Next, lures are nothing more than tools that will allow you to fish conditions and parts of a water column. You dont need to bring half the tackle shop with you on a trip. Don't get wrapped up in buying 30 different colors, white/yellow.. black/purple will cover everything. The less you carry the more you can focus on catching a fish and not changing out to another top lure or another color that really isn't any different than the one you last had on. 

 

Last but not least... KEEP A LOG... notate temps, wind direction, weather (cloudy/sunny), moon phase, barometric pressure, time, date, area , lures used and what you caught.. You will be shocked to see there is indeed patterns! 

[Mobasser]

I would say focus on bass behavior and learn to fish a t rig plastic worm.

[Capriceragtop]

Ooof, I feel that comment regarding bringing half of Bass Pro with me. I see what other folks are using and catching with, and then I gotta go get it.

 

Merthiolate trick worms are my white whale. I look for em every time I go, but always outta stock.

 

With my luck, I'll finally get them and still not have much luck getting this skunk of my back!

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, Capriceragtop said:

Ooof, I feel that comment regarding bringing half of Bass Pro with me. I see what other folks are using and catching with, and then I gotta go get it.

I may have quite a bit now - but I started slow. A couple spinners, a few jigs, 5-6 packs of plastics. Built up over a few years to what I have now.

 

2 minutes ago, Capriceragtop said:

Merthiolate trick worms are my white whale. I look for em every time I go, but always outta stock.

(opens a plastics box, glances at his pack of Zoom Trick Worms in Merthiolate, quickly closes the box and stashes it away.)

3 minutes ago, Capriceragtop said:

With my luck, I'll finally get them and still not have much luck getting this skunk of my back!

I haven't caught any with that particular plastic yet - it's all been either white/chartreuse or green pumpkin.

[Deleted account]

Less reading, more fishing.

[Capriceragtop]

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

I haven't caught any with that particular plastic yet - it's all been either white/chartreuse or green pumpkin.

 

Heck, my soft plastic work is terrible. Ran into a tournament guy at bass pro, he even rigged me some stuff based on where I fish.

 

My entire childhood was spent on rooster tails, so I'm having to learn how to present lures in a fashion other than cast out, reel back.

 

Having fun, though!

[huZZah]

12 hours ago, Surfcaster79 said:

Best advice I could give to any new to the scene fisherman and fishes from shore / wading is knowing when to fold em. Know when to move.

I have gotten much better about forcing myself to 2 rods when I’m walking bank. Fishing one lure around the lake, then trying my other when I work my way back to the truck.  I’ll come back next weekend and try 2 others, or 1 other etc. Helps me to actually look for fish and not just lob around hoping. 

[Surfcaster79]

34 minutes ago, CrankFate said:

Interesting that this became a such a saltwater heavy website over the last year. 

 

We slayed all the bigguns in the salt and now want to do it in the lakes!!! ?

2 hours ago, Capriceragtop said:

Ooof, I feel that comment regarding bringing half of Bass Pro with me. I see what other folks are using and catching with, and then I gotta go get it.

 

Merthiolate trick worms are my white whale. I look for em every time I go, but always outta stock.

 

With my luck, I'll finally get them and still not have much luck getting this skunk of my back!

 

 

I think every person in this world has brought enough lures for an army when they first started out, myself included! 

[DitchPanda]

Don't try to learn everything at once...there are a million different lures and techniques and it can get very overwhelming especially if you aren't a solid angler. My advice is pick 3-5 basic standards and learn them inside out and then branch out. My rundown for a noob would be: Texas rigged worm, 3/8oz jig, spinner bait, pop r and Ned rig. You can do almost anything in alot of water temps and colors with those 5.

[RDB]

Have fun, enjoy being outdoors, and if you catch a fish, that’s a bonus.

[Basshunter9]

All good advice mentioned here. I will add to put in as much time on the water as you can and don’t overthink things. 

[Bass90]

Best piece of advice I can give to a new angler would be time on the water. Their is only so much YouTube and reading you can do. And Like the original poster stated, keep a log.

[Capriceragtop]

6 hours ago, CrankFate said:

Same guys that killed what used to be the biggest saltwater fishing website in America, because the good people who were the customer base, eventually all realized they were frauds who were just ripping them off by posting BS online.

As a new user to this site, sounds like there is some history I don't know about.

[WRB]

Hmmmm...we don’t get too many disgruntled members on BR, generally a congenial group who share info freely.

This is a bass fishing site that also has other species forum if that is your passion. Spend  time looking and some reading site articles, video’s or search key words for specific techniques or presentations.

Keep in mind I am old and can be cantankerous at times.

Tom

[redux]

On 4/18/2021 at 11:47 AM, DitchPanda said:

Don't try to learn everything at once...there are a million different lures and techniques and it can get very overwhelming especially if you aren't a solid angler. My advice is pick 3-5 basic standards and learn them inside out and then branch out. My rundown for a noob would be: Texas rigged worm, 3/8oz jig, spinner bait, pop r and Ned rig. You can do almost anything in alot of water temps and colors with those 5.

Good advice right there.

 

EDIT:

 

Practice your casting techiques and reel control at home or dedicate time on the water to practicing and not catching. It is really frustrating when you cannot get your cool setup to put your sexy bait on those beautiful fish because you can't cast properly. ? Womp Womp

 

Also, keep your color selection minimal so you can handle clear, stained, and muddy water. Like someone said earlier, white, green, black/purple respectively.

[Dens228]

Patience and don't rely only on what worked last time. 

[Kdizzle]

My advice would be slow down.  There are days when fish are very actively feeding, which would allow you to throw a naked hook out and still get bites, but those days are far and few between. 

 

Don't make your jig, ned rig, or any other lure look like its having a epileptic seizure on the bottom of the lake, pond, or creek, or burn it through the water column at full speed.  The fish aren't gonna bite it usually. 

[BrianMDTX]

My bestest and most sage advice is: have fun most of all, keep at it and the fish will follow. 
 

When I was younger, I thought lures were the greatest scam ever perpetuated on the public. I never, and I mean never, caught anything over 10” long and that was with tiny spoons, spinners and panfish poppers. Plastics? A joke. Spinnerbaits? Waste of $$$. Crankbaits? Get real! Heck, I read Outdoor Life, Field and Stream and other magazines about techniques, etc. and still I sucked lol. Why? I don’t know. I think my dad, who was 99% a live bait angler, was unable to show me the basics of fishing lures, and without a mentor at a young age, I failed miserably. So much so that when I gave up on fishing to concentrate on hunting, it felt like no big loss. 
 

When I started fishing again last year after an almost 30-year absence, what did I do? Yep. Live bait. Had fun, caught some fish, cussed at the turtles and then I caught a nice 6-7 lb bass on a #6 baitkeeper hook and 1/2 a nightcrawler on a UL rig. And looking for info I somehow, through the magic of Google, found this site. And read a lot. And learned a lot. And saw that some had tons of success, some caught decent fish and other struggled but kept at it. So I decided to upgrade some rigs and tackle and tried fishing with lures again. The first bass I caught (about 3 lbs) on a plastic worm turned my life around. In less than a year I’ve caught nice bass on plastic worms, Senkos, creature baits, spinnerbaits, jigs, topwater lures, jerkbaits, you name it. I stuck with it, and success followed. But I had fun. That’s the most important part. It’s a journey, not a destination. 

[senile1]

On 4/18/2021 at 10:47 AM, DitchPanda said:

Don't try to learn everything at once...there are a million different lures and techniques and it can get very overwhelming especially if you aren't a solid angler. My advice is pick 3-5 basic standards and learn them inside out and then branch out. My rundown for a noob would be: Texas rigged worm, 3/8oz jig, spinner bait, pop r and Ned rig. You can do almost anything in alot of water temps and colors with those 5.

 

What would have helped me the most to have more fun on the water when I first started bass fishing?  For me having fun meant enjoying nature, but also I needed to catch some fish.  I think DitchPanda's advice along with a couple of other tidbits would have been the best for me.  The prerequisite to the above is obviously learning fundamental bass location theory per season and bass behavior.  Once you have that though, one can really get caught up in the excitement of all the different baits, techniques, rods, reels, etc. that are available to the angler.  Then you go out on a big lake in a boat for the first time and you catch nada . . . . squat.  And you wonder what the heck happened as you threw everything but the kitchen sink at them.  That is the problem.  You didn't need all that stuff as it just confuses things. 

 

This is a five step summary of what would have helped me as a new bass angler.  Some of these steps overlap and occur at the same time, such as steps 2, 3, and 4.

1. Learn fundamental bass behavior in the seasons and as it relates to weather.
2. Learn a few baits that cover the water column when bass are active - deep, mid-depths and close to the surface.  (Learning a bait means learning how it feels in cover, how to set the hook, and how to land fish with it.)
3. Also, learn a few baits covering the water column when bass are not active (i.e. smaller finesse baits).  On steps 2 and 3, make sure you learn how to use them so that they become second nature to you.  Now you will have a small arsenal that covers most conditions.
4. Start on smaller lakes and ponds of no more than a few hundred acres so that it will be easier for you to find the fish, build confidence, and actually make note of the structures and areas they are using during the different seasons.  There is nothing like seeing it on the water to confirm what you learned in step one, but also to show you that there are often exceptions to what you learned.  
5. Now, take what you have learned on smaller waters and apply it on larger lakes of a few thousand acres.  Be ready for some effort if you go it alone without the benefit of an angler who knows the lake.  Big lakes takes more time to learn and find the fish.  Keep your mind in the game, always relating where you are fishing and what is happening to the knowledge from step 1.  Be patient.  What you learned on smaller waters will eventually yield results on bigger waters.       

 

Watching YouTube videos, participating in bass forums, or reading magazines are not substitutes for these steps.  They may help you acquire some knowledge quicker but you will find the time on the water is still something that requires necessary, thoughtful patience.

[Bankc]

Good advice on the keep moving.  I know a lot of people start off with live bait, fishing at the pier or dock.  That can be a good place to find them, as fish do tend to congregate there as there's protection from the sun, often sunken cover down below, and riprap along the banks.  Plus, it's the only way to get access to deep water from the bank.  So it's easy to get into the habit of staying in one place, because it works then.

 

Then, they might move on to catfishing, where they'll throw some stink bait out from the bank, set up some lawn chairs, and sit there and wait for the fish to come find it.  Again, it works, because the stink bait has such a strong smell that the fish will come in from a long distance to find it.  

 

Most people don't start off bass fishing because they're more difficult to catch, and not as tasty to eat.  So they pick up these bad habits of just posting up somewhere, dropping something in the water, and waiting for it to get bit.  I know when I've taken several friends out to teach them bass fishing, it's almost impossible to convince them to keep moving.  They think they've found a good spot, with shade and room to cast, and they want to stay there for fear of someone else coming in and taking it over if they leave.  They just want to tie on a plastic worm to a bobber, cast it out, and sit in the lawn chair and wait for the fish to come to them.  Of course, it doesn't help much that my local lakes are over grown and most of it is inaccessible from the bank, so you'll have to walk a good quarter mile from spot to spot, and fight your rods getting snagged on trees and brushes in dense forest.  But that's what you do to catch bass.  

[scaleface]

All lure categories have their place . Different bodies of water vary significantly . Figure out the nuisances of the water fished and select lures that will exploit them and be stealthy about it . Lure selections for a rocky dam will be different than  from a weed choked cove or a moving stream  . Think .

[li_bass_hunter]

Less YouTube and more fishing

[Big Hands]

Carry a small, well thought out tackle bag.

Always be observant of what's going on around you.

React to current conditions.

Only bring a few colors of baits to start out with.

Light line if possible.

Inspect your gear before you leave the house.

Noise should be kept to a minimum.

Always pack out your trash.

 

Respect the space of fellow anglers.

I've caught all of my biggest bass on artificials.

Get out there and have fun!

 

Read vertically ;~)

[Hammer 4]

12 minutes ago, Big Hands said:

Carry a small, well thought out tackle bag.

Always be observant of what's going on around you.

React to current conditions.

Only bring a few colors of baits to start out with.

Light line if possible.

Inspect your gear before you leave the house.

Noise should be kept to a minimum.

Always pack out your trash.

 

Respect the space of fellow anglers.

I've caught all of my biggest bass on artificials.

Get out there and have fun!

 

Read vertically ;~)

Very clever....?

[NavyVet1204]

On 4/18/2021 at 8:17 AM, Capriceragtop said:

Ooof, I feel that comment regarding bringing half of Bass Pro with me. I see what other folks are using and catching with, and then I gotta go get it.

 

Merthiolate trick worms are my white whale. I look for em every time I go, but always outta stock.

 

With my luck, I'll finally get them and still not have much luck getting this skunk of my back!

Same here! I feel like my full pond hopping back pack is my equivalent to a woman’s purse. Gotta have everything I can fit in it. And then some.