New to fishing

[Dangergravy]

My son would like to start fishing. I said great, it would get me and him out of the house and away from the (honey do list)

Problem is I don't know the first thing about fishing.  I live in Deland FL  and live real close to lake beresford

I bought a couple of poles now what do I do. Buy tackle-What kind  What kind of fish are in lake beresford? Do I need a fishing liscense, does my son need one? He' 11 years old.  No big hurry on this we are having a fishing christmas so santa is buying everything. I have no idea what I need  any info would be helpful   :-/

[5bass]

Welcome to the forum! You may want to check out the Southeast forum for more detailed information about specific Florida lakes. Lots of good people around here to help.

[mattm]

Welcome to the forum.  You've came to the right place to learn all the stuff.  Remember to involve your son in all the decisions.  It will be a lot more fun for him.

[Marty]

Kids under 16 don't need licenses. But I'd check with your Fisheries department about you. Depending on what you do or don't do to help the kid may constitute you fishing as well and may require a license. You might want to take a look at some regs.

http://floridafisheries.com/rules.html#FISHING%20LICENSE%20FEES

[frogtog]

Welcome to BR.

[roadwarrior]

Welcome aboard!

The best thing you could do would be to fish with a guide for a day. You would move up the learning curve quite a lot with just some hands-on guidance. With just a little help you'll be on your way. They say, fishing in Florida is a little better than "okay".

There is a "Beginners" section in "Fishing Articles" at the top of the page. This thread might be helpful, too:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1182371999

8-)

[Bassn Blvd]

Welcome aboard pardner.  I'm in Florida too, all my life.  Your basics would be a 6 1/2' - 7' medium to medium heavy spinning rod with 10lb test line.  You can pick up a nice little spinning outfit for you and your son at Wal-Mart for about 30-40 bucks apiece.  

Get some rubber worms in the June bug or Red shad color.  Any brand will do but Zoom and Culprit are the most popular. Get the 6 inch or 7 1/2 inch length.

Get a pack of 1/8 ounce bullet (worm) weights.  Try and get black ones but regular lead color will work too.

Get a pack of 3/0 tru-turn hooks to rig the worm.

All this can be had for under $100.

Read the articles on this site and like suggested earlier, try hiring a guide and tell him you want to use artificial so that way you can learn.

[MALTESE FALCON]

Welcome to the best fishing site on the net. Stick around here and ask alot of questions and you'll be an expert before you know it.

Falcon

[farmpond1]

First, let me applaud you for wanting to take your son fishing.  If it's done right (easy enough, really), it may become a lifelong hobby/fascination.  Heck, just doing anything with him is a good thing.

One can make fishing a very simple or complicated activity.  As a beginner to the sport, don't feel overwhelmed by what's out there or even this site.  Some of these folks have been going at it for years and with fishing, as in any sport, there is the natural inclination to add new dimensions and levels of sophistication to it.  But it doesn't have to begin that way and don't let complexity frighten you off.  Some basic gear (see some of the other messages) is all you need.  I wouldn't recommend you go too cheap, however.  A (too) cheap rod and reel or fishing line can really put a damper on things.

I've never been to Lake Beresford (or Florida for that matter) so I can't say how the bass fishing is there.  However, for a newby, often the best place to begin is with catching.  I don't know how sophisticated your son wants to go or what his attention span is but you might forgo bass for a few trips and concentrate on panfish (or bream as I believe they are called down there).  They are usually very eager to bite and require less sophistication than some other species.  Once your son gets "hooked" on catching and wants to "up" the challenge factor, bass are a great species to target.  They are also (usually) reasonably willing to bite (though less so than panfish) and will chase many different types of baits (live or artificial).

Fishing is a great activity for partners.  A spirit of friendly competitiveness can develop and as I mentioned before, the potential to add new dimensions is almost limitless.  Please try to remember that fish and our waterways are a limited resource and to respect your environment.  Good luck with things!

[tntitans21399]

You might want to look at a fishing map, here in Tennessee we have the Sportsman fishing book which has 3 books for Tennessee (east, middle, west) and it shows a map of every body of water in that area and list what type fish are in the lake and a little about the lake.  That way you can get an idea about the lake and view it for fishing spots to try.

[jwo1124]

Welcome to the site. One of the best best bass fishing resources out there on the web, I ghuess that's how they got their name  

Anyway, these guys have given you some good advice. I remember hounding my father to take me fishing when I was eleven. I just turned 22 saturday and I still have the same buringpassion for fishing I had when I was 11. First thing you should do is find out how intense your son feels about fishing. I say this because you don;t want to spend hundreds of dollars on lures and tackle if he only wants to go once in awhile.

Find out if he watches the fishing shows on TV like on the channel "Versus" where most of the outdoor programs are on the weekends. Ask him who his favorite fishing pro is. Ask him what kind of fishing magizines he knows about. Don;t hesistate to subscribe to a couple of the mentioned fishing mags. You can get a years worth for like $15. This will keep him busy and learning during the week when no fishing programs are on. I used to love thumbing through Bass Master or In-Fisherman whenever I could.

On the other hand, your son may not be "that in to" fishing. My brother is like that. He likes to fish when the weather is postcard perfect, but even then if we aren;t catching within an hour he loses all interest. If this is your son, you may just be better off buying a couple of standard rod and reel combos, some hooks, bobbers, and some shiners and night crawlers. This way you dont waste a lot of money on tackle that will not be used.

Fishing is great in all aspects. You don;t need to have a bass boat, thousands of dollars worth of lures, and a dozen different rods to be a fisherman. There are people who like to fish just as much as the next guy who get a blast out of tossing out some bait and hanging out until the fishing bite. Other's need that intesnsity of cast after cast after cast with a lure to keep their adrenaline going.

Your best bet is just to ask your son questions about fishing to get the picture of how much he knows, how much he wants to know, and how passionate he is about it. He may just be asking you to go fishing just to spend some time with his ol' Dad  

[mayassa]

welcome aboard and I agree let you son pick out some lures he will enjoy fishing them

[Dangergravy]

Thanks for all the hello's and info

How do I set up a fishing pole swivels,weights,leaders.bobbers,hooks?

I was told to use a bullet weight for my son's pole for easy casting.

Tonite is Wednesday  I would like to troll around the river saturday weather we fish or not but bringing the poles would be nice for some practice for me and my son. ;D

[FD.]

Welcome to BR.

I fish with my 14 and 11 year olds every weekend and love it.

Here is how my 11 year old is set up.

7 ft medium casting rod (lightning rod by berkely, walmart 40$), medium spinning reel, (Pfleuger, 30$ , 10 lb braided line(red power pro)

baits - chartruce or white spinnerbait or a Texas rig worm.

You may not understand these terms but write them down and find a "hole in the wall" tackle shop, the crusty old guy behind the counter will know exactly what they mean.

As for the lake, I have never been on it but from the satellite photo I would start with the following..

There are a bunch of docks on the west side of the lake, try the Texas rig worm under and around the docks.

It also looks like there are grass islands on the south end, cast the spinnerbait just inside the edges of the grass and slowly reel it back to you.

I live about an hour from you guys and fish the same kinds of water so feel free to ask any specific questions you have.  I'm only a few years ahead of you in fishing experience so I understand the feeling of being a little lost

[HesterIsGod]

For starting off bass fishing I would use just a few simple lures. I would start with a few packs of senkos.

The senko is a cigar shaped plastic worm, usually 4 or 5 inches long. They also go by other names from other bait companies, such as the Yum Dinger, which are sold at any Wal-Mart or tackle store. All you need is a 1/0 wide gap hook to fish it, also sold at any wal-mart or tackle store. Texas rig it (type that into a search engine and you will get detailed pictures on how to rig plastic worms Texas style) and all you have to do it cast it near shoreline cover (Fallen trees, docks, brushpiles, rip rap, etc...) and you will get bites by just letting it sink and slowly dragging it back. Senkos catch fish for everyone from seasoned bass pros to weekend fisherman to complete beginners who fish only a couple of times a year.

[Gidget]

welcome!

I see everyone is helping you out, but I just wanted to add not to forget to take a camara!

You want your son to always remember his first fishing trip   :)

Gidget

[Dangergravy]

Hey everyone. Finally got out on the water today, went to lake diaz in volusia county.  did'nt catch anything but had a good time with my son. Lost a couple of texas rigs ( learned to tie them better)  :-[  Going to lake ashby tommorow, hope we have some luck  I am pretty happy with just hitting lakes right now

I was wondering if I could get some help with lakes with public boat ramps  been to FWC website just wondering if there's some that they missed.

Well wish us luck and thanks for any info

[RobbyZ5001]

Hello Dangergravy, the most simple knot to tie is the sinch knot. I dont know about Florida but in PA if you go out with nightcrawlers on a lake you will usually at least catch a couple fish. They are good to have when times get rough!