Fishing

[silentdeath55]

Alright, I've fished three times in my life thus far (once when I was about 3, and twice a few years ago in florida) and I want to get more into fishing. Can you guys help me out with some beginner info. I dont want to walk into Gander Mountain and give them my wallet. Any suggestions on rod/reels/combination of the two, lures, etc. I'm not fishing for sturgeon or marlin, probably medium sized bass, or bluegill for now. Thank you for your abundant intellect, almighty AO!

[BeaverEater]

hey i just bought a new shimano symetre reel and fenwick rod. You should try it out. I also have just a cheap rod/reel combo that i keep in my truck. Hey if you wanna go fishing more i should have my boat up and running this weekend. U, me and kyle should go out and do some fishing sometime.

[silentdeath55]

That would be sweet! I'm going camping with a bunch of guys this weekend and we're fishing for most of our food, so I figured I better get a fishing pole. I'm headed to shop around right now. Let me know when your going out next time so maybe we can all hang out. That would be awesome......maybe tell some old paintball stories .

[BD_Paintball]

come down to bass Pro here in gurnee and get some gear made my bass Pro. i have a spinning and casting rod made by them and i love them. i also have an ugly stick and its hard to feel the difference. i also got a Bass Pro casting real for 80 bucks and its very nice. my dad has alot of gear that cost him a ton of money and my Bass Pro stuff works just as good. if you are just going to fish every now and then there is no reason to spend a ton of money on stuff you will only use a few dozen times a year. I have had my stuff for about 3 years now and i have not had any problems with any of it. i fish about once a week or more and i take a trip to northern WI every year for a few weeks. i would seriously look into the Bass Pro stuff its great.

[personman]

lol its probably not the best idea to go camping and expect to catch alot of fish to eat if its only like your 4th time..

I suck at fishing.. I couldnt catch a fish to save my life.. god forbid I get stranded on an island or something..

[silentdeath55]

We have about 16 people fishing/camping, so we're bound to catch something.......i hope

[pbzmag]

The two most popular reels are the baitcast and spinning reels. The baitcast sits on top of the rod and the spinning hangs from the bottom. Of the two, the spinning reel is easy to use. Since you're just starting, I would suggest the spinning reel. Unless you really want a baitcast and spend most of your time clearing out birdnests!

If you ever find yourself on the west or east coast, try out deep sea fishing. The largest that I caught was a Halibut but had to throw it back. It just came under the minimum size. However, I did catch alot of skipjack tuna and a fairly good sized Rock Cod!

[BeaverEater]

ya i went up to canada at the end of may, we ate only what we caught. Oh and forget about bass pro shops, cabelas is opening up in germantown sept 1st or so. My uncle is doing all the grading there and he is supposed to be getting a lifetime discount from cabelas for doing the work. if you just need a pole right now, just look at some of the spinning combos at gander. They are decent for the price.

[bam wannabe]

ya i went up to canada at the end of may, we ate only what we caught.

where at? i used to go every year to charleston lake with my uncle and fish out there. get up at 4 AM every day for a week to go catch some lake trout. then spend the rest of the day bass fishing. gah i miss going there, its a big change from all the beach/deep sea fishing i do in FL. although catching a shark > catching a lake trout

[txaggie08]

I fish constantly, but its all in the surf and saltwater....

[PyRo]

I'd just go to the store and buy a cheap rod/reel combo for under a hundred bucks. Keep that for a couple months until you're sure you enjoy fishing then you can go spend a little more on somthing nicer. A lot of people do that with all kinds of things, go dump a ton of money on somthing then decide they don't really like it. That cheap set can always sit in your car too as any time you drive by the water without a rod the fish are going to be jumping out of the water.

[fire1811]

I'd just go to the store and buy a cheap rod/reel combo for under a hundred bucks. Keep that for a couple months until you're sure you enjoy fishing then you can go spend a little more on somthing nicer. A lot of people do that with all kinds of things, go dump a ton of money on somthing then decide they don't really like it. That cheap set can always sit in your car too as any time you drive by the water without a rod the fish are going to be jumping out of the water.

Totally agree.
Dont spend too much money on something you might only use twice in the next ten years.

I love bass fishing and have very expensive Rod/Reel combo's. But I have seen very big fish caught on sticks with string.

[txaggie08]

Totally agree.
Dont spend too much money on something you might only use twice in the next ten years.

I love bass fishing and have very expensive Rod/Reel combo's. But I have seen very big fish caught on sticks with string.

I have to agree with this to. Ive only recently stepped my game up and bought more expensive gear(and spent 700 on two rod/reel set for it)because i know EXACTLY what i like to do, and do it alot. Buy decent gear, but dont go to nuts.

[kosmo]

You could just do what I did when I was a kid and get some canned corn and a 12 gauge. Works wonders.

[BeaverEater]

heck ive got a cheap spinning reel here you can use like forever, i have the pole for it too but the very tip got snapped off so i dont use it anymore.