Interested in starting
Never really fished before except for a handful of times when I was younger with my grandfather and my father. Grew up in WA so I suppose shame on me with the opportunities being so close and frequent. I’m moving to GA in April and hoping to be living in the northern parts near Dahlonega.
I’m recently really interested in getting my feet wet with fishing and possibly bringing my 2 yr old son along. Just trying to figure out where to start with 0 knowledge or background. I already know about licenses and whatnot so I at least have that covered. But how do y’all know why fish is what with so many species!? All the equipment.. good lord. Was wondering if y’all could point me in the right direction to educate myself.
Posted Nov 26, 2017, 4:34 AM UTC
Starting with equipment, I'd get a 6'6"-7' medium power fast action spinning rod. Power is basically how strong the rod is and action describes how it bends. Different actions and powers are good for different species, but medium/fast is pretty good for basically all freshwater species. Pair it with a medium sized reel and put around 8 lbs monofillment line on it (you could go a little stronger if you prefer, but I don't think I would go much higher than 15 lb line) the smaller the line the easier it is to cast.
Next choose what fish you want to catch. Think about where the fish lives, what it eats, what time it is active, and what water conditions it prefers. Use this information to choose location, time, and bait.
For example the most popular fish to target is probably the Largemouth Bass. They eat basically anything so there are a ton of lure choices, but the effectiveness can change depending on location and especially what season it is. LMB like ponds and lakes. They often hang around bays and like structure - weeds, underwater logs, docks, etc. Bass are fairly active all year round and most of the day. Again it is important to take season into account, top water baits such as poppers and frogs are really good on hot summer days when there are a lot of food on the surface, but in colder weather top water lures are useless. There are a lot of charts like this one that might help: https://s3media.247sports.com/Uploads/Assets/66/577/7577066.png
Every fish is a little different -Catfish live on the bottom and prefer live bait or dead bait rather than lures.
-Crappie like small lures and live minnows
-Sunfish like small worms, meal worms, and small lures
-Walleye like usually like deep cool water, they will hit on similar lures to bass, but are less likely to hang out in warm bays in the summer
As you get into it a little more start to ask other people what they are catching, ask around at baitshops. Fishermen usually love to brag about their catches so its really easy to get a lot of information. I also like to look around on google maps to look around lakes for find public ponds that aren't well known.
As for taking your son, at that age I imagine it would be hard keeping his attention for very long. Find a location that is loaded with small sunfish and take him there. Every young kid I have seen fishing are perfectly happy to catch 3 inch bluegills as long as they don't wait. As he gets older and more into it work him up nightfishing for catfish and then maybe using easier to use lures for bass (crankbaits maybe).