Fishing primer?

[flyweightnate]

Anyone have a good "primer" for bass fishing?

We're driving to Caddo Lake for spring break - the Texas side - and staying a couple nights in a little rental on the water. My six year old wants to try fishing, and so do I.

I snagged a Zebco 33 and a cheap spinner rod and some tackle, but I'm not sure what to do with it. I hear there are lots of black bass and some crappie, as well as pickerel, here. I looked at the take limits (less than 14" or more than 18"?) in case we want to cook one.

What else do I need to know? I'm just gonna grab some worms for my kid, but thought the floating frogs sounded fun too. A "starting to fish 101" website would be much appreciated. I've fished exactly once in the last twenty years - a friend literally handed me his fishing rod with a Frog tied on at a campsite, and a little bass bit in a couple tries. I don't expect to be so lucky again.

[Junglepeanut]

Water might still be a bit cold for frog fishing. I would say the most efficient and easiest way to just go out and catch some bass is throwing Keitech impact style swimbaits on a lead head. Just chuck them out and slow roll them back in. I let them just tick across the bottom. If there are bass around, they will bite. Small ones will work on Crappie as well but they like more of vertical jigging type retrieve.... Lots of ways to catch some bass but Keitechs are about as idiot proof of a technique as there is

But chucking out live nigh crawlers will almost always produce

Crappie are great eating... bass I personally won't eat.... Pickerel are not something we have my way so I can't give any advice on those

[flyweightnate]

Awesome, I got something just like the Keitech thing in the clearance bin when I picked up the reel.

[BrickHaus]

100% agree on the crappie being the only fish to eat. Bass is oily. I believe a pickerel is essential a northern pike variant. They are only good pickeled in my opinion. Hard to clean, and slimy.

But pickeled they are a nice firm white meat fish.

[Chuck E Ducky]

I do really well with strike king spinners. I like the smaller ones for more action. You can get them at most Walmart for cheap.

[Shan1Fat]

What store would you be picking up tackle from? May be we can help put together a cart based on that.

[flyweightnate]

Academy is the closest spot... but I'm in Dallas, so there are stores everywhere

[Shan1Fat]

Check this site/video out here --> https://www.tacticalbassin.com/blog/...atch-more-fish

Don't worry so much about the rod/reel selections based on bait/technique.

If I could only pick three baits from this video I'd go Keitech, Zoom Super Fluke, and Senko.

[glaman5266]

I don't fish often, but my 2 cents:

I'll eat most freshwater fish. Panfish with a simple breading & pan fried is always a good go-to. Pike can be difficult/tedious to do, as they have a lot of bones. De-boning is a pain, but so is picking them out as you eat. And get a good fillet knife.

I usually jig fish or bobber fish for panfish. Most of the time it's catch & release for fun. As Junglepeanut stated, live nightcrawlers almost always get you fish. I like Mini-Mites for panfish jigging and small Fireball Jig-n-Minnows or nightcrawlers for bobber fishing. I've also had an excellent time with the Berkley Gulp! baits, though those are a wet bait (comes in a jar). If I want to try for bigger stuff I just use whatever I think is best based on water conditions & see what happens.

Mini-Mites: https://www.cubbylure.com/cubby-mini-mite-jig/
Fireball Jig-n-Minnow: https://thesportsmanshut.com/online-...g-n-minnow-6pk
(I don't shop there, it's just to show what they look like, and they come in various sizes)
Berkley Gulp!: https://www.berkley-fishing.com/fish...soft-bait/gulp
(there's a lot of different kinds & many places should have a variety to look at)

I started working at a hardware store not too long ago & it boggles my mind how much fishing stuff there is. I mean, how the fruit do you know what to even use?! We have a whole 4' section, top to bottom loaded with JUST Scandia ice fishing jig heads. I don't even know what I'd pick from that. The sheer selection of baits (not to mention rods, reels, etc.) is rather intimidating to me.

I fish for fun, not for food. So when I get the urge to go I like things to go off without a hitch. I keep my gear & bait selections simple and hassle-free. I don't know much about rods & reels, but you don't need much. Don't get bogged down with the sheer amount of stuff on the market. Keep it simple for starters, like using a Tippmann for paintball. There's nothing wrong with a plain Ugly Stik fishing rod, despite their low-ish price. IMO they're one of the best all-around rods out there for simply having fun & putting a little food on the table.

I'm not sure if you hunt, but I view hunting similarly. Get the basics down & use something simple & reliable. You don't need a match-grade AR with a Leupold scope shooting perfectly measured handloads with moly-coated bullets to put food on the table.

[flyweightnate]

Yeah, this is Tippman grade fishing. Mostly because I don't need another pricey hobby! I'll check out those jigs; the videos Shan1 posted showed how they're used which kind of surprised me.

[JonM]

It may not be Bassmaster glamourous, but often times a simple worm and a bobber will get it done and requires very little investment or skill to use effectively. Beyond that, a basic Senko worm will produce 365 days a year if you throw it in the right places. You can rig them many different ways too - Texas rigged, wacky rigged, dropshot, Carolina rigged... way too many techniques to list here. As for color selection, if the water is clear and the sun is out, then more natural colors like green pumpkin are very effective. If the water is murky and/or the sun is obscured with heavy clouds, then higher contrast colors like black and junebug are more effective. It mostly comes town to visibility in the water.

With it being February, I probably wouldn't be fishing topwater just yet. That's not to say you can't catch a fish on a frog this time of year, but deeper techniques are more likely to produce.

I know this winter has been pretty mild, so Texas may be getting close to, if not already in the pre-spawn season. During the pre-spawn, lures like lipless crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and Chatterbaits should do well.

Target areas where bass are likely to live. They're ambush predators, so places like grass, downed trees, rock piles, stumps, sharp drop-offs, points, and other places a bass can hide to ambush prey are more likely to hold fish than open flats would. You want to get your lure right in its face. A bass isn't as likely to swim out far to chase down your lure. If you're fishing something like a stump, don't just throw your lure in the general area of that stump - hit the stump. Yes, you may get hung up more often, but you're also more likely to catch fish if you get your lure in its face. The more you keep your lure in the strike zone, the more likely you are to get bit.

[flyweightnate]

Cool... I'll practice my aim! Didn't know fish were lazy, TBH. We're not heading to the lake until spring break, so hopefully it'll be pretty warm by then...

[zenmic]

Flyweightnate, since you are in the DFW area, there are lots of places to get started. Just about any of the parks with lakes/ponds will have fish in them. The Zebco 33 is a classic. Tried and true, many people kids/adults started with that setup and moved up. Hell, last year for a bit of nostalgia, I bought another one for myself. I took it out on a whim and caught a 2lb bass. Like paintball, the tools help, but in the end it is the skills.

That being said, Lake Bethany in Bethany Park in Allen is a good place to mess around. If you are closer to Plano, then Oak Point Nature Center has a good pond. If you are closer to Frisco, then Russell Creek Park, as well as Frisco Commons Park.

Now, as for setups, for the kids that want to just bait and wait, then live bait is the way to go. Snag a container of either nightcrawlers or red wrigglers (both are species of earthworms) and put them on a hook and bobber setup. The kids toss the setup in the water, the bait does the rest. Depending on the location and time of year, panfish can be all over the place. If it is a good spot, then you as a parent are going to be busy hooking bait, unhooking fish, and shouting the kid on.

For the adult wanting to try large-mouth bass fishing then things get a little more interesting. As a beginner the biggest thing for you is getting technique and snagging crap in the water. That being said, I suggest you look at the weedless setups, that are typically called "Do Nothing" rigs. The famous of the two are the Texas Rig (which is not exactly a Do Nothing, but is certainly a weedless technique) and the good ole Senko. Looking at those rigs from a newbie standpoint, the way you hook the bait is the same. The difference being with or without a bullet weight. Gary Yamamoto Senko, is probably the most famous of the stick baits, and the most effective of them. The secret sauce in that bait is whatever method they do to that bait, makes it twitch and fall in the water like a dying bait fish, thus you have to do little more than throw it in the water, let it fall to the bottom, reel in the slack, let it fall, and repeat until the bait is back to you, then cast out again and do it again. Usually the strike is on the fall. You know it is a strike, or take, when the line moves in a direction away from you, or you feel the fish tugging on the line as it swims away with the bait. Then you do a hookset and hold on.

The classic rigging is an EWG (Extra Wide Gap) hook say a 3/0 or a 4/0 size hook, and the plastic worm. I say if you are a complete newbie, on a spin-cast (Zebco 33) or a basic spinning reel then go with the Senko and just the EWG hook, never mind a weight. Make sure to hook it weedless (there are a ton of videos and articles on the internet to explain how to hook the plastic worm), then go play. After you are comfortable with this technique then start branching out. I taught this technique to my father-in-law from Hong Kong (a know it all), and now he has decided that he is an "expert."

Location, location, location is a key thing with fishing. However, since you are going to try in the early Spring, and closer to Louisiana then the fish should be out on the prowl ready to gorge for their spawnning.

Post up pics of your catches.

[flyweightnate]

Awesome advice, thanks.
I'm right in Dallas, so last night I took the Zebco 33 that had arrived in the mail, and my son, and some cheap frogs (weedless and easy to see) and had him practice casting for a good hour. He had a blast. There's a pond that was stocked with a couple hundred trout, I found out... we didn't see any trout, but also had fun, so I'm calling it a win!
I'll try those rigs you mentioned with the Senko... not only are you in Texas, but the third or fourth to mention it!

Might be worth driving north to check out those spots you named, too.

[zenmic]

Flyweightnate, if it is not too personal, where in Dallas are you? I might be able to tell you some spots to mess around. The DFW area is great for folks with like to fish. There is a guy in Dallas proper who is a fly fisherman, and I have caught up with him a few times. I have fly fished more since moving to the DFW area than I ever did in California. He is writing a book about urban fly fishing in the DFW metro area.

If you go to Giant Party Sports Paintball Park in Parker, TX, then both Bethany Park and Oak Point Nature Center is relatively close by. Before that field became of Giant Paintball, and I just moved into the area. I was trying to get to Lavon Lake to check it out, and saw the sign for paintball. I turned around and happen to have one of my paintball event T-shirts on, so I ended up talking up with the folks on the field for about a hour.

[flyweightnate]

White rock lake, basically. The cheap(er) side of it!

Oh, and this paintball thing you mentioned... I might need to try that again this year. Been a good 9 months or so.

[zenmic]

I have fished a few times at some sections of White Rock Lake and have gotten mixed results. I understand that there are largemouth bass, white/sand bass, crappie, catfish, and sunfish in that body of water. I have yet to catch a white bass or crappie out of that body of water. That is a decent body of water, especially in the middle of a city. Walk the shore line, find a open spot, and give it a try.

[Embier]

Learn to tie the Palomar knot. Suuuuper easy and it just works.

[Junglepeanut]

He speaks the truth...... Best knot out there and easy to learn. Nothing worse than hooking a lunker and your knot fails

[flyweightnate]

Oooh..Ooh... I like this. I've been losing my mind trying to tie a uni-knot with 20lb mono with cold fingers while my son keeps pulling on the reel.