Tips for First Time Fishers: Guide to Your First Purchases

Cree-Lake-Lodge-Sunset-with-people-fishingFishing can be a terrific hobby, but if you’ve never fished before, it can seem a bit daunting. You don’t have to start with expensive equipment. Beginners can start with a rod, fishing line and a few accessories. Your new hobby doesn’t have to be expensive.

Starter Gear

Rod and Reel
For a beginning fisher, you’ll need to purchase a rod and reel. You can purchase one at a local department store, bait shop or a sports store. They can range in price from a little over $10 to $30. You don’t need to pay an excessive amount of money for the first rod and reel. At this point, you shouldn’t worry about the kind of rod. There are choices between cane, graphite and fiberglass, but for a starter rod, you can choose one that feels comfortable for an affordable price.

The fishing line should fit with the body of water you’re going to fish. For fresh water like ponds or lakes, you’ll want a small spool of 6- or 8-pound monofilament line. For salt water, you’ll want 10- or 12-pound line.

Accessories

Bobbers
You don’t need to worry about a large cache of fishing gear, but you will need a few bobbers for fresh water fishing. The plastic bobbers you choose should be easy to see in the water. They come in a variety of bright colors like orange and white, which are the most common.

Hooks
The toughest part of fishing can be finding the correct hook for the type of fish you want to catch. You can’t catch large fish with a tiny hook. Alternatively, you can’t catch tiny fish with a large hook. Purchase a few sizes since they’re relatively inexpensive. When you’re fishing, getting bites and losing your bait, you can switch the hook for one that is smaller.

Bait
The bait you bring to the fishing spot can be purchased or caught yourself. Worms dug from your backyard is a free way to bait your hook. You can purchase shiners, night crawlers or crickets from a bait shop too.

The Fishing Process

If you’re fishing from the shore of a lake or pond, you will have to cast your line out into the water to catch anything. When fishing from the edge of a dock, you could lower your bobber into the water without casting. Make sure to bait your hook and attach the bobber. The bobber should be set above the hook from a few inches to one foot away. It depends on how deep the water and how deep you’d like the hook to sit.

Once you start fishing, you might find that it’s the best time you’ve ever had. You can graduate to better rods as well as artificial bait later as you get the hang of it.

About the Author: Nick is a guest contributor from Miss Kitty’s Fishing Getaways, a vacation rental company in Rockport, Texas.

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