How To Choose Your First Fishing Gear

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Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed

The Sport of Fishing has new members enter on a regular basis. Each person has their own reason for wanting to pickup a rod and reel and go fishing. However, each year, scores ofpeople go out and beg, borrow or steal their first fishing reel and rod in hopes of carrying home a meal of fish to skin for the freezer.

Below is an easy to follow list of basic fishing tackle you’ll need to start fishing right away. You won’t need expensive or complicated gear to begin. Everyone knows that fishing tackle makers make fishing tackle to catch the Fishermen’s eye instead of fish. The Fishing gear I used to catch fish many years ago still catch fish today. In fact, it may even work better today seeing how the fish haven’t seen this particular offerings over and over again.

Tackle to catch Fish doesn’t have to be overly complicated. Simple set-ups work best for any fish. This point was driven home many years ago when a Buddy and I went Bass fishing on a popular lake. The weather was hot that day, even for June. We gave up fishing at noon and was loading the boat on the trailer when this Old Man and 2 kids came in from fishing.

When they got out, they had a huge stringer of Black Bass. The biggest one was 6 and a half pounds and none were under 2 pounds. I walked over and asked the Old Man what they had used for bait, seeing how my Buddy and I were skunked that morning and we had been using the latest equipment and lures on the Market. The Old Man smiled and showed me his Minnow bucket and said “Why we were using Bass Minnows and Worms”! I also couldn’t keep from noticing their very simple fishing rods and reels. Their basic fishing tackle had outfished a couple local Pro’s with the latest in Rods, reels and fishing tackle!

The basic fishing equipment you’ll have to have in order to be successful at catching fish is a Rod and Reel, line and bait. It’s as simple as that. Where do you get your tacke at, your local sporting goods store or Wal-Mart has all the basic tackle you’ll need. I’d suggest a Rod and Reel combo like the Zebco 33 and a matching rod. You may even find this cheaper online.

Level wind reels take quite a bit of experience and practice to use properly. Spinning reels are not as difficult to use, but you do need to know how to properly cast one or you’ll end up with a mess on your hands.

Now on your fishing tackle list comes the fishing line. If you bought a rod and reel combo, chances are it came with line already on it. If not, or you want to change the line, then I’d suggest a 10lb line from either Stren or Trilene. Don’t fall for the marketing hype that you need expensive line. Trilene and Stren is good line and all that one needs.

Now we’re at bait selection. Start with live bait and work your way up to artificials. Again, ignore the marketing hype. Live bait catches more and bigger fish day in and day out than artificial lures do. When you’re in the Fishing Dept. of your favorite store, look for Eagle Claw live bait hooks in the 1/0 to 3/0 sizes and get a few packs. Next try and find some weights. You can generally find the ones that come several sizes to a package. Split shot is a great weight for beginners. Next, check out the floats. I like to use the Balsa wood floats. I use the slip floats. These slide up and down the line for easy adjustment. They’re held in place at the top by a knot or bobber stop. You’re now ready to head out to your fishing hole!

And that’s all you really need to get started Fishing. The fishing tackle I recommend here should cost you less than a hundred dollars. The fishing companies have made it seem like catching a Bass is nearly impossible unless you’re using the latest and greatest gear on the Market. Nothing could be further from the truth. Catching a mess of fish couldn’t be easier, that is, if they cooperate!

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