Newbie here who needs some help

[xenaki0001]

Me and a couple friends just decided to get back into fishing a few weeks ago. None of us have any real experience and my one friends is fishing for the first time in his life.

 

I'm leading the pack here with my 1 catch, a massive 5 inch long sunfish.

 

We are stuck fishing from shore for now. Mainly the mohawk river with a few small lakes strewn in there. We are fishing for whatever we can catch right now basically haha.

 

Our equipment sucks. We all have different $20 walmart rod/reel specials.

Mine is a Shakespeare Cirrus spinning combo, no idea what the others have(Mine's actually not so bad, but I want to be able to cast farther).

 

Any suggestions on a good rod, reel and line on the cheap and where to buy it? I would ideally like to be in the $50-100 range but could be persuaded to spend more if it was really worth it.

 

Second would be what tackle to purchase. I'd like to keep my total budget under $200-300 right now since I'm also looking at buying a lightweight canoe.

 

Any other advice/links to good reading material would be greatly appreciated!

[Wee Hooker]

A better rod and reel MAY help you cast further but not ,likely by a whole lot. Put some light (6#?) line on the rod and practice casting. Small spinnerbaits, rapalas, and rubber baits like worms, sluggo's etc is all you need to get started into bigger fish .

[Koofy Smacker]

If your just starting to get into it a lot of times my advice is buy the best stuff you can afford at first. On the other hand, if your not sure that it will hold your interest for that long, I would not go this route. For a decent spinning combo there are lots of ways you could go, but I would definitely stay towards the upper end of your budget. That being said, a rod that will last you a lifetime would be an ugly stik. My first one I used for trout and now it has actually become my fluke/flounder rod and it still doesnt break. They can be picked up almost anywhere for around $35. If you would like something thats a lot lighter and a lot more sensitive I would say look at the St. Croix Triumph series. They generally run about 50-60 dollars. For a reel, a Shimano Sedona is a good bang for your buck. It runs 59.99 at most stores and is a perfect bass reel. (Anything above the Sedona is just added refinement and features). And for now I would stick with mono. Braided lines get pretty expensive and its a whole other ball game. For fishing rivers and ponds I generally prefer 8-10 lb line. In the lures department, it can get pretty crazy looking at the aisles and aisles of lures. The simple senko will catch you tons of fish. The 3 inch can also catch sunfish as well as bass. Keep it simple at first, and if it really gets you into the sport thats the time to start exploring and spending every cent you have on lures. If I were you I would pair a Sedona with a nice cork handled ugly stik and youll be catching fish in no time!

[bluefish1928thing]

get a medium light ugly stick

 

get some 6 or 8 pound test line

 

get the cheaper end shimano or quantum reels (below 50 dollars)

a reel holding 100-120 yards or 8 or 6 pound test line

 

this outfit is a bit heavy for stream trout but can take on bass too.

you can still use it for trout

perfect for panfish (i fish areas with snags for panfish)

 

lures: beetle spins (about a dollar each)- white with red dot or yellow stripe on black body 1/8 oz and 1/16 oz ones

 

rooster tail, blue fox, or mepps spinners- get maybe like 2 of each size (1/10, 1/8, 1/4)

 

road runner jigs 1/8 and 1/16 oz sizes

 

 

since i just got into freshwater fishing (fished more in the salt in previous year) and only a hs student without income, I use cheap combos and cane poles myself.

 

I use somewhat decent rods with cheap reels

like a tsunami airwave with a cheap shakespeare reel

 

20 dollar dicks daiwa special (landed over 2 dozen bass from .5 to 5 pound with it)

 

But unlike some beginners, i do know what i'm doing- well most of the time

[Paul_M]

The way to go is a cheap rod w a good reel. Look for a 7' med spin rod and get the best Shimano 2000-3000 size reel you can afford spooled w 8lb copolymer line like silver thread. The cheapest way to buy line is a 3000yd spool but don't eff up and buy junky line.

 

Get you a couple 25 pack 3/0 gami ewg hooks and a few bags of senkos in watermelon w blk flake. Fish all the deeper spots along the mohawk especially anywhere near the locks, bridge abutments, etc. You'll be banging large and small mouth in no time.

[zipdaman12]

Wow, the mohawk river? My mother grew up in Amsterdam, NY I used to hang out around there every summer for years.......

 

I am somewhat of a freshwater newb. but from a newbs perspective.... Texas rigged senko or power bait in a realistic wormy color seems to be working for me. cast it, let it drop, retrieve slow allowing it to pause and drop down now and then.

 

I am just starting to look into other methods, i.e. topwater, jitterbugs, etc...

 

Good Luck!

 

Jack

[roverback65]

I don't know anything about your fishing location but I definitely agree with a few basic ideas I saw above. On the reel, I have had success with both the Shimano Sedona and Soltace (cheaper) which should be in the price range. I like the 2000 series in both. Regarding the rod, I would personally spend the $60 on the Triumph by ST. Croix. The 6' Medium Triumph is a great rod for multiple applications such as Senko's and topwaters. I don't have any but I understand that a decent Ugly Stick will get the job done also.

 

If I were building a new tackle box from scratch, I would definitely have a few Original Rapala's. Smaller spinnerbaits are great also. I spend about 1/2 my time between the Senko's and Rapala's alone. As far as lure sizes and color's, just ask the guy in your local tackle shop.

 

Best of luck

[zipdaman12]

I bought the 6' 6" St. Croix Triumph rod and I love it. I use a 9' St. Croix surfcasting rod as well. They offer great customer service.

[slowbee]

Im happy with all my gear, here is what i have and how it works for me. Maybe this will help in your research for some new gear. I see that i have a different rod than most. so between everyone posting you should have some sufficient data to choose from.

 

Rod-6 foot 7medium heavy pflueger supreme combo, 105 dollars at gander mt.

(i chose this set up cus like you i wanted to cast farther and i really wanted to upgrade mainly from my old rods and reels. it was just time to move on.

I chose medium heavy because of two reasons, one i fish alot of heavy cover towards august and with a lil heavier line you can rip the bass out of this cover. I should mention 90 percent of the time i fish for bass and the other ten percent musky and pike. reason number two for a MH rod, cus i like to cast for the pike in the evenings sometimes and a lil heavier rods helps, PS. i do not use this rod for musky)

 

Line-15lb spider wire braided camo or green line

(i know some of you are prolly thinking why 15lb, although the spider wire beats up on your reel, it does cast much smoother through the titanium eyes and seems to cast way farther, 15lb at 4lb diameter line cus i was using 10 lb at 2lb diameter and when i was using senkos it was not winding back in tight so i would catch of fish and the line would unwind with out the drag working)15lb solved this i think cus its much stiffer.problem but i am open to an other suggestions from anyone as well. im always looking for a new or better way! (if you fish this way tie a polumer knot it holds way better than the fishermans knot i believe its called, fishermans if you dont wrap seven times it seems to let loose in cast, polumer the best knot i believe. ps not sure if i spelled it right though.)

 

Lures-Senkos,Strike kings, rapalas, buzz baits,gulp sinking minnows, tube jigs(strike king has some nice bleeding ones)

 

i left spinners out cus i dont generally use them anymore unless i want pike!although my last few pike hit on my senkos.

i generally stick to the same type of colors on every lure, colors-watermelon,pumpkin seed, chartruese, white sometimes and black sometimes

and a natural crayfish color. BTW all my rubber baits have some sort of red sparkle in them, i even use a red weighted hook with my senkos and strike kings. my gulp sinking minnnows have red sparkle in them too. mainly i try to blend the color with the bottom of the water i am fishing it always seems to be watermelon that blends the best in rochester and 1000 islands area.

 

Rapalas-fire tiger, chartrues, pearch and there is a nice crayfish back watermelon looking, i like the suspending jointed model.

 

buzz bait-black, white, chartruese is my favorite

 

tube jigs-honestly i am stuck on senkos so i dont use tubes too much you may have more luck than me with them but same colors as senkos are sufficient.

 

kevin vandam didnt win the bassmasters by accident-everyone should have a chrome sexy shad, gold sexy shad and a normal sexy shad in their arsenal, made by strike king,(you wanna cast far this is the lure to do it with and it kills the bass) quick story i once casted from our boat to the road on the harbor by accident, i forgot to put the breaks on cus of the eye candy walking by, she looked at the lure when she walked by and was like what are you doing.BTW we were no weres near that road, it was by far my longest cast ever!

 

this is my main gear and what works for me, hopefully my info helps make your process a little bit easier.

[xenaki0001]

Thanks for all the great info guys! I've only skimmed over everything so far as I wasn't actually expecting to get so much information.

 

I will be digesting all of this information and putting my order together in the next day or two hopefully

 

Attempted to scout out a new location tonight.. the watervliet reservior. All we got was a bunch of posted signs basically forbidding anyone from even thinking about stepping foot there. Shame too, I always remember hearing about that place being some great fishing.

[vekzero]

I use a Shakespeare ugly stick it was cheap but it works great. I like Shakespeare rods and reel I haven't had any problems ever. As for tackle, one of my favorite lures for bass is fake worms. Like Gulp night-crawlers with a weedless texas rig. Spinner-baits and jigs work well too. But I have always had the best luck with plastic fake bait. One lure I LOVE with both panfish(sunfish, bluegill, and etc) and bass is the bitsy minnow. I have had sooo much luck with that fishing for whatever. Bluegill love it and it gets small to med size bass attention too.A friend and I got that lure one summer down camping. Next day all my friends asked there parents for a ride to walmart or a tackle shop to get them. I dont know if they are still around but if you find it grab one. They work well. Jitterbugs and topwater frogs are pretty boss as well.

[John Purser]

My advice would be to go slow on the tackle/gear buying and long on the fishing. These guys all have good advice about what works for them in their waters but they aren't you. While fishermen mostly pursue a few species of game fish the INDUSTRY is built around one species of trash fish: the sucker.

 

Fish when you can. Read when you can't fish. Spend when you need to.

[bowboy09]

Keep it simple for now.Buy some senkos in a natural color(baby bass watermelon,red,green pumpkin).Pick up at least 2 packs or senkos(you will go them quick).Dont buy an off brand,they don't produse fish for me!A pack of 3/0 hooks.It is nice to have a inline spinner and a 3 or 4 inch long rapala too.

 

 

Good luck

[gnelson651]

I was in your position about 2 years ago starting with the same Cirrus outfit I bought at Walmart, it was my first spinning gear. I thought it was a nice ultralight outfit and it served me well (I caught a 5 lb bass on it using 4 lb line-quite a nice fight). I used it so much my rod guides have grooves cut by the fishing line.

 

That is the problem with the inexpensive stuff, it doesn't last long. As has been suggested, buy the best you can afford.

 

Here is how I approached collecting my fishing gear. I looked for sale items that where of good quality and bought gear as I went along. I bought a nice Quantaam reel at a fraction of the cost when Sportsmen Warehouse was going out of business. I've bought some nice rods on sale both online or in the stores.

 

The same went for tackle. I'd buy what I needed and looked for tackle on sale to add to my tackle box. On fishing line, I bought different lines to experiment and see if it is something I'd like to use. For the money and overall fishing, you can't beat Trilene XL: Good knot strength and castibility.

 

Whether than going out and buying a complete outfit, use what you have and add on as you go when you find good deals on equipment. Don't be afraid to experiment with different lines and lures. Be sure to ask questions of those who fish your area or at a bait shop to learn what the fish are biting or where they are most likely located. Also be aware of you surroundings and watch or listen for a fish splash or birds to tell you where the fish are. Read books on the species of fish you are targeting and learn their behavior and habits. Buy a good pair of polarized sunglasses.

 

The process of learning to become a good angler is one of experimenting, information mining and practicing. Practicing being the big one. I live near a small urban lake and my education for fishing improved expodentionally when I started to fish there 2-3 times a week.

 

Just have fun by start collecting the gear you need and build up your knowledge base*. Its a fun ride where some days you catch and some days you skunk.

 

* Beware of FGQS-Fishing Gear Acquition Syndrome, its habit forming and you will buy stuff that goes in your tackle box that will never see the light of day again.