JOIN US - LIVE TAPING OF THE ALL OUTDOORS TV SHOW
at the STONEY POINT GRILL
December 9, 2008 we will be taping two shows before a studio audience and you are invited. One show will be taped at 7PM and a second show at 8PM. Thanks to the Bass Pro Shop in Bolingbrook, we will have a FREE raffle between the two shows and after the second show. Stoney Point Grill is located just east of LaGrange Rd. (Rt 45) off 191st Street in Mokena. Enter the driveway between Denny's and White Castle. Come early and enjoy the shows.
Articles
Getting Started on Bassin by Don Dziedzina |
I’ve been receiving a lot of emails from local anglers catching some nice fish from nearby waters. There’s no doubt about it that bass fishing seems to be a favorite of so many anglers. Photos that I receive are often of bass at probably a five to one ratio over everything else.
Along with the emails come some questions about how to get started into bass fishing.
Bass fishing is unique. Anglers will use tackle from light to medium to heavy. There are so many variables; it can be confusing and literally impossible to wrap it up in just a few paragraphs. But is it possible to have a strong starting point? You bet there is. Down the road a bit I’ll share some more in depth techniques for bassin’. For now, we’ll get back to the basics and get some fish on the hook for the new bass angler.
Starting with the tackle for the beginner a spinning rod and reel is a good beginning. For the average person, a rod that is about six foot long and medium action will be fine. The spinning (open faced) reel should be middle of the road too. Look at the spool. It should say that it will take line from six to ten pound test.
If you seem to be lacking the confidence of using a spinning reel, go to a spincast combo. This will be a closed face reel, one that has less of a learning curve when it comes to being able to cast a lure or bait. Same deal here, medium action rod and reel with ability to cast six to ten pound test.
For line, six pounds test is plenty. Using good line like Berkley Trilene Sensation in Solar color is my suggestion. I’ll explain why later. Forget about the braided lines or fluorocarbon lines for now.
Lures? There are too many now for the beginner to try. And to decipher which ones to buy will make you crazy. Go to the hook department of the tackle shop. Pick up a package of Aberdeen hooks, size 4 or 6. These are light wire hooks that will bend if you get snagged up, yet will get hold onto a fish. Also pick up a package of pinch on split shot. You’ll find boxes with assorted sizes for a few bucks so get them.
Bait for the beginner should be a healthy, thick and juicy nightcrawler. Buy them at the bait shop or gather your own. It’s important that the container has enough moisture to keep them wet. More important though is to keep them cold. Crawlers will absorb moisture making them think and hardy. Cold will keep them lively. This goes for storage and while on the lake. Keep crawlers in a cooler and on ice.
Now, how about if we put the package together?
A medium action rod and reel will handle large and small fish. You’ll probably catch more smaller fish at first, but that will give you experience. This rig will also be able to handle the lunker that can come by and take your offering.
The lighter line of six pound test will be sufficient for most any fish you could catch. As long as you let the rod fight the fish by letting it bend and you have the drag set properly, you should never loose a fish.
Setting the drag on the reel means adjusting it so that when you pull line out, it takes some resistance but is not so tight that the line will break or so loose where it comes off the reel easily. Never pull on the line by the reel. Grab the line about six inches from the tip of the rod, bend the rod and pull down. It is set properly when the line comes off the reel slowly when the rod is bent in half.
Tie on a hook and pinch on a split shot onto the line about two feet above the hook. Use your fingers, not pliers. Pliers will pinch the split shot so hard that it will weaken the line.
Put the small Aberdeen hook into the tip of the juicy nightcrawler just one time. This allows the worm to move about naturally. The tip is the end where the sex band is found.
The light line, small hook and a crawler is a simple presentation. Cast it out near things you see from the surface that you would think would be cover for the fish. Cast it next to a bush, the edge of weeds, by a boulder, in a corner, off a point. Just think of hiding places and cast to them.
Let the worm sink to the bottom and let it sit. Watch the green line. If it starts to move off, point the rod at that direction, reel in any slack, and once it loads up, i.e. is feeling heavy, rear back on the rod and cross the fish’s eyes.
Live bait will catch more fish for you. Let this be a starting point. From there you can use artificial worms, get into crankbaits, spinnerbaits, top waters, swim baits, grubs, buzzbaits, etc. There’s also deep water, shallow, fishing shorelines, points, weeds, rocks, natural and artificial structure and more. You see it may not be easy to explain bass fishing in a paragraph or two. It could take volumes. But to get started begin with the basics and we can move on from there.
