Getting a noob hooked on fishing

[reefrunner]

Hey guys and gals,

I'm taking a buddy of mine for his first fishing trip ever this weekend and was just wondering what your experiences are when teaching a newbie how to fish (mind you he's 27, lol)?

Should I start him off on a worm and bobber for pannies for him to get the "feel" of it? Progressively move toward bigger baits throughout the weekend? Or just have him chucking spinnerbaits and cranks from the getgo? Is he gonna be up for sitting in a boat for hours on end, lol?

Hopefully it's a productive weekend and I can get him into some fish. Let's hear some stories, good or bad.

 

[diggyj]

I would get him castiung something different from what you are throwing, but I guess it depends on what you are targeting.

If its BASS then I would have one person using a crank or spinner and the other tossing a tube or SENKO. Get him to use whatever is easier. Dragging a Tube and feeling bites is probably harder to do for a newbie than casting a heavy crank.

Tournament anglers always use different baits and colours until they find something that works so I would suggest the above until one of you hooks into something.

I find newbiews get bored easily when using a worm and bobber especially if the fish aren't biting. At least they have some involvement if they are continuously casing and retreiving.

Dirk

 

[reefrunner]

I like your diversification of options strategy Dirk! Thanks for your input.

 

[Mykester]

If I take a friend of mine fishing, just a simple worm and bobber will suffice. Like mentioned above, the panfish will keep them occupied.

 

[reefrunner]

Thanks Mykster; love the Homer avatar BTW.

Well the lake we'll be fishing is very weedy and, since it's a long weekend, I expect heavy pressure. I know that spending hours on end on the water is no problem for fishers like us, chalk one up for the fishing disease, but "regular" folk may not take the duration. :mrgreen:

I figure I'll have my friend use a 7foot med spinning outfit spooled with braid for sensitivity for bass & pike; show him how to work a spinnerbait and small jointed cranks, and get him used to ripping and pulling off weeds. On the side I'll have a 6foot light action spinning outfit spooled with 6 pound mono rigged for worm fishing for pannies he can alternate to.

That way I can turn my attention to throwing plastics, jigs and more finesse style approaches; figure out a pattern and take it from there.

Seriously no stories out there of newbies? First time I took a friend out, years ago, it was also his first fishing experience. I had him going good on an orange syclops, he caught a snot-rocket pike but would reel in like no tomorrow, until the leader feeds through the guides, lol, while I'm wrastling to get the hook out of the little guy. My cousin's fiancee still sets a hook 20 times and loses the fish everytime because of the slack in the line after the intial, and only, hookset he should really need.

I'm just praying it's not a gong show!

 

[David Kearney]

good luck out there, I have taken plenty of noobs fishing, and I always seem to get skunked, they get bored and don`t wanna come back out, but when I am out alone I have no probs catching, thats the way the ball bounces, funny like!

 

[Mykester]

You want stories, eh? I took my younger sister fishing in a stocked trout pond. We were using those yellow plastic scented eggs. We were bottom fishing. After of about 5 minutes she had a huge strike on her rod. She go too excited and started reeling in without even setting the hook :mrgreen: She lost the fish almost instantly and we didn't catch anything for the remainder of the day.

 

[ec1]

I find that you gotta probably find smoething very very spectacular to hook friends into fishing for life and possibly turn into someone like you for fishing. My point: none of my friends are as hooked to fishing as much as me.

Let me give you two stories:
Last Year, I took 3 friends fishing from shore at night...They all barely knew what to do and what we ended up using was a lighted float with a minnow immitation underneath it. At first, they were just tangling up and I would sit there and untangle everything for them, and finally they got the hang of using the float! Nearing the end of the night, two of my three friends caught themselves a handful of rock bass and sunfish, and at the same time, each of them caught themselves and 10 - 11 inch crappie. They enjoyed the fight a lot more compared to the rock bass and smaller crappie, and at that time, those two would come fishing with me every so often....stay out for a very long fishing trip, but they won't go with me on consecutive days...

This year, I went with a friend that had his first taste last year, but he hasn't touched a rod for about a year. I took him out early in the year, again at night with the float and minnow immitation. Although bass season wasn't open, he caught himself a 2lb LMB early on into the night, and he was ready to go fishing more often. He enjoyed the fight a lot, and was ready to get some more fish of that size. Later on in the year, I got him into his first crankbait walleye, although it was very small.
He later goes with me about once a week until recently, where he went back to manitoba for school.

 

[reefrunner]

lol, great stories guys. I have a feeling I may be untieing knots and untangling line for a good portion of the day, hahahaha. Thanks for everyone's input!