Fishing is a great hobby to spend time with your friends or family to have a good time. It is a great skill and learning how to fish is really fun and enjoyable by adding a new bonding activity for you and your family.
There is a lot of fish in the waters for you to reel in. To start fishing, first, you need to plan your trip. Gather all the necessary stuff with yourself like gear, pole, and bait. Select a place where more fish are active. Then sit near to water and start the fun.
How to Fish Checklist for Beginners
Before starting any fishing skill, first, it is important to know what are the TIPS FOR FISHING TO HELP YOU FISH BETTER step to learning that makes the base of the learning a skill. Below is a simple comprehensive fishing checklist for How to fish beginners.
These things are needed for you to get started.
- Getting a fish license
- Get the gear
- Your tackle and Lures
- Casting and catching your first fish
- Landing your fish
After making sure that you checked off every item on the list. Also, keep one thing in your mind learning how to fish is not a skill that can be mastered in one day. You have to learn it by giving it time and practicing it more and more.
Mastering how to fish takes a lot of time. Because it is not a single skill, it involves a set of skills like understanding situations, finding the best location, and choosing a target. For example, fishing with the help of a pier is completely different while fishing miles offshore. Furthermore, fishing in a lake, freshwater, a river, ice fishing, and saltwater fishing also differ.
However, the good point is that if you learn the basics of fishing, the rest is easy no matter how the situation is doesn’t matter.
How to Get Started Fishing
To get started with how to fish you should go out with your friends who are experts in fishing. These people will give you their experience of catching fish and give you some instructions that you need to follow and some precautions that you have to prohibit while fishing.
By applying this method, you will learn the basic theory and idea of how to fish faster and all your ambiguities will be cleared.
There is also a drawback while learning from your angler friends because they will only teach you the methods and techniques of catching fish they only know. If your friends or the person from whom you are learning how to fish, catch fish only in lakes or rivers they will lack the experience of fishing in saltwater on high seas.
The same situation as your friend if he fishes only bass, he will lack valuable information on catching trout or ice fishing. Once you learn how to fish then mastering it will take time. You have to be patient and fish as more as possible and after a lot of experience you will understand it fully.
You need to follow the steps given below if you want to start fishing.
Step 1: Get a Fishing License
To start fishing you need to get a fishing license. Every state forces you to have a license while fishing. Don’t panic because these licenses can be easily get from the concerned department but you have to spend some money. The prices of licenses differ from country to country and state to state. You can apply for a fishing license online or you can make it from your fishing shop or any concerned store.
Step 2: Get the Gear
After getting a license you have to collect the necessary tools for fishing. This step becomes more interesting. You will need to find the best fishing gear for yourself. There are many fishing gear types. You have to choose the gear which makes your angling life easier and more comfortable.
The thing that matters the most is that each fishing gear is manufactured to catch a specific type of fish and some are designed to help you in adopting a perfect fishing style. You will have to do research on selecting the best gear to fish more easily and efficiently.
Deducted from my experience, you can’t learn all these tips in one day or a short time. You need to try them one by one until you find the best one that suits your requirements.
My advice if you are a beginner
If you are a beginner in fishing, I will advise you to use a spinning rod and reel combo. There are a lot of good reasons to use it.
- The spinning rod and reel combo means that they are found together and you will buy them as one tool and they can be easily set up.
- The spinning rod and reel combo allows you to skip lures under low-hanging bushes, piers, docks, etc.
- Some reels come with a swappable reel handle which facilitates the fisherman to hold it in right-hand as well as in their left hand without any need to buy a separate fishing rod for a specific orientation.
- You can easily adjust your drag when fishing the fish if you use a spinning rod and reel combo.
Step 3: Your Tackle and Lures
These are the next things on the list you need to arrange. This can also be a hard decision to make on how to select bait and lures for fishing because there are many varieties of bait and lures in the market. You need to select something specific because many of them are designed to attract specific fish types in specific fishing conditions.
You don’t need to be an expert in selecting tackle or lures for your fishing. Everything doesn’t come in one go and it will take time but don’t worry you will understand everything once you fish a lot and gain a bit of experience.
Just you need need to master the basics. In the beginning, you will have to fish with live bait, such as worms if you are a beginner. If you don’t want to choose worms then Powerbait would be a great choice for you. PowerBait is a scented material you can make around your hook.
After trying live bait a few times once you feel comfortable with them you should consider lures which should be much similar to small bait fish and they will attract more fish attraction
You can also feel the need of :
- Bobbers – these are small balls that remain on the surface of the water until a fish hits your lure. After the fish hit the lure they sink signaling you that you have fish on the line.
- A net – A rubber net is recommended for dragging out the fish from the water once you have reeled in.
- Needle-nose pliers – These are used to get back your hook and lures present inside the fish mouth
- Tackle Box – this box will help you keep your equipment safe in a box needed for fishing
Note
You should remember that you will use fist tackle, rods, reels, or even hooks lifetime. After getting experience in fishing you will improve your skills and tools which would help you a lot. After becoming an expert, you will try to enhance your skills and tools which will help you a lot.
So don’t worry and take the stress. Just use the tools and when the right time comes and you get familiar with fishing and want to experience new rods, reels, or even hooks you can try to help yourself to make it more fun and enjoyable.
Step 4: Casting and Catching Your First Fish
It depends upon the situation Maybe your first fishing experience would be more fun or maybe it becomes more complicated. But you don’t need to panic you should need to be calm and patient. As a beginner, it is a good idea to angle on the bank or a river or a steady and calm river so that you get familiar with the tools and process of fishing.
Casting
A unique and demanding skill that every person who wants to learn fishing should need to master. You will throw your bait and lures closer to the most active location where most fish are found. As a beginner, it is a good idea to get used to a spinning reel. Below are some steps to follow:
- Start fishing by tying 6 inches of line to the end of your rod
- Make the reel under your head
- Bail on a spinning reel keeps your line in the right place. After holding the line with your fingers, make the spinning reel.
- After holding the line with your finger, flip the bail
- Make the rod tip upward slightly behind yourself.
- With the help of your elbow and west, cast forward the rod,
- Slowly bring the rod tip up and a little behind you and push on the lure in the air in the direction of fish
- Flip back the bail after the lure hits the water, and start reeling to attract the fish.
Hooking the Fish
While hooking a fish you need two things to avoid that are:
- Lures being spat out by fish
- Breaking your line and releasing the fish
Normally these two things are experienced by expert anglers. However, by following the below tips you can lower the chances of this happening.
Properly set the hook
Setting the hook properly demands experience and a skilled angler because you have to set it at the exact time and needed amount of pressure –You can make it by looking at the bobber. When you notice any movement, quickly point your rod tip up and put it back with a little amount of pressure.
By doing this your fish’s mouth wouldn’t be ripped through the lips. All it takes is the right timing. Instead of making the hook deeper in the mouth, you should make it in the fish’s lip instead
Keep your rod tip up
After setting the hook properly, now you have to play with fish while making the rod tip up. You let fish struggle and swim around freely while it is hooked to your line making them very tired. After tired enough, crank it and scoop it with the help of your rubber net.
Pro Tips
Always make sure that your line is taut (“keep your slack in”), and get to know your reel’s specific drag system. You will find that different rods and reels have another drag system. If you are angling for smaller fish, you will be happier with a rod and reel that offers less drag, while the opposite is true if you are going after bigger fish.
Step 5: Landing Your Fish
After doing your job in a reasonable manner and playing a little with your fish and making it very tired and now the fish is tired and near the bank of the river. While reeling in make sure that the line is taut. -Now rubber net will be used at this time.
Once the fish is an arm’s length away from you, you could very well reach out and grab it; although it might not be the best idea. Fish tend to be quite slippery and a little scaly. Instead of just letting the fish swim away or be eaten alive, you could use your rubber net to scoop it up and throw it on the shore. This is a much more humane way of catching fish.
Make sure to avoid the fish out of the water as long as you can your own breath.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, you may think that fishing is something that only a few people can do, but the truth is that anyone can learn how to fish. And once you’ve learned how to fish, you can use it for a lifetime. Fishing is one of the most popular outdoor sports in the world. There are numerous ways to go about catching a fish.
Some people prefer to use a rod and reel while others prefer to use a fishing pole. Many people like to use bait while others use live bait. Some people use a net or a hook and line. However, the one thing that everyone agrees on is that it takes practice to become a successful fisherman.
