Tips for a newbie?

[Chris]

Hey, I am 15 years old and I really enjoy bass fishing and I was wondering if I could get some basic tips?
I live in Virginia but I fish on a lake up in Pennsylvania where the state record bass came from. I caught a few bass there, an 8 inch pikeral, and there are freshwater jellies there.
So I was wondering things like what seasons are good for fishing (can I even fish and expect to get anything in the winter?), what parts of lakes to fish, what kind of lures to use where, that kind of stuff.

Help would be greatly appreciated.

[Fishie]

Yeah bass still bite. One tip is to always watch your line for bites. I would visit the articles section on here to learn more about bass fishing first. THere are a lot of good reads there.

[Rebbasser]

Welcome to the forum!

Those questions could fill volumes with the answer, so rather than just throwing out a lot of different stuff take a look here:


http://www.bassresource.com/beginner/beginner.html

That is a great site for someone just getting started.

[abugarcia6]

yeah do wut rebbasser and fishie said but you can also buy those bassin magazines for 2.99 there pretty cheap and are good if u just started. In this month's mag. it has alot about winter fishing in it...also at basspro.com they have articles to get those at the top of page, where it has the search just switch it from product to articles and type in what you need

[lovinfishin9]

Originally Posted by Chris

I live in Virginia

Just wondering, where at do you live in virginia??

[JB]

If I had one bait for you to practise on it would be the plastic worm, any size like 6 or 7 inch, ribbon tail, paddle tail or auger, with a 3/16 or 1/4 bullet sinker along with texas rigged style. If you practise with one bait like that you will start to catch fish and get your technique honed, then after a few months I'd go with new baits like a spinnerbait and crankbait.
I am sure you will catch fish on a worm that is purple, red shad, or motoroil, just to name of few of the favs..good luck!

[Rodman_Rob]

Originally Posted by Chris

Hey, I am 15 years old and I really enjoy bass fishing and I was wondering if I could get some basic tips?


So I was wondering things like what seasons are good for fishing (can I even fish and expect to get anything in the winter?), what parts of lakes to fish, what kind of lures to use where, that kind of stuff.

Help would be greatly appreciated.

basic tips, follow rebs link.

Different seasons require different techniques as the bass have completely different patterns based on the conditions. As far as winter coming up, when the temps drop as low as they do up there, the bite can get VERY slow. During the winter, slow down your presentation, jigs and soft plastics are very good baits. Bass (and all fish) are cold blooded and therefore there metabolism will drop with the decrease in temps. Decreased metabolism means decreased energy AND appetite, therefore to catch fish in the winter, you'll need to use a slow lure and place it directly in front of them. I'd suggest soft plastics wieghtless and jigs. The two/three best areas to fish during cold weather is VERY close to cover as it holds in the heat and the fish will hold tight to the cover as the temps will be a 1-3 degrees warmer, deep water since it is slightly warmer than the surface water, and deep water with cover/structure. Find these places and give a slow presentation and get the lure as close to the fish (or where the fish will be) and you're likely to be sucessful when nobody else is. Now when the seasons change and hte water/air temps start going back up, scrap these ideas as the fish will adjust to the conditions and so should you.

[KH.]

yes,bassresource is a great site for beginers,and pretty much everybody.

[va_basser]

nothing beats time on the water.The more you spend the more you learn.Also dont try to learn how to fish the whole tackle catalog.Pick a bait,fish it till you feel confident with it and move to another one and do the same.Being good with a few baits is better than having a tackle full of baits you dont have confidence in.Start with a spinnerbait,hands down the easiest and most all around bait you can use.Hope this helps!

[Rider]

Im from Virginia to,my dad always says to use Purple on the Potomac and Brown on the Rappohanock.I like using Zoom tubes in Green Pumpkin.

I myself have a question. How do you know when to trow a spinnerbait?what color,size and type blade to use.I have 10 or 12, never catch anything on them but I thy them all the time but never get anything.

[va_basser]

http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/cr...t_primer.shtml
check out the rest of the site as well