Fishing guide for beginners

Introduction

If you want to learn how to fish and you don’t know where (or how) to start, you have come to the right place. Keep reading this fishing guide for beginners in order to learn what you need to have and do in order to catch fish on your very first day.

Fishing hobby is one of the most popular hobbies in the world today. Each year, dozens of millions of people go out for fishing. And there are a lot of reasons why fishing is so popular.

Fishing is a great family adventure. And since everyone can fish, many parents enjoy taking their kids along with them when they go out fishing. Nowadays, we see kids along with their parents standing with their fishing rods, one next to another. Enjoying the day and the experience.

Moreover, fishing tackle for beginners is cheap. So, with a very low budget, you can even start fishing today. And rest assured that you can even catch fish on your first day.

Before we start reading

Before we dive into this fishing guide for beginners, we would say that as much as it is simple to fish, it is also easy to get lost. Lots of fancy gear can get you distracted from your goal which is getting the fish into your basket. For now, keep in mind that you can always improve your skills and your gear and by that promising a better fishing challenge. It is just a matter of time, effort and will.

Fishing has lots of different gear, attachments, options, accessories, styles, and technics. Of course, that even modern technology has a great impact on fishing i.e. Some fishermen use dedicated fishing drones to assist them.

What should I expect from reading this fishing guide for beginners?

Even though fishing is easy, that is related to some certain fishing styles. So, if you came across this post and think to learn how to catch 100 pounds of blue tuna fish… well, save your time from reading this post and skip instead to “How to catch the biggest fish with least fishing skills” instead.

What’s about my budget?

Well, remember that we said earlier that it is easy to get lost? Well, this is the main reason for that. There are great brands for fishing tackle. Names like Shimano, Daiwa or Penn are big names in this field. However, there are also brands that are not that famous, however, their quality does not fall apart from the other big names.

Fishing Checklist

Okay, the checklist for a beginner is quite easy:

1. Fishing permit.
2. Basic fishing tackle. i.e. Fishing rod, reel.
3. Fishing accessories: Fishing line, floats, weights and hooks
4. Baits

Fishing Permit / License

Fishing Permit depends on your age and a specific location. You might need to have a permit to fish, most probably if such a permit is required, it will also cost you a few dollars. Some countries do not require a permit at all. Some countries require a permit only for fresh water, while others only to sea… You got the idea J.

Remember! It is your responsibility to check if you need a permit or not.

Not sure if you need a permit or not? Send us a message and we will be glad to help you with it.

Basic fishing tackle

Basic fishing Tackle mostly means a fishing rod and a fishing reel. There are lots of different types of rods and reels. Spinning rod, baitcasting rod, jigging rod, trolling rod and more. Same goes to fishing reels.

But don’t panic! Remember that we told you earlier that we will keep things simple for you? Well, if you just begin your fishing journey and you want to have some fun with it, we will tell you what type of rod and reel you need. And whenever you will feel more comfortable to continue, we will then direct you.

Fishing Rod for beginners

So, what rod will you need? This question alone is very complicated and will be discussed separately in a different article.

The reason why it is not simple is since we need to ask two simple questions before that.

1. Where are you planning to fish?
2. What are you planning to fish for?

So, since we want to guide you, we will answer these questions for you! As a beginner, it will be easier to start on freshwater, targeting tilapia fish.

So, the beginner fishing rod that will fit you best will be a 7 feet fishing rod.

Fishing Reel for beginners

So, regarding the fishing reel, there are also questions that we need to ask, however, we will skip it for now (for the same reason we did for the fishing rod), and we can tell you that a light spinning reel will do the work just fine for you.

Fishing Accessories

After we decided on a fishing rod and a fishing reel, we can complete our set with the necessary accessories.

There are several main properties for a fishing line: Type and strength. Nowadays, in the market, there are several types like Braid, mono, fluorocarbon, leader and etc’… Strengths refer to how strong can the line resist to someone pulling it on the other side and the line won’t tear. The strength is defined by pounds (LB) or Kilograms (Kg).

We recommend starting with a simple mono line with a strength of 8 pounds (8 LB).

Regarding floats, there are plastic floats or corks floats. When I was a young kid and went on my first time to fish, I remember I was told to use a float. However, I think that this matter can be skipped for now and there is no problem to start fishing without it.

Fishing weights are a very simple thing and you will need 4 grams’ weight.

The last thing is the fishing hook, hooks have sizes (we will discuss that on a different article as well) To keep it simple, we will start with hooks size 10.

Fishing Bait

Fish eat different kinds of food. Some of them are 100% vegetarian like mullet while some of them eat only other fish. Tilapia eats both. Moreover, tilapia is not a picky fish. Compared to carp which is very suspicious fish, hence, it is not an easy fish to catch.

To catch tilapia, you can use leftovers that you have of bread, or you can use some corn kernels, the same one that you buy from the grocery stores.

Assemble all the parts

First thing first, first thing is to fill the fishing reel with the line.

We won’t discuss here how to do that; however, it is a simple task that will be discussed on a different article.

After putting the pieces of the rod together, attach the reel to the rod in the right place.

Then, pass the fishing line thru all the guides of the fishing rod, making sure you are not missing any guide. Skipping one guide can cause a serious damage to the rod when fighting a fish.

Next, you will need to tie the fishing line to the hook.

Fishing knots is not a big issue; however, you can find on the internet dozens of different knots. Each knot is related to a different task. Some knots are very simple and some are quite complicated (like the FG knot).

Most of the times we use the Uni knot, this knot is a very simple one, and it takes only a few seconds to do. Some say that this will be the only knot you will need to use on fishing, however, we disagree on that.

Uni knot step by step

1. Pass the line through the eye of the hook and make a loop with tag end.
2. Wrap the tag end 4 – 6 times over the standing line.
3. Take the tag end out of the loop
4. Moisten the line before tightening the knot. This is extremely important since it reduces the strength of the line by 30% if it will be tightening dry.
5. Pull the standing part line to determine how big (or small) you want the loop size – you
6. Pull the tag end to tighten the knot.
7. Use scissors to cut the extra line that remains from the tag end.

Important note: Please do not through extra lines that you don’t need on the shore, these leftovers of lines hurts lots of creatures like sea turtles, birds etc.

Start fishing

. All you have left to do is to put the kernels of the corn on the hook, one to 3 kernels should be enough, depends on the hook size that you will use.

Find yourself a good place, quiet and far from other people, and cast the line towards the water. From time to time, around 10 minutes, thru few pieces of bread towards the place you cast your line to attract other fish to the place.

Remember to stay quiet at all times in order not to scare the fish out.

I caught a fish!

This fishing guide for beginners will not only teach you how to catch a fish. This fishing guide for beginners will also teach you how not to lose the fish after you caught it!

Whenever there will be a fish on the other side of the line, you will know it! Why? Because you will feel the fish pulling the line from the other side.

Lots of people set a hook very fast, however, by doing so, they can lose the fish, so the first thing to remember is to relax. The fish is not going anywhere. Start by reeling back the line, not very fast but also not very slow.

If the fish is pulling the line strongly, don’t resist, and let the fish take some line. Remember, the fish has a hook inside his mouth. When you feel that the fish is not pulling the line again then this is the time to reel back again the line. If you and the fish will pull the line at the same time, then there is a risk that the line will break. And since the fish has a hook inside its mouth, the fish won’t be able to fight for too long.

F.Y.I: A normal tilapia fish will only take less than a minute to bring towards you.

Things to be careful from

So, you got the fish next to you, what to do next?

Well, some of the fish’s fins are sharp like a knife, so if you are not sure how to hold the fish correctly in your hands, use a cloth with your hand to hold the fish, while the other hand to take the hook off the fish. Be careful when you do that. We recommend using pliers to take the hook out from the fish’ mouth.

That’s it, you are done!

Well, we went thru all the basics of fishing, of course as we said earlier, there is a lot more to learn. That was the tip of an iceberg.

We hope that you enjoyed reading our fishing guide for beginners and remember to respect nature. Keep the place clean, and never leave your garbage behind you.

Enjoy your fishing and let us know how was your first fishing experience.