The Gear… So I have a friend that is getting into bass fishing and he is asking me what gear do I need to have the basic bass set ups. Well, this article is going to talk about the basic needs of all bass fisherman/women.
First, we need rod and reel combos. I tell everyone that is new to the sport to get two combos. The first one is a bait casting combo and the second is a spinning combo. An all around good bait casting combo consist of a 7 foot medium heavy action rod with a 6.4:1 gear ratio reel. As for the spinning combo, I would suggest a 6’6″ medium action rod with a reel that holds about 140 yards of 8 pound test. The reason I suggest these is because they are the most popular with many Bassers and companies that make rods and reels.
Next is line. This one is tricky because personally, I do not use mono much anymore, but when you are new, mono is hard to beat and when you get better as a Basser, your line choice can improve with your skill. I suggest starting off with 12 lbs mono for the bait casting combo and 8 for the spinning combo. With both lines, you can fish many different baits without killing the action of the bait.
Then we come along to hooks. For a starter, I suggest 3/0 – 5/0 extra wide gap (EWG). These hook ranges are both small enough to be used in drop shotting, but big enough to rig a 10 inch worm on.
For the last part, well, this is where this web site comes into play. The baits and lures! There are so many brands, colors, and sizes to pick. It can be confusing. Don’t be afraid to ask us on this web sites to ask for baits and lures to start with. Most of us bass fisherman/women are more than happy to help with a selection, size, color, and presentation!
Now that you know what to start out with, you can now fish like a pro when you are on the lake!
The Magic Bait
There are many types of baits on the market ranging from crankbaits, soft plastics, to jigs, and spinnerbaits, but the greatest bait is confidence in what you’re using. Many of us bass fisherman are always looking for the “magic” bait, but we can really never find that bait in the stores. As we fish many lakes we find a bait that works on almost any body of water. That right there is the magic bait. The one we have the most confidence in. But having confidence bait is great because we know that we can catch fish on it and we know how to work the bait for all different situations.
Fishing in a tournament we have to find a consistent pattern on a lake, but we also have to find a secondary pattern and sometimes this could be a pattern that we know very little about but we caught fish with it. Well, the secondary pattern is something we should work on. One way we can change this is by going to that area that the magic bait work in and see if the secondary pattern will provoke more bites or making the magic bait that much stronger. Also the secondary pattern bait could turn into magic bait if we work on it more.
What the meaning of this magic bait talk is, the baits do not make the fisherman, the fisherman makes the baits work for him or her. In return that means that the fisherman that has the most confidence in a bait, will make it produce on any givin body of water in any situation. Tight lines to all!
Tight Lines,
Jon Reznack
