Tips For Approaching A New Lake

New Lakes can be intimidating! Where should you start? What should you throw? How many rods should you bring? Tim answers these questions and more...

Its not easy to choose what tackle to bring to a new lake. To simplify Tim employs a top down approach. Any time he approach a new lake he starts with his favorite topwater. This allows him to cover water and look for active fish. If he's not immediately successful he'll drop down the water column and try reaction fishing. If reaction bait fishing fails to catch fish its time to begin slowing down and fishing the bottom. This simple approach lets you break down the entire water column very quickly to locate the most active group of fish. 

While it seems like a lot of baits and options you can literally fit all of these baits into a single box. Combine them with 3-4 rods and you're ready to jump on a boat and hit a new lake without crowding the boater and overstaying your welcome. 

Baits We recommend bringing:

Topwater...
-Rover
-Whopper Plopper
-Rico

Reaction...
-Favorite Squarebill Crankbait
-Favorite Spinnerbait

-Favorite Chatterbait

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Vary Your Hookset To Land More Bass

In Bass Fishing its very easy to get into a rhythm and stop adapting. Matt and Tim explain why you need to vary your hookset to catch more bass. Whether you're a brand new bass fisherman or a seasoned bass angler, these tips will help you land more of the bass that bite your bait. 

In this Bass Fishing video Matt and Tim explain the differences between hooksets for frog fishing, jig fishing, dropshot / worm fishing, and crankbait fishing. There are 4 basic hookset styles... 

1) Hammer Home Hookset!
2) Load Up Hookset
3) Sweep Hookset
4) Reel Down Hookset

If you learn to use each of these hooksets effectively you will begin catching more bass. Its hard enough to get a bass to bite, don't blow it by setting the hook the wrong way and losing the fish half way to shore.

Below are the rods that are a perfect match for each hookset style broken down into two categories... First, what we actually use. Second, budget bass fishing rods.

Frog...
What Matt Uses: 746     
What Tim Uses: 736 
Budget Bass Fishing: 7'3" Heavy

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Best Swimbaits for New Anglers

The Swimbait market has exploded the last few years. We've gone from a handful of choices to hundreds of nearly identical baits flooding the market. So what is a guy to do? Are you supposed to buy them all and hope there is a winner in the mix? 

We'll make it simple for you! Tim recommends the 3 most consistent paddle tail swimbaits we've been able to find. We aren't saying the others don't work great, we're just saying that if you need a starting place, these are sure fire producers. 

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Best Fishing Rods for New Anglers

Its crazy how many brands, lengths, and types of rods are on the market! Tim helps make sense of it all by recommending the 3 rods that you need as a new angler. Forget all the hype and marketing, these will get you through 99% of the techniques we use in bass fishing. 

As a beginning fisherman you want to purchase the best equipment you can within your budget. These are fishing rods you're going to use for a very long time. However, you do not want to exceed your budget so we recommend spending more on the fishing rod than the fishing reel. With that in mind we aren't recommending any high end reels with this video. 

Tim's Recommended Rods Based on Your Budget...

7' Medium Spinning Rod:

Low $$$- Shimano Sellus
Mid $$$- Dobyns Fury
High $$$- G Loomis NRX

7' Medium Baitcasting Rod:

Low $$$- Shimano Sellus
Mid $$$- Shimano Clarus
High $$$- Dobyns Champ Extreme

7'-7'2" Medium Heavy Baitcasting Rod: 

Low $$$- Shimano Sellus
Mid $$$- Dobyns Fury
High $$$- Shimano Zodias

Reel Recommendations for each...

Spinning Low $$$- Shimano Nexave 2500
Spinning Mid $$$- Shimano Saros 2500

Baitcasting Low $$$- Shimano Caius
Baitcasting Mid $$$- Shimano Citica 7:1

As a new bass fisherman your first purchase should always be a spinning rod. With a spinning rod you're able to master a variety of bass fishing techniques like dropshot, senko fishing, worms, tubes, small topwater lures, and even a few reaction fishing techniques. 

Once you've got a feel for these techniques your next purchase should be a 7' medium baitcaster. This rod will allow you to branch into a few more techniques like rigging a senko texas style, fishing a jig, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, crankbaits, etc. 

These two fishing rods are going to help you progress your bass fishing more than any other purchase but when you're ready, add in a 7'-7'2" medium heavy baitcasting rod. This rod will let you get into heavier bass jigs, texas rigs, large topwaters, small swimbaits and paddletails, and a handful of other techniques. 

We know that getting into bass fishing and trying to purchase tackle and equipment can be very overwhelming. We hope these quick tips will help you make educated decisions while purchasing your first fishing pole. Good luck on your fishing adventure

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