How to Catch Your First Fish

By Mubashir, R. Age 11.

Bio: Mubashir R's poem "Fish on my Line" won publication in the Poetic Power anthology in 2024. This article was written by him during lessons with WritersStudio.us, an online writing workshop.

Some beginners may have been told fishing is hard, boring, and expensive but that is wrong. Fishing can be relaxing, a stress reliever, and a fun time pass. It’s an exciting way to experience the wilderness, make friends, and learn about local wildlife. Here are tips to catch your first fish:

First, make sure you know what fish to target. There are several species in ponds or lakes near you. Some panfish include bluegill, pumpkinseed fish, crappie, and green sunfish. Other commonly found fish include bass, carp, channel catfish, and bullhead catfish. To catch panfish, use a small hook with live worms at the end or a small jighead, a colored hook representing an insect. To catch smelly catfish, use a strong line and a heavy weight tied on a large hook. If the hook is small, catfish tend to have rough mouths that cannot hook easily and swallow it, even choking on it and dying. Catfish love smelly bait such as worms, pellets, dead fish, chicken liver, other catfish, and hotdogs.

If you want to catch a fish quickly, catch bass. This bullet shaped fish will be splashing and jumping vigorously, fighting other fish, for a lure. Your heart will race in excitement and joy! To catch bass use lures, which are baits representing a fish or frogs, or you could use live bait like panfish or minnows. You could hook into these with the same fishing rod used for panfish, though with a different bait. Bass are the hardest to catch in winter since the cold will reduce their metabolism. The bass will be too tired to hunt a moving object and will resort to eating dead fish off the bottom. Many people ice fish for bass with dead fish. Its smell attracts bass.

If you like challenges then try carp. This fish will fight like a train and will never stop fighting until taken out of the water. How does one catch a carp? These fish will require hours of patience since they eat off the bottom of the pond and tend to take time to arrive. Carp fish is the hardest to hook into. Even though they are large they are the hardest to hook into as they have small, delicate mouths which only eat plants and aquatic grass. To catch carp you must use a similar method for fishing for catfish but with small hooks with corn, bread, and boilies (hardened dough).

Do you think fishing is expensive? WRONG! Beginner fishing equipment is very affordable and easy to use. Let's talk about supplies. The first item you need is a fishing rod. Ultra light rods are made of extremely flexible material and about 5 or 6 ft. Next, you need a fishing reel for your rod. The best reel is a spinning reel. Finally, you need a line. The best line to use is monofilament line 10lbs for the main line and if you need to tie on a line to a swivel (rings that connect main line to rigs) use a braided line weighing 15 lbs . Now you can go fishing and maybe catch a trophy class fish!

Bio: Mubashir R, age 11, loves fishing. His poem "Fish on my Line" won publication in the Poetic Power anthology in 2024. This article was written by him during his sessions with WritersStudio.us, an online writing workshop.