How to go Fishing!

The Basic Rundown

This is really quite simple, and a little bit of a complicated matter all at the same time. The most basic way to fish is with a bobber and a worm. A bobber is the little red and white or neon yellow or orange ball that keeps the bait afloat in the water. This is attached to a hook with bait on it, usually a worm is what comes to mind, and is the most traditional bait to be used, but fish also love hotdogs, small pieces of bread, and even corn kernels.

Casting

Think of your dominant arm moving in a circle like a large clock, with three being in front of you and nine being directly behind you. Twelve is directly above your head, and six is at your feet. We’ll assume that you’re using a basic closed bale zebco reel. Press the button on the reel and hold it down, leaving about a foot of line off the end of the pole. Bring your arm back to around ten and swing it forward to around two, letting go of the button. Congratulations! You have just casted a fishing line, one of the most important parts of fishing. Now with the bait in the water, it’s time to kick back and wait for the fish to start some action.

Wait for the bobber to “bob” up and down or submerge entirely underwater, and this is always accompanied by action on the rod. You can feel the fish take the bait and the hook set in the fish’s mouth. The pole comes and alive, and the excitement begins.

It’s Time to Reel!

Wait though not just yet! Give the rod a jerk backwards toward ten again to “set” the hook in the fish’s mouth to make sure he’s on there. Now you can go ahead and grab the crank on the side of the reel and start reeling in your catch.

Removing the Hook

Now there is one thing to take into consideration here, does the fish have spine on top of it? If so, hold the fish with your fingers under it’s belly and run your thumb from the top of the head back towards the tail halfway down so the spines are pushed back onto the fish’s body. We don’t want to get stabbed by one of these nasty little suckers. It can hurt pretty bad and draw some blood, trust me.

If the fish doesn’t have spines, then you can hold him in the same manner, but you don’t have to worry about getting pricked.

You’ve just caught a fish! Go ahead and smile, and take a picture if he’s something to be proud of.

Here’s a picture of me with a pickerel that I caught last summer! They have teeth so removing the hook required gloves and pliers just to be safe!