Newbies here

[MrDucky]

My whole family loves to fish. I'm John, and have been in Missouri for a year. I moved here from Southern California. My wife, Tami, has lived in Missouri most of her life, and her grandmother taught her to fish for anything from trout to catfish. Our son, Devon, likes to fish when he's catching. We don't fly fish...yet...so if anyone has any tips on bait fishing, I'd be glad to hear them!

I went to Lilley's Landing yesterday, and had a wonderful time! I got one good size, and 2 smaller stockers. They did put up quite a fight!

We would like to try boat fishing. Is it better to rent, buy, or make friends with a boat owner?

At least one of us goes fishing every week. Sometimes the whole family, sometimes just one of us, sometimes we hire a babysitter. I am going to be bringing the rest of the family down to the Landing within the next 2 weeks (Christmas vacation for Devon and Tami!). If anyone wants to join us, let me know!

[Kansas Fly Fisher]

Welcome to the site. You'll find a great bunch of guys and gals here with a ton of experience. I'm not a bait fisher, although I'm thinking of giving it a try next year, so I'll defer your question to one of them. Again, welcome!

John

[LostMyWife]

Hey MrDucky

Welcome to the site. If you can't find what you eed here, you probably don't really need it. The poelpe in this forum are great.

Enjoy

[MrDucky]

Thanks for the welcome , im gonna have a bunch of fun here

[gonefishin]

Hello and welcome to the site. You will find a lot of good info here and a lot of ribbing too.

Bait fishing advice would depend on what you are fishing for. If you are fishing for trout then generally I would say the best thing to remember is smaller is better. Small line (4 or 2 lb you will catch a lot more fish), small hooks (fine wire in size 6 or smaller) and small bait (use enough to get their attention but don't give them a full meal all at once) and small weight (the smaller the weight you can get away with the more likley you will be to detect strikes. Also you can it will help you detect a strike before an aggressive biter swallows the hook). Power baits of all types work well as do worms, various live baits, cheese, marshmallows and other types of processed bait.

Dont over look your equipment either. A lot of people think just any old rod and reel will work for bait fishing. Not true. The same rules that apply for fly fishing rods also apply for bait fishing rods. You want a rod rod that will cast small bait and weights yet with enough backbone to cast accurately and into the wind but you dont want so much backbone that it wont protect the line from a hard fighting fish. Unlike fly fishing virtually all fish are fought and brought in using the reel so the reel becomes very important to the non-fly fisherman. You want a reel that will cast your light lines and baits, not tangle the line and very importantly one that has a good drag system. It really sux to have a big fish on just to have him break off because the drag system binds up. After losing a couple of big fish becasue of drag issues I have made it rule to check the drag at the beginning of each and every outing. I also disassemble, clean and lube the drag every few weeks.

Just my 2 cents worth.

gonefishin