Help, I am so new to fishing, its scary!

[allencafe]

Hello All,
I am new to this forum, or I should say this is my first post after lurking for a while.

I am looking for any newbie fishing help you would be willing to provide. It has been over 20 years since I fished as a boy scout, and now I am trying to take it up as a Father and Son activity that i can enjoy frequently with my 11 year old son.

We both have wal-mart specials as fishing poles, I know mine is severely oversized, but it what i have to work with right now.

We have spent some time at the community ponds in the Salt Lake valley, and each time I catch some baby blue gill, and my son gets skunked. We took a long weekend camping trip to Vernon Reservoir and neither of us had luck at all. We have been using worms and power bait. After reading a lot about Utah Lake, I am thinking i would like to try that next. We don't have a boat, so we fish from the shore.

Any rigging or location advise would be greatly appreciated. I want my son to catch something soon to keep him "hooked" on fishing, he doesn't think reeling in my catch counts.

Thanks in advance!
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[UtahShooter]

[#ff0080]I have had success at Utah Lake with white jigs tipped with worms. I am going to head up to Willard sometime this weekend. More than likely Sunday seeing as how it will be busy for the weekend. You would be more than welcome to come hang out there if you would like.[/#ff0080]
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[12inchlunker]

[fishon]
I don't want to single anyone out because there are a ton of very knowledgable anglers on this site. I'm not one of them. And some that pretend to be :-)....

With that said I"m going to single someone out that I feel is very good at passing on info.

TUBEDUDE!!!!!!!! Find him PM or Post he is a great guy and has lots and lots of time to fish...I would bet he may fish more then anyone on this site....BUT BEFORE ANYONE FREAKS OUT. I'm just guessing. Plus he has published a few books and articles that he shares all the time.
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[tlspyder13]

First were glad to have you.

I'm sure Tubedude will jump in with one of his great write ups but a simple answer is that everything in Utah lake will eat a worm. The harbors can be a good area to try if you don't have a boat or know the lake well. Fish can be found both inside and outside of the harbor. Simply fish a worm near any structure or vegetation inside the harbor and even outside some days. You can fish the worm on the bottom or a few feet below a bobber. Take some bug spray though or you will be sorry quickly.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Okay. You're a dad who wants to take his son fishing...but will be learning along with the son. Man, that gets me every time. Used to see it a lot in the DWR Youth Fishing Program. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I will be sending over a few things (by PM) on Utah Lake that will probably help you get to know the better spots and a few things about the most common species.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Don't feel the need to apologize for whatever tackle you have. Utah Lake fish are not snobs. If you can find them and serve them a few simple baits or lures you can usually catch some fish. The hard part is putting in enough trips to get familiar with the best spots and how the fish act during a whole year...under different conditions. But if you read the reports on this forum that can help a lot too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Hopefully there will be money in the family budget to add to your tackle assortment as you learn more and know better what you need. Sometimes better to start simple and then make informed purchases later.[/#0000ff]
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[CoyoteSpinner]

PM sent. Sounds like you're where I was a few years ago - rediscovering the joy of fishing through their kids. Fish-olution.

Best advice (which I could learn better!) is - make it about THEM. {I get too hung up on wanting to catch the blasted fish!!!}

I've sent you some of TD's wonderful maps of Utah Lake that have been posted previously. He's got a world of info on the history and fish-ology of Utah Lake. But his writings are his to share.
I look forward to a (signed) copy of the next publication - whenever that comes around.
Willard Bay is another water that's received much of his attention, and detailed publications. Another challenging, yet rewarding fishery.

Being down south - you've got a number of Community Ponds available that are well stocked for the easy family fishing outings. Check the[url "http://wildlife.utah.gov/hotspots"] Utah Fishing [/url]sites for general info.

Come on back and let us know how you do. Gluck.

[FishHunterSmoot]

haha that sounds a lot like me and my brother-in-law. I had never really fished and He fished as a boy and we went once together and we both got "hooked". [sly]

the best advice people could give us is just get out there. don't buy a crap load of gear you have no idea how to use. and JUST GET OUT THERE! We had this particular bad streak where neither of us caught fish for maybe 14 trips. and the thing is, is that before each trip we would run over to sportsmans warehouse, look at the white board(we had NO idea what we were reading) found what they were being caught on and buy hundreds of dollars worth of lures we never fished with or knew how. All 14 trips we thought that it was the dumb lures that were not catching us fish. (how could they do that to us[:p]). We then made a rule that we could not judge a lake by if people were catching fish there or not and we could not look at the white board. We just started learning for ourselves. I started over completely. I had one of those really small blue tackle boxes that could almost fit in your pocket. I had one lure that I knew I could fish with. fished with it a lot and eventually started trying knew things and mastering them. I apologise if that sounds like I am taking a crack at you because I am not what so ever. I can match your post almost excatly with mine 3 years ago.


I hope you have a fantastic time fishing and just know it gets better. (cause there will definatly be times where you want to quit)

Hope this helps
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