How to get started and where to go with a local expert
While fishing has been around since the dawn of mankind, today it could truly be characterized as a modern day hobby since many of us have never picked up a rod. And while some hobbies take some serious financial investment, fishing takes a bit less of a monetary commitment, but it does require quite the commitment overall. Simply put, it might be easy to get started, but to truly master fishing takes dedication.
To learn about what it truly takes to master the “joy fishing”, I caught up with a local professional fisherman to get his angle from the water, what you need to get started and the best places around the area to make your first splash into fishing.
Like many of you reading this, I had never picked up a fishing pole in my life. In fact, my ignorance started right with what to call it; it’s called a fishing rod not a fishing pole, as I was quickly corrected. Fishing rods have guides and a way to attach a reel. An old-fashioned fishing pole is made of cane, has no guides and the line is attached to the tip with no reel.
I might have known this if my dad had ever taken my brother and I fishing, but we didn’t quite have the Mayberry “whistling down to the fishing hole” upbringing. In my inexperience, it was essential I find an experienced angler to guide me through this new adventure. Which is how I found professional fisherman Pat Rose.
Pat’s career didn’t start with fishing. Nope, before he became a master of the rod and reel, he was a professional wrestler. He started his career at the tender age of 19 under the tutelage of Cleveland, TN’s Ken Hawk, and his first match (against a wrester named Ken Lucas) was televised. Apparently enough people liked what they saw, and Pat spent the next fifteen years working the professional wrestling circuit crisscrossing the country until his retirement in 1994.
Around this same time, Rose began fishing in small tournaments, though it took another ten years for Rose to get noticed. “If you start catching a lot of fish, and I mean big fish, the sponsors will come calling,” says Rose. “It’s just like anything else, it takes experience.”
The same hard work and dedication Rose displayed in the ring eventually led him to landing his own radio show in 2009. ESPN 105.1’s “Set the Hook with Pat Rose” debuted that year catering to all experience levels.
But for the true novice, it has to start with the rod and reel. So, let’s start with the basic rod, from bottom to top:
The butt cap is at the bottom of the handle: sometimes made of rubber, sometimes of cork. Then comes the handle, also referred to as a grip. Moving up, you will find the reel seat where the reel is attached to the rod. Most rods have some sort of hood mechanism that screws either up or down on the foot of the reel to keep it in place.
The hook keeper or keeper ring is nearby the reel seat. This gives you a place to hook your hook so you won’t impale yourself. Then comes the butt, which is the thick part of your rod closest to the handle. (If you have a rod that breaks down into two pieces or more, the ferrule is the joint where sections of the rod fit together.)
The rings you see going all the way down the rod are called guides since they “guide” the line down the length of rod to the tip. The guide closest to the handle of your rod is called the butt guide. It’s located on the thickest part of the rod or butt, which is why it’s called the butt guide.
The strings that gets wound around the foot of the guide are called windings and are how the guides stay attached to the rod.
The tip is the uppermost part of the rod, the thinnest and most flexible, nearest the tip top. The tip top is the guide at the very tip of your fishing rod and is the smallest and most important part of the rod.
The action of the rod is also very important and refers to the flexibility of the rod. The action of a rod describes how much and where a rod bends when it’s loaded or bent. There are three main categories of action: fast, medium and slow.
Then comes the reel. There are three primary varieties recommended for a new fisherman: bait casting, spin casting and spinning reel.
“If you have never fished, just head into Walmart, which is my favorite store by the way, and pick up a spin casting reel,” suggests Rose. “This is the kind of reel you can take up to Chester Frost Park. Buy some minnows, attach them to a hook and fish off the dock.” Other great spots include Chickamauga Lake, Nickajack Lake, and Guntersville. “Start by fishing on the banks.”
Drag is the mechanism that allows you to set how much resistance a fish feels when it pulls on the line. The tighter you set the drag, the more resistance the fish feels. You want to set the resistance tight enough that it tires out your fish, but not so tight that the line breaks.
The line is the thread that goes on your reel and is attached to some kind of hook or lure.
Generally speaking, tackle is anything that is attached to the end of your line. Floats, sinkers, swivels, and lures are all designed to reel in fish. Live bait can be purchased at your local tackle shop. Instead of live bait, you could use artificial lures.
Before you hit the water with your new rod and reel, you need to know how to use it. “Practice, practice, practice throwing that bait caster,” emphasizes Rose. Find a wide open grassy area for this.
You’re also going to need a good all-around outfit to get you started: six foot to seven foot, medium to medium-light action, two-piece graphite rod. A medium spinning reel filled with a quality eight pound test monofilament line. Get a spare spool. Then get line in four pound, and six pound test line. Fill the spare spool with the six pound test line.
Quality hooks in assorted sizes. Assorted ball-bearing swivels and snaps. Split Shot and a couple of egg sinkers. Pencil floats in assorted sizes. Three spinners.
Polarized sunglasses so you can see fish on the water. A tackle box or fishing vest.If you’ve never put line on a reel before, let the clerk at the tackle shop do it for you.
Now comes the actual act of fishing. As soon as you feel you have a fish on the line, reel in the slack and set the hook.
“This is what I get off on,” exclaims Rose. “You’re in the water. You know where the fish are. They are smiling and laughing at you and then you got him.”
You set the hook by quickly and firmly lifting the rod tip. The action is in your wrist and your elbow; don’t bring your rod arm over your head, just give it a quick snap.
Next, the actions and reactions you take to tire out a fish so that you can bring it in, are collectively called “playing” the fish. As a beginner, you are going to be tempted to haul in the fish by cranking on your reel. But, that’s a good way to lose a fish fast. The idea is let the fish tire itself out without snapping the line or tearing out the hook.
“Landing” a fish means getting it out of the water. Most fish should be landed with a net. Do the fish a favor and kill it quickly and humanely, if you intend to eat it, or immediately release it back in the water if you don’t.
Fishing is a pastime that most find to be the most relaxing way to spend a Sunday. Fill your cooler with your favorite beer and your tackle box with your favorite lures and take the boat down to the lake one morning this weekend, or after the week’s end.
“There is nothing like backing your boat down the ramp after a hard week’s work,” Rose continues. “We live in God’s country here. I’m making up for lost time now.”