How to Get Your Friends Into Fishing
Not only does fishing get people out of their house and into the wild, which has many proven physical and mental health benefits, but it also moves them from a passive observer into an active participant which deepens the reward response in their brains and will continue to draw them into the outdoors. It’s one of the best activities someone can do outside, and it’s even more fun when you get to do it with people you love.
Getting people into fishing isn’t always easy, though. It requires patience and persistence (get ready to untangle a LOT of lines), but seeing the joy on someone’s face when they have a big fish on the end of their line for the first time makes it all worth it. To aid in that process, we put together this article to give you some ideas for getting your friends and family into fishing.
Keep it simple
Fishing can seem really complex at the start. There are a lot of different factors to reading water, choosing a lure, what time are you going to fish and when will you move to a new spot, etc. On the first couple times out, don’t overwhelm the person you’re teaching with all that information. Take care of those things yourself and just focus on the basics: casting and retrieving.
One way to make things simple is setting up your guest with a spincast reel. If you’ve ever tried to teach anyone how to fish on a normal spinning reel or baitcaster, you’ve definitely spent time (a LOT of time) untangling the inevitable mess of fishing line that seems to have developed its own consciousness with the sole purpose of ruining your day. A quality spincaster, such as the Zebco Bullet Spincast Reel, will significantly reduce the number of bomb-proof knots you’ll need to untangle due to its closed-bail system, allowing you and your friend to just focus on the basics of casting and retrieving. MidwayUSA has a rod/reel combo with the Bullet spincaster available to make things easy or you could pair it with a nice St. Croix or Shimano rod.
Not having to worry about knots and tangles will allow you more time to focus on their technique and guide their casts to where you know the fish are. Plus, the person you’re teaching will feed off your attitude. If you’re frustrated at the mess of line, they’ll perceive that and feel frustrated themselves, which is the last thing you want to have happen. The more relaxed you are, the more relaxed they’ll be.
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keep it active
Another method for keeping things simple is the classic worm-on-a-bobber approach. This removes the need for a retrieve and allows the person your teaching to just focus on casting and setting the hook once they get a bite. But this may not be the best approach for your more ADD friends.
While it’s effective for catching fish, bobber-fishing is not very active, so if your friend doesn’t like to just sit and wait for something to happen they probably won’t have a good time. So whatever you can do to make the experience more engaging or active, such as using a lure that requires a little more action on their part, is probably your best bet.
Obviously the type of lure you use depends on what species you’re targeting and where you are, but generally using something that’s easy to animate with a simple retrieve such as a spoon or chatterbait is a good way to go. Strike King and Rapala make great spinnerbaits and crankbaits that you can use as well.
COOK SOMETHING YOU CATCH
One of the best ways to round out the experience is to cook something that you caught that day, preferably over a campfire. This lets your friend participate in the whole “field to table” process, plus it’s just a lot of fun. Even if the fish doesn’t turn out great, they’ll remember the experience of cooking it over an open fire as the sun goes down after a day of fishing. Bring some lemon, butter, and garlic and you’ll be all set.
