I've only been fishing for the past year and a half or so, and I'll be honest I'm still not so great, but I'm so eager to learn! At the end of last year I joined a bass fishing club at my university with hopes of meeting other people who fish and to hopefully learn a bunch. So far there haven't been any meetings or outings with the group.

 

But, I'm in the club's group chat with all the members. I want to ask the group if someone/some of them would be able to go out and go fishing and teach me a bit - but I have no idea how to go about it. I think most of them have been doing it for a while, have a bunch of experience, been in tournaments, etc, so it's kind of intimidating talking to them.

 

Does anyone have any advice on how I should approach this? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!

Be honest. Just say just what you said here. There is no reason to be intimidated. Everybody started like you did and everyone learned from someone else. If someone looks down on you for trying to learn, you don't want to learn from them anyway. Most fishermen will be more than happy to help. Just relax and give them a chance. You'll see you were concerned for nothing. 

I'm not in a club but I am in University currently. If someone basically told me what you just did and wanted me to take them out for a day I'd honestly be thrilled.

I take people of all skill levels fishing with me and really enjoy teaching new people. The only ones that irritate me are the guys that have obviously watched a ton of Youtube and TV shows, so they've learned the terminology, bought the gear, so they look the part and try to act like they've done it forever, when they're really just learning. Nobody starts out just knowing how to do it and guys that have been doing it forever are still learning (or at least should be). I'd much rather they just be honest. It lets me prepare and plan a trip better that way. A lot of lakes I fish are lakes I'd never take a beginner to, because they're not easy lakes to catch fish at, I fish them because they have big fish.

 

Just tell them that you're looking to learn and you'd really appreciate if someone wouldn't mind you going. Make sure you tell them you'll have money for gas, maybe offer to buy or bring lunch. I don't think you'll have much trouble if you just come out and tell the group what you want. 

^^^^this^^^^

Tom