I posted this in another forum.  Please read anyway.

:-?   Let me get the point!!

I'm new to the sport of Bass Fishing.  I have a full arsenal of lures, my tackle bag weighs over 30 lbs.  I have read a few books, lots of mags, tons of articles, talked to fisherman, even went to Bassmaster U last year.  I have a load of information in my head.  I think I took in too much way too fast.  I just have a couple questions can anyone please help me figure it all out.  

What is the best way to learn the sport?

What should use and when?

In need of your help.  

What is the best way to learn the sport?

What should use and when?

In need of your help.  

Wow!!  That's not asking much!  Those two questions are what this site is all about.     So you came to the right place.  There is no short easy answer to those two questions.

Thats the problem, don't start fishing until your bag weighs at least 45 lbs.  ;D

I think what I would do at this point is to pick a technique or two and kind of run with them. Choose a couple of things that play to your strengths and that you enjoy using. Stick to just two. An example could be that you rig one rod with a diving crankbait and one with a senko. Doing this will remove a bunch of options, clear your head out a bit and help you focus. Keep the gameplan simple. Maybe six feet deep and under you throw the senko, seven feet and over throw the crankbait. As you begin to master these two presentations your confidence will grow and you will begin to build your foundation with a couple of solid skills. Along the way you'll better understand cover, structure and bass behavior and all that stuff. That will come with experience and time on the water. Take your scaled down plan of attack and make some good casts to likely looking spots. Remove the clutter and information overload from your brain. Keep it simple, relax and get in the zone. Once you get into the zone the magic is going to start happening for you. Good luck

Ditto what Abelfisher said.  

You can read all the books you want but at some point you're going to have to wet a hook to test the knowledge.  

Great post Madhouse!

He nailed it! Take your time, and it will come to you! Trying to master too much at a time will confuse even a more experienced angler (there are exceptions to the rule though)! My two confidence baits are spinnerbaits and tubes but will use a few other baits that I've worked with in the past when the conditions tell me to. I've set a goal this year to become better with cranks and jigs. Pick out the few techniques you feel most confident in, read up one those (the articles on here will help!) and if you have any specific questions, ask away! Everyone on here are always willing to help when they can! Good luck and welcome to the boards!!!

i believe that the best way to learn the sport, is to do the sport. Just fishing from time to time will teach  you all you need o know. Learn from  your mistakes, and learn from your friends.

i believe that the best way to learn the sport, is to do the sport. Just fishing from time to time will teach you all you need o know. Learn from your mistakes, and learn from your friends.

I wholeheartedly agree with Madhouse27. Buy yourself a quality rod & reel combination and focus on a couple of techniques and a couple of lures. I know how all those lures look great, but you'll save a lot of money and catch more bass if you start with some of the recommendations from guys on this forum. This is what I suggest:

1. Soft plastics

5" Senko, watermelon and watermelon with black flakes fished weightless on a 4/0 EWG hook

Fat Ika, same hook, rigged skirt up

2. Shallow crankbaits

Bomber Square A

Bagley BII

That's it and that's all I would start with.

BTW, Welcome aboard!

I think you should just read more books and leave the bass to me!  Just kidding, Like most of the guys on this thread I picked a couple of techniques and tried to master them. Although mastering them will take a life time...Not over loading my brain with 7 different techniques etc.  Experience on the water is the best teacher anyone can have.  Try to get  on the water as much as you can, practice, practice, practice!

Ditto to RW, abel, and everyone else, but I will add one thing, pay attention when you are fishing.  This was something that I had a hard time with when I first started.  What I mean by that is when you catch a fish or get a bite, try to remember or make note of what you were doing, how deep the lure was, if it was near structure or what.  If you do this you will start to see a pattern develope and in all likelihood will be able to catch fish anywhere on that body of water using that pattern.  Now the pattern will change from day to day, even hour to hour but that is part of the mystique of fishing, figuring out where the fish are then what they want as far a presentation.

I'd say take a very simple look at bass fishing now and think about all those specialty techniques later. What works for anyone is what worked for the first man that ever caught a fish thousands of years ago. Put something a fish likes to eat on a hook in front of it. Some folks still sight-fish, but use spears. Every bait in your box had a vision behind it, experimentation, and obviously success in using it or it wouldn't be popular enough to sell. Most of those baits have been used and approved of by thousands, even millions of anglers before you bought it. You need to share that vision, learn what each bait does, how deep it goes, which requires both reading about it to gain an expectation, and using it. With time using the baits you probably won't have to read about a bait, but will be able to visualize what a bait does before picking it up. You'll learn what the length and angle of a crankbait bill has to do with depth and action. You'll feel things the books don't talk about, and develop a "knowing" about fishing for bass hard to put in words. But some things about them have been written about you need to master, such as where in a lake or river to expect to locate bass. If you were to decide to go deer hunting you can eliminate huge land areas, including parking lots and industrial zones, off limit city parks, enabling you to focus on say strips of woods between farm parcels where deer travel under cover. It's the same principle with bass, go to where we all agree bass like to go each season then use a suitable bait that will get down to where they are, and try to pick a lure that matches up with their mood. If a fast lure doesn't get bit, go the opposite way and try very slow, try one that floats up when stopped, then one that sinks. Try two different topwater baits in fairly calm water regardless of feeding activity, then a couple of spinnerbaits of different size and blade type. Give each type of lure 5 minutes tops. A great bait to start with that will catch bass regardless of skill level is a Mepps inline spinner. Just keep it out of wood and off bottom, occasionally touching bottom. Get experience catching bass on it, improving casting skills, then move on to spinnerbaits, then on through the types. You'll eventually favor certain types that work well in your hands. Nothing says you have to master all lures and techniques. Some guys have made their living fishing a spinnerbait 90% of the time. Above all, go fishing and try your baits out every chance you get. Each trip work on one type. Swim it by the boat until you can imagine what it does in front of a bass. Most baits work best fished erratically, unpredictably, yet rhythmically . Imitate a prey in trouble, fleeing, injured, afraid. The concept is similar to instructing children never to run away from an aggressive dog. The animal instinct to chase is powerful. If you have access to a private swimming pool, spend time there learning what the baits do.

Here's a little secret. Avoid looking at what lures another angler has on deck or even tied on a line. Savvy anglers cut their working baits off, leaving unproductive lures in view. That's especially true during tournaments. If someone asks what worked, I tell the truth, but I don't appreciate a lurking angler who would rather spy and not be sociable. You even have to beware of getting advice from a bait shop where their true purpose is to move stuff into your possession. They will push their highest profit goods. Listening to the pros at those BMU meetings is good, but they are mostly promoting their sponsors. You are paying them to advertise to you, and you are learning through those advertisements. Eventually what they teach you will be the perfect setup in a particular situation, but of greater value is wetting lures until the bass tell you what they like by biting it.

Jim

Great info from the ouachitabassangler. Jim always has something good to say. Sousa24, if you're having information overload this site has some good articles for beginners. I've been fishing since the 70s but I've tried to read just about every article on this site, even the ones for beginners. You're never too good to learn. These articles are located at http://www.bassresou.../beginner.html. There is a list of them here and a couple give pointers on getting started.

Ok I've read the above and I agree I do need to get out on the water more.  I also agree that I need to scale down and study and use only two techniques.  

I would like to learn how to use spinnerbaits and jigs.

Would they be a good place to start?  What do you recommend for me?

Jigging isn't an entry level thing. It requires a fine touch on detecting the slightest bite, so I'd try T-rigged worms before that. Spinnerbaits and inline spinners are the easiest to learn and catch enugh bass on to stay inspired about bassing. Topwaters can easily fit into your beginning program. You can see twhat the lure is doing and the hardest part of learning it is to give a bass time to bite the lure before setting the hook. They miss the mark often, repeatedly attacking a topwater if you leave it there for more strikes. Wait for a solid tug on the line. So worms will put you on bottom, spinnerbaits will fish mid depths, the whole water column for that matter), and topwaters the upper part of the column. Get used to those, catch a bunch of bass, then try crankbaits, then jigs.

Jim