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I'm a noob, help

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RudyGarmisch
Posts: 25444 - Karma: 13,856
So, I'm fucked. My girlfriends Vietnamese father is taking me fishing this weekend. He was one of the last people to leave Saigon, ex military. He is, to put it bluntly, intense. He fishes every day of his life now that he's retired. He's completely blank and unreadable in the few times I've met him, and he could very well be taking me out here to dump my body into the lake. What's worse, I love his daughter and if I have any say, he'll be my father in law.

I have a rod. It's a piece of shit, but it'll work. What I need is some advice on what to do, and possibly more important, what not to do. He's not a talkative guy, so I doubt I'll get much out of him in the way of advice. Any pointers for a noob who's about to fish a lake with his girlfriends dad?
12 years ago
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EHP
Posts: 69 - Karma: 64
well first what type of rod are we talking here, spinning? baitcasting? if you say its a crappy rod im going to assume it is a spincast and in that case your best option is just live bait
12 years ago
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Huck_Norris
Posts: 11487 - Karma: 18,627
Ignore this man! :)


Even the shittiest ugly stick $20 combo can catch you some serious fish if you use it right. Besides, you can always use the "Indian not the arrow" or the "I'm saving towards my future" excuses as deemed appropriate.


If I could only tell you three things about how to fish it would be thus:

1). Know a good knot or three. It takes 5 mins to learn, and it's free- and if you don't, even a $1k reel wont mean shit. Having new/not rotted to shit line is part of this. Youtube is your friend.

2). Work the features. Fish like features. Downed trees, rocks, weed beds or slow spots in moving water, etc. Cast right near them. Don't get your shit stuck in a tree though, even if it takes being conservative- you don't want to look like an ass.

3). Spinny flashies in moving water, larger plastic actions for flat water. Spoons and roostertail-type things work good to attract attention in streams and rivers. Plastic worms and slug-gos with either steady retrieve or jerkbait pulls with a texas rig will work best in a lake, pond etc. and stay mostly weed-free. Again Youtube is your friend.



That might sound like a lot but it's really not, I swear. If you can remember those, you should be off to a decent start at least.

I still can't guarantee he won't gut your roundeye ass for banging his daughter though haha... You're on your own for that one.
12 years ago
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EHP
Posts: 69 - Karma: 64
i do agree a shitty rod will work because its not the wand that makes the magician, but spincasts are still shitty with lures and what not, but you can always pick up a daiwa samurai, they are like 20 bucks and work really, really well...

and yeah do learn a couple knots like the palomar, clinch/ improved clinch and blood knot... those come in handy and maybe an arbor knot if you have to spool the reel.

after learning the basic knots, familiarize yourself with types of lures and baits

live bait- learn a couple simple rigs- just google some if you dont know, but most are almost common sense

soft plastics- learn the carolina, texas and wacky rigs

hard lures- know the difference between crankbaits, topwaters, spoons, spinners, inline spinners and jigs and what to do with them

this is just to point you in the right direction and its really not that hard to learn this stuff in a couple of mins
12 years ago
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PASKIINGSUCKS
Posts: 9097 - Karma: 777
Learn a knot or two like said, but the most important part is to spit on it. No shit. Gotta lube the line a little or the friction from tightening it down will weaken the line. Just make the knot, get a little spittle in your mouth and hold the line up to your lips. If he sees you do this he'll see you know what you're doing in the line department. The best knot is shit if you don't take this precaution.

Also like stated, if you're in a lake, a spoon, a spinner, and some type of rubber worm/grub will cover most fish and more than likely land you something. Take some worms anyway though as they can be a good default.

Good luck, even though I'm sure you went already. Let us know how you did. Or don't, we'll send out the NS search party if we don't hear back in a week or two ha.
12 years ago
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Huck_Norris
Posts: 11487 - Karma: 18,627
Now I'm 100% convinced Rowen was strangled by the gf's dad.


12 years ago
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PASKIINGSUCKS
Posts: 9097 - Karma: 777
I'm betting on tangled and resting on the bottom with the anchor.

Would be cool to know if he actually caught anything. Maybe it went so well the father immediately escorted them all to vietnam for a traditional wedding.
12 years ago
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RudyGarmisch
Posts: 25444 - Karma: 13,856
Didn't catch shit. As soon as I left, he caught one apparently. He resisted the urge to strangle me very well, and subsequent trips have included some ring pot crabbing in Puget Sound. Going this weekend again with him and his daughter, looking forward to it. Thanks for the help guys, knot tying is a butch but I'm slowly improving!
12 years ago
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