New to fishing? Start here
Fishing for Beginners: Your First Day, From License to First Fish
Fishing for beginners in one day: the kit, the license, where bluegill bite, the bobber rig, the first cast and fish, and a box on taking a child.
fishing.info
Fishing, explained properly.
Find the fish, choose what to throw and know your gear. Every page is researched from the sources and written for the angler who has to use it on the water.
Free card: what 26 species do at your water temperature
Plus one email a week on what's biting now. No sales pitches. Privacy.
Species
Which fish do you want to catch?
Every fish worth chasing: how to identify it, where it lives, when it bites.
Techniques
How do you fish for it?
Rigs, knots, casting, and the disciplines from fly to ice to surf.
Lures
What do you throw?
Crankbaits to soft plastics: how each one works and when to throw it.
Bait
What bait do you use?
Live, cut and prepared bait, how to rig it and how to keep it.
Start with Best Catfish Bait.
Gear
What gear do you need?
Rods, reels, line, hooks and electronics, compared on the numbers.
States
What are the rules where you fish?
Licenses, seasons and the best water, state by state.
Four guides that answer the big questions
Where the bass are, what the water temperature says, which lures to buy first, and what the words mean.
species
How to Fish for Bass: A Beginner's Season-by-Season Guide
How to fish for bass from the first cast: one rod and reel, five lures, where bass are at each water temperature, and a numbered method for a day on the water.
techniques
Ideal Water Temperature for Fish: The Chart for 26 Freshwater Species
The best water temperature for fishing is 65–75 °F for most freshwater fish; trout want 50–65 °F, catfish 75–85 °F. One chart for 26 species.
lures
Best Fishing Lures: The Ten to Buy First, by What Each One Does
The best fishing lures for a first box: ten that cover every season and depth, with what the pros threw in 2025, a season table, a species table and colors.
techniques
Fishing Terms: 690+ Words, Slang and Acronyms Anglers Use
Fishing terms and slang, A to Z: 690+ words in plain English, from bail and drag to hawg, dink and honey hole, plus 32 acronyms anglers use.
Latest
gear
Fishing Stringer: The Right One for Bank, Boat and Wading, and How to Use It
A $3 chain fishing stringer through the lower jaw suits most anglers. Pike lived two hours on one, but a quarter died later. Picks and how to use it.
gear
Daiwa Reels: Every Spinning and Casting Reel, and Which to Buy
Daiwa reels from the $25 Sweepfire to the $2,000 Saltiga, spinning and casting, with US list prices, LT, MQ and Magsealed explained, and the pick.
lures
Jitterbug Lure: How to Fish the Arbogast Jitterbug, Day and Night
The Arbogast Jitterbug lure comes in four sizes, 2 to 4 1/2 in. Reel it slow and steady, throw black at night, set only when you feel the fish.
species
Meanmouth Bass: How to Identify the Hybrid, and the Records
A meanmouth bass is a smallmouth crossed with a spotted or largemouth bass. How to identify one, where they turn up, and the IGFA records.
species
Carp Bait: What Works, Homemade Recipes and How to Rig It
Carp bait: start with canned sweet corn or bread. Eight baits with their recipes and ratios (the 1-2-3 doughball, pack bait, field corn) and the chum laws.
species
Alligator Gar: Size, Teeth, Records, and How to Catch One
Alligator gar reach 8 ft and 300 lb and can live past 90 years. How to tell them from other gars, how to catch one, the records and the rules by state.
species
Bream Fish: What Southern Anglers Mean, and Which Bream You Have
In the South a bream is any sunfish, the bluegill first. In Europe it is a carp relative, on a menu a sea bream. How to tell which bream you have.
techniques
Ikejime: How to Spike, Bleed and Ice a Fish You Will Eat
Ikejime step by step: eight steps as the agencies describe them, where the brain is on bass, walleye, trout and catfish, and what the studies measured.
How fishing.info works
- One answer per question. Every page is written to be the best answer to the question in its title: where the fish are, what to throw, which rod, what the rules say.
- Researched, then written for you. Every article starts with the people who know: state fish and wildlife agencies, record keepers, the makers' own numbers and the anglers who fish for a living. The sources sit at the bottom of every page; the explanation of what it means for you is ours.
- Honest about how it is made. Research-driven, drafted with AI assistance, reviewed before it goes live, and edited by an angler who has fished since he was a boy. We never claim tests we have not done. About this site and its author.