Lake fishing is something every freshwater angler has the opportunity to take up. Lake fish can be numerous and include trout, bass, perch, crappie, carp, pickerel, shell crackers, sunfish and many more. In fact, there over 800 species of freshwater fish in North America! When lake fishing, anglers can use a variety of methods including fly fishing, spinning gear, conventional gear with bait casting reels and even cane poles with no reels at all. Lake fishing offers a wide array of opportunities, so let's take a look at what you need to get started.

Why is lake fishing ideal for beginners and easily accessible?

If you are new to fishing, lake fishing is a great place to start. For the most part every lake offers easy access via the shore or various launch ramps for small and large boats. If you are new to lake fishing, chances are a boat may not come into play.

A good fishing lake can easily be found wherever you live by simply googling or calling your local government office. They may go by various names so you may have to search a bit. In Florida it is Florida Fish and Wildlife, while in New York it is New York Department of Environmental Conservation. Another easy way to find a lake is talk to your local tackle shop.

On the tackle end, KastKing has made it easy to get set-up to begin lake fishing. They offer great spinning rod and reel set-ups, complete with quality line and terminal tackle. A good start would be the Spartacus II Twin Tip spinning combo in 7 foot length and rated 8-12 pound test. Match it up to the Royal Legend Glory Spinning Reel or Sharky III Spinning Reel in size 3000.

The Live Bait Advantage

When you start lake fishing, the best option will be alive or dead bait. Lake fish of all types will "always" eat something natural. There is a plethora of baits you can buy, or catch yourself. If you are looking for panfish or trout, small red wigglers, crickets or wax worms are best. Down south shell crackers feed close to the bottom so the red wigglers will work best. Carp are a mainstay throughout North America and either dough balls or corn concoction is the way to go. Live shiners, minnows, small sunfish and the likes will be good for the larger freshwater fish in the lakes.

One of the easiest ways to use live bait for lake fish is to employ the old bobber and hook. This is probably the easiest way to catch, and as you learn more, you can adjust the depths to a specific depth where you feel the fish are feeding. For starters, keep your float about 16 inches above the hook. I have found over the years, this set up will catch just about any fish in the area.

The Thrill of Lures

As you learn the areas, lake fish will be in, begin using lures for the thrill of fooling a fish into biting something fake! A beginner lesson would be to keep it simple on the lure end. Small in-line spinners – Mepps, Kastmaster spoons in gold and silver, smaller 1/4 to 1/2 ounce spinnerbaits, size 2.5 crankbaits and a few topwater lures will easily round out your tackle bag.

Your fishing lake tackle bag should always include artificial worms in a variety of sizes and colors. Smaller Ned rigs, Wacky rigged stick worms, and worms all the way up to 10-12 inches in length are all deadly on lake fish. They can be rigged to slowly sink or dragged across the bottom slowly, but no matter how you rig, they will always produce.

The key with lures it to work them so they imitate a fleeing or dying baitfish. Nothing gets a fish more motivated than the chase, or the ease of a wounded meal that can be picked off with little to no effort. Vary your retrieves until you start catching, and this will be the retrieve you will want to stick with – at least for that day.

Catch and Release

I have never been a big fish eater…what can I say, I like catching and then releasing! I am not saying you cannot keep a few fish for the dinner table because after all, the few fish I do eat, revolve around a freshwater fishing lake as I feel they are less "fishy" tasting then their saltwater counterparts.

On the catch and release front, nothing can aid in the rebuild or continued success of any lake than a good catch and release mantra. And, catch and release is a good way to get the kids started in the conservation effort we need to sustain a healthy fishery in most lakes. If you fish the northern areas, you know the growing periods are shorter than the southern counterparts, so it is even more critical.

Nothing beats a good live catch photo of a young child with his or her first fish, with a smile so broad it reaches ear to ear! Then when the youngster releases the fish and gets a quick splash from the tail, the smile gets even bigger.