Beginner question:

I am fairly new to fishing. Up until now I have borrowed equipment. My wife is giving me money to buy some stuff of my own for Father's Day. I have plenty of rods and reels (my father in law is going out of the country for a year so I have access to his stuff). He has a lot of tackle as well, but I'd rather not lose any of his stuff.

My question is, if you had about $75-100 to spend to get started, what would you get?

I will mostly be bank fishing in the local ponds with the occasional camping trip thrown in at national parks.

Heading to Academy tonight to get started. Thanks!

Put together a good spinning combo. Its definitly your cheaper/ most versatile option. Id head to amazon or the 5miles/letgo apps to find a good deal on something you actually want. The abu garcia vendetta spinning rods have held up well for me.

Thank you! I am good on rods/reels for now. My father in law dropped off six last weekend

I have done a lot of pond fishing in my 56 years and I would get these for starters; an inline spinner (Mepps 3 or 4), spinnerbait (double blade white or chartreuse body), topwater (buzzbait, or popper, or frog for algae), a crankbait (1.5 or 2.5 squarebill or if needed a deeper diver), a 1/4 oz Rattle Trap or Cotton Cordell lipless bait (CC is cheaper and will do the job, I like the crawfish color) plastic worms (purple, watermelon seed, worm sinkers and hooks). This should get you started. Depth and algae may determine what you use and size. Crankbaits tell you the depth that they will run on the package so buy accordingly. My dad took 3 baits with him to a pond, an inline spinner (Mepps #3 red/white blade and squirrel tail), a purple worm and a topwater (Chugger popper or Jitterbug) and he caught a lot and big fish with those.

If crappie buy some 1/16 oz jigheads and some 1 3/4" tubes or 1/16-1/8 feather jigs and corks.

Good luck

Rooster tails are the inline spinners that will catch the biggest variety of fish, will catch more bass in ponds than any other moving bait as well (1/8oz and 1/4 oz). Stick with stuff you won't be sad about if you lose with your budget. Soft plastics are great great great, senkos and brush hogs, stick with about 4-5 total pack/colors. When I started using lures (self taught) and fished for bass in ponds and creeks I developed disdain for things like rattle traps, crankbaits, etc since I couldn't replace lost ones which happened regularly. I just stuck to using a rooster tail, spinnerbait, frog, or plastic swim/jerkbait (on weedless setup) in open spaces and a tx rig plastic worm or brush hog around cover. Caught a lot of fish...

Eric

Thanks everyone! Will post an update when I get started.

Go to the Academy. 3/0 & 4/0 offset hooks, 1/4 bullet weights, Senkos, trick worms, ribbon tail worms, rage craws, zoom super fluke, pitt boss, hollow body frog, kvd squarebill, 3/8 spinner bait

Thanks everyone. I ended up buying a "starter kit" with some mixed tackle. I also found quite a few unopened bags of plastics that my father in law has. So far, my best results for the small blue gills has been a good old bobber and worm.