I'm a cat fisherman and I wanna start bass fishin as well. I need help with what type of reels and poles and baits and that type of stuff I should use.

Don't do it - run as fast as you can.

Read up on it and learn a basses habits and read fishing reports. Then go early stay late. Hope you have deep pockets ! It gets really expensive. If you ever just want to talk fishing and ask questions give me a call anytime I would love to help !

I'm with this guy, put your shoes on and run away as fast as possible.
Start by going ahead and joining Bass Addict anonymous and get ready to spend spend spend

First, go to the nearest lake and throw Thousands of dollars in the water...Next, ask anyone on the forum in this section what you need. $100K should give you a decent start on a tow vehicle and a starter bass boat. Then go buy a package of every type of soft plastic there is, followed by multiples of topwater, shallow, medium, deep and super deep crank baits. 1/4 oz and 1/2 Oz. Rat'l Traps....Then of course there are spinner baits with colorado, willow, and indiana blades, and buzz baits, and frogs and hooks and weights, and last but not least, lots of rods and reels (I just bought my 38th combo). Don't pay attention to anyone except those that recommend Shimano Baitcast and Spinning Reels, and for rods....at least 30 from light to medium to medium heavy to heavy to Flippin to Cue Stick in action....
Then after you've done all that, decide what you need doubles and triplicates of.


In other words, run away as fast as you can. If you get the sickness it will never let you go.

Well if you're just starting it wouldn't be a bad idea to go some what cheap. unless you have deep pockets. If and when you fall in love with it you can upgrade your gear later on.
you can go to walmart and pick up a decent spinning rod and reel for $40. like an Abu Garcia Cardinal Z and many others, Or a bait caster if thats your preference. I would re string it with 10-12lb line though. Also as far as lures go i would buy some 2/0-4/0 worm offset hooks and a bag of Chartreuse worms and one bag of dark blue speckled worms. Id get the ones that have a swim or curly tail. You may want to get some 1/8-1/4 ounce slip sinkers as well. Texas rig that set up and you should be good.
heres a video showing how to do a texas rig
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmIUHymyf8g
heres a nice video showing how to fish a texas rigged worm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5lPited90U

there are a lot of different lures you can use for bass fishing and I'm no pro on any of them but i do like to use mepps spinners and regular spinner baits. rat-l-traps also work pretty well for me.

You will prolly want a bullet style baitcast reel and a medium heavy action rod to start. This will be decent for most applications. If you have the round baicasters for carfishing, they an wear you out when making hundreds of casts. Most of the catfish rods are to big too. I would get a rod for bass only.
Lures are everywhere, but start off with a handful of the tried and true. Have a rattletrap style lure, spinnerbait, a squarebill, and plastic worms. Learn how to use each of these, and dont buy anything you are scared to break off. Use lighter line, the lures have more action and you will have better feel.

Like most have said, you'll need a lot of money and patience! Good luck!

20# line or more.

Stick with catfish, they haven't been caught and released a dozen times to be caught again. Bass can be kinda temperamental after all that.

Alot of money... no common sense... no ego... oh did I say lots of money. ..

Honestly, I'd go to the Bass Pro Shops fishing department and tell someone there that you're looking to get into bass fishing and see if they'd help you pick out a few items. Give them a ballpark of what you're looking to spend to get started, then have them help you find a bait casting combo, and line, that would be good for a variety of lures, then see if they can help you put together some items needed for texas rigging a worm. I'd then get a couple of spinner-baits and a couple of square bill crank baits and get started. But like most every one else on here has warned, take more money with you than what you've expected to spend.

Read first. Bassmaster Magazine. FLW magazine. Bass Times. There's a website called Bass University that has great instructional videos. You can sign up for $15/ month and watch most of the videos in a couple of month. Don't worry if it feels overwhelming. Just soak in as much as you can . Don't get in a hurry. You can only absorb so much so fast. When the time is right, get a guide like Marc. Tell him you're a rookie and you want an instructional trip or two. Spread out the trips so you have time to apply learnings in between. Maybe hire a couple different guides. Roy Greer is another good one. He's really economical (relatively speaking) because he'll go out with you in your boat. Don't let all the noise about expense scare you away. If you're disciplined, you don't have to spend an arm and a leg.

you need lots of jerseys and flat bills. I will send you my good gps coordinates for lake fork.