I am a complete beginner to fishing. There's a pond near my house that I've been fishing in that has Bluegill, Catfish and Bass. I'm enoying fishing and enjoy learning about it. But I have alot of questions and there's so much gear and tackle and techniques that I'm pretty confused right now. I'm using my Dad's old tacklebox, and it's full of stuff and I don't know what they all are and if I should use them.


What are leaders used for? Are they used for freshwater fishing with live bait? Do you have to use one?

I have this fishing book that mentions something about snelled hooks. What is a snelled hook? What are they used for? I have some in the tacklebox.

I know I'll have more questions, but this will do for now.

Ill try to answer your questions...lol

What are leaders used for?
Leaders that you most likely are talking about most people use for live bait fishing for catfish or thats what I have seen most people use them for... Leaders for bass fishing is when someones main line is braid and they tie a flourocarbon leader to the braid so the fish will not see the braided line plus the flourocarbon gives a little better than braid...

Do you have to use one?
NO, you dont need one at all thats just up to you I only use one when I drop shot... braid to flouro leader.. 20lb braid to 10lb flouro...

Snelled hook... These hooks are mainly used for live bait fishing honestly I cant tell you what it is I know what it is but not sure how to define it lol... most snelled hooks have a small leader with a loop coming off in which you can buy a swivel and tie the swivel to your main line and it will have a clip and you can simply clip the hook onto the swivel and it makes it much easier to change because most of the time your leader will break before your main line does...

see I tried...

Chris, Westex golpher was right on all counts. I never use a leader because I use either monofilament or flourocarbon line. Just tie your hook right to the line. Less knots means less broken knots. I believe snelling a hook is a means of tying a hook to a leader. Again not necessary. I guess it all depends on what bait or rig your using. I learned as a small boy. I kept it simple. Spinning gear, lightweight line small hooks and small baits. Use a splitshot to get it down. A bobber will float your bait where you want it. you can adjust the depth of your bait, and its a good strike indicator. I don't believe theres a fish in this world that won't eat a nitecrawler (worm)!

Chris,
Watch all the fishing show's on t-v that you can, Bassmasters, FLW, Classic Pattern's, Bill Dance, they are good and informative; also, fishing magazines are good.
If you really get the bug, join a local bass club, and start fishing with them.

Chris, where are you located? In gunna be hitting a bank tomorrow for catfish. If you are in my area, and available, ill show you how I do things. I'm not an expert, but have been doing pretty good.

Watch Youtube videoes...........a video is worth a 1,000,000 words................snelling a hook is attaching hook.with a snell knot......it is one of the strongest knots because its not a true knot.........most packaged hooks with leaders are snelled {where line is wrapped 6-8 times around hook.shank just below eye}..........snelling is best.way to rig circle hooks as it lets the hook to turn and hook.fish in the corner of.the mouth.

As some of the others posted, reading and watching some shows will help but can overwhelm you very quickly. I would start with some basic baits and start catching fish with those as you get better with one style or technique try a different lure, bait ect and build on that.

Thanks Caribou, but I'm not anywhere near Texas.
Sshh. Don't tell anyone.

Ocaasionally this guy says something helpfull- he's got several videos.....