Starter kit

LOL, in all seriousness the advice mentioned above is great. Good luck and don't be afraid to ask questions and stay possitive!

SA Mike, good advice from Snake Eyes. The local clubs have some great expierenced anglers like the Ray Hubbard Bass Club and the one I belong to Century Bass Club which is a draw club where you can take your boat or draw a boater and go as a non boater. It is a great way to fish with different guys and you will see different techniques used in different situations. That way you can get the basics down and figure out your style of fishing and what is required for the types of baits you like to fish.
www.centurybassclub.com

Reels: http://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_10051_133325_-1__?N=274871093

If you can find a better reel for $50, I'd like to see it. They will put them on sale for @ $30 2-3 times a year.

Rods: http://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_10051_161453_-1__?N=101394130 At $60, these are very reasonably priced and very effective. I have 3 various sizes / strengths paired with the mettle reels and they are awesome

They have a rod to pair for about any application you need (M, MH, Extra heavy, Compostite and magnum Crank rods. There are serveral other decent rods in this price range. Put them in your hand and letyour instincts tell you what feels best.

Everyday prices cost $110 per rod/reel set-up.

Various hard bait kits: http://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/stores...catalogId=10051

About $15 per kit, you can cover topwater, traps, square bills, cranks, etc... These will give you a great deal of variety to use and over time, tell you what you may want to invest in down the road.

Soft Baits: Where to begin? LOL. Anything black, green pumpkins, watermelon based are always a good start. Some like blue fleck, others like red fleck (Ford and Chevy Pick what looks good to you Personally, I don't throw worms shorter than 10" but nothing wrong with getting an assortment of sizes and colors to see what works best in various conditions. If I only had 2 set-ups for plastics, I'd throw a plastic worm and a shakey head.

Line: For mono, Big Game or P-Line is just fine. For flouro, its a tad more pricey but Segaur Red Label will usually spool 2 reels per box. (learn how to top-shot and cut this price down over time). There are a billion opinions on what to use in which application. For purposes of not becoming too confusing, just start with throwing hard baits on mono and soft baits on flouro. Again, there are some spcific applications to argue set-up to set-up but stick with this as you get started and adapt / change as you see fit.

Lastly, get on youtube and search for terms such as shakey head, drop shot, T-rig, Carolina rig set-ups, best knots, etc....There is a lot of valuable information out there.

SA, I also forgot to offer something that a fellow TFF'er offered me a couple years ago and it really helped me make some decissions about gear and even my boat. If you want you are more than welcome to meet up and try any of my combos. They are all pretty versatile and cover a large spectrum of techniques without being technique specific. You pick the lake.

Wow, the number of responses and the generosity of some of the offers on this thread are a little overwhelming. I would like to thank everyone who has offered advice, instruction and even supplies. I plan on putting all of this to good use. I'm going to Academy tomorrow to begin my leap into bass fishing and am going to put this advice to use Saturday on Lewisville. To everyone who sent PM's I'll respond ASAP. To those that offered supplies, I appreciate the offer however I don't feel that my situation warrants such generosity. I would encourage everyone that has those extra supplies to consider giving them to a teenage that has a passion for fishing, please don't mistake this for not appreciating the offer but I couldn't with a good conscious take things for free that I can afford to purchase.

And with that response SA Mike, you will never lack finding fishing partners! Offer stands anytime ..

Txduckhunter I just might take you up on that. I've heard the stories about how good Fork can be in the Spring.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY, so that we get to do what we do.
Welcome to the TFF, as I am new also. It's a great place to get lots of good info. Bless you bro.

Buy what you think looks good and go with it. Confidence goes a long way on the water.

Starter Kit, wow! You came to the right place to ask that question. You'll find lots of experience here on TFF. I GUESS I WOULD SUGGEST asking separate questions about rods, reels, line etc. There are certain answers that will trend clueing you in the right direct. Getting the right stuff isn't even half the battle. Learning techniques isn't half the battle. Finding fish your first couple of trips out isn't half the battle. Bass fishing is a constant battle and the victories come in small strides toward gaining experience. Learning something new is the pleasure of Bass fishing and we all are always learning something new! Most people get information overload when it comes to bass fishing. I suggest you sponge the info as fast as you can without worrying about what you don't grasp. You start hearing the something over and over, you will begin to get it. Just keep asking the questions! Welcome to TFF,

I have not read these post. But I would start out with slow moving baits first like shaky head, t-rig, c-rig and jig. Just because by using these baits you can fish an area more thoroughly and this will also force you as a inexperienced bass fishermen to slow down and learn the water better. One more thing try and not run and gun. Every time u hit the lake pick an area of the lake to stay in all day and learn everything u can about it. The last thing u want to do is run and gun. Lewisville and grapevine won't look like much in terms of cover and good looking areas so u will have to focus on what u can see. But what u feel and find from maps and sonar

Great suggestion.

SA, how is it going so far? Have you been whacking them yet?

Join a club like ABA that is co-angler friendly and fish it for a year or two and what you learn will be invaluable.

Go buy some squarebill cranks, lipless cranks, senkos, 10" worms, chartruese/white spinnerbaits, shakey head hooks/worms and some buzzbaits.

Go to Academy and buy a couple of H20 Mettle reels for $49 and one of their blue H20 rods for $59 with the rod riot going on this week.

That will get you started and cover a variety of situations.