Getting started..................

From Louisiana and typically fished nearly everyday when I was in high school. I'd get out of school, cut 2-3 yards, and then fish until dark (except during baseball season).

Dad used to make fun of me cause I had 4 baitcasters and 2 spinning rods with about 3 tackle boxes full of lures, and didn't really catch a ton of fish. He'd say "Boy you aren't very good at it, but you sure do look good doing it."

Then started college and didn't have very much time for fishing. When I did get a chance to fish it was mainly saltwater. I got a little taste for redfish and speckled trout and swore I'd never bass fish again. I was hooked.

Then moved to Oklahoma and am now in Snyder, TX. Went bass fishing on Amistad a couple weeks ago with some friends/co-workers and now just can't wait to do it again. Problem is I have 1 cheap baitcaster/rod combo and 1 ultra light spinning rod. The tackle I have is probably the same tackle I had way back in the mid to late 90's.

So if I wanted to dive back in this and get geared up, where should I start? Let's say I want to spend $1,000, how should I spend it? How many rods/reels would you invest in and how much would you spend on each rod/reel, and then how you stock a tackle box from scratch. Just curious to see different opinions.

Was looking at various Rod/Reel combos and thinking of 3 baitcasters combos(medium cranking rod, heavy flipping rod, med heavy spinnerbait rod) and a medium light spinning comob.

Could easily drop $500-$600 right there. Just curious how different guys would get started.

2 bait casters (lews if its me) One heavy say 7.5 foot rod, flipp'n c-rig swim bait. One 7ish foot med heavy, cranks, trap, jig, spinnerbait. rods falcon, tfo, duckett... Mabey a fairy wand and spinning reel. Braid on flipp'n stick 15-20 lbs Fluro for other rod. Then go get a SMALL h20 tackle box. Or the plums backpack tackle box that thing is sweet... One crank trap box, one jig box, spinner/buzz bait box one c-rig/t-rig terminal tackle box. Half a box top waters half swim baits. Say ten different bags plastics( mix of craws worms sinkos). That's a good start without going crazy. Ps I'd order online. Better prices

what is a "plums backpack tackle box?" Can you post a link? Searched the web and can't find anything but your reference above.

I think the best rod/reel combo for around $200 is a Lew's Speed Spool/ Falcon Bucoo rod. Or if you want to spend a few extra bucks on rods, talk to Carlos on here (River A Tackle) and buy a few Ducketts from him. As far as other tackle goes, I think catslayer pointed you in the right direction.

By the way, I live in Lubbock and fish Alan Henry a few times a week, so let me know if you ever want to get out on the water and catch a few.

Get on the trading post and look for shimano citica 200e or 200e7 curado used 60-130$ then find some quality rods duckett, shimano kistler or even Falcon get a 7ft MH cranking 7'6"H flipping and a 7ft MH rod for all around baits

I would obviously start on the rods/reels as that is going to be the big hit upfront. 2 good, versatile combos will get you going all day. I would look at something in the mid range, $99-$150 range on reels and same for rods.

Bass Pro Shops Pro Qualifiers and Lews Speed Spools are both fantastic for the $99 price tag.
A good 6'6" Medium action and a 7' Med Heavy action rod will take you a long way. I would look at TFO, Abu Veritas, Falcon Bucoo, 13 Omen, and the Bass Pro lines. You get a lot of bang for the buck.

Since you have been out of the game for a while it will take you a little time to re-learn a lot of the techniques as well as learning the new ones. With that gear you will easily be able to fish TX rig worms, Spinnerbaits, small to med crank baits, topwaters, jigs, frogs, lipless cranks, and not out grow the gear.

As for tackle, the sky is the limit. Go to a sporting goods store and ask the employee what they sell the most of for your area and buy a few of each. that will keep you from guessing and buying lures designed to catch fisherman. You can also pick a technique of the month and buy only the essentials for that to get you started and help build confidence. At a abare minimum I would get a2-3 bags of worms, worm weights, 3/0 EWG worm hooks, 3-4 3/8 oz spinnerbaits in white, chartereuse, and balck/blue, 2-3 jigs in pumpkinseed, black/blue, and craw, a few small to medium crankbaits, a few lipless and some topwaters. You should be able to sneak out for under $300 if you are a smart shopper. Try Academy or BPS. Both have their own branded lures that are half the price of name brand stuff and will still catch fish. Since you have the bug again I would buy a tackle bag 3X bigger than what you need right now. You will probably need a bigger one by Christmas. Lol....

BTW, what part of Louisiana?

Dont overdue it.. Find out what you need to catch fish at the lake you will be fishing and buy gear for that specific lake.. Dont go out on load up on stuff you wont be using anytime soon.. I did that. I have brand new lures I still have not thrown..

Check out the $49 Academy H2O Mettle Reel. Great Reels!!!Inexpensive, durable, lifetime over counter warranty. You can easily spend 3x as much money on other reels that are not as good. Keep it simple and work your way back up on the tackle.

Get a few H20 Mettle/H20 Ethos set ups to start out with. This is around a $100 set-up and will catch fish just as good as anything else.

Castch em on sale for 29.00

That Bass would not know if you caught him on a zebco 303 or a Revo premere

if you went to Amistad in the last few weeks you must have been fishing in the main parts of the lake

I would go with the old green curados. Pair these up with the falcon bucoo rods I prefer a 7' H for flipping and pitching tx rigs Carolina rigs and small to medium jigs. The MH on the falcon rods have a soft enough tip to throw senkos, flukes, spinner baits, and some of the really deep diving 18 plus crank baits. A 7' M would be my third choice for throwing all my medium 6-18 ft diver cranks. And for a spinning rod and reel I personally like a 6'6 m falcon original with a 2500 shimano spyrex or a used symatree.

Now as far as building your tackle I would buy 2-3 packages of each of the following. Senkos, flukes, super speed craw, brush hog, and power worms. As far as colors go I like any variation of green pumpkin or watermelon. Then it's on to crank baits. 2 rattle traps sexy shad and chrome and blue. 2 medium 2 deep 2 square bills. Sexy shad, chart shad, natural shad. Couple spinner baits chart and white.

If you plan on fishing stock tanks and from docks or shore focus first on your plastics, rattle traps, and spinner baits.

I also want to throw out there that there are several people on the forum that pour/ make their own plastics and sell them and they work and look just like the name brand stuff for a fraction of the price and a lot more product as well. Good luck to you and welcome back to bass fishing.

Whatever you do no matter how good the deal is DO NOT BUY ANY ST. CROIX RAGE RODS. I got suckered into the buy two rods get one free deal, decided to try out 4 rage rods, wish I never had. Broke one lifting a 2lb fish in the boat took it back to Bass Pro and got a duckett. Quality is rediculously poor. As soon as i can find some poor sucker to buy them off me i will be replacing all my rage rods with ducketts.