After a good 10 years I’m getting back into fishing. I was pretty fortunate to grow up a 10 minute walk from the Yellowstone and Clark fork river and fished quite a bit with my dad. we did a mix of fishing on the jet boat, shore, and some quick trips to a little stocked lake every once and awhile. It was something we could have in common even though we didn’t always get along. He passed away 5 years ago and over the last couple of years I’ve gotten into a lot of his passions myself. Even though I’ve since moved to the west side of WA it’s been a pretty cool way to remember him by.
Last weekend, I went camping with a buddy, bought a license, and borrowed an extra ugly stick of his. It was rainy and I only got a single bite, but I realized that having 10 years pass, I enjoyed the simpler things about fishing more than when I was a kid—the quiet and calm, kind of like sitting in a tree stand as the sun comes up.
So anyways. I’m in snohomish county Washington and just picked up a Daiwa Regal LT 1000 D and a 6’6 Okuma Celilo UL—from hearing what this community has to say, that would be a solid set up for trout, panfish, maybe the occasional smallmouth? I used a Shakespeare micro more than anything as kid so UL is familiar for the most part. I’ve got some panther martins from my old box and have been reading up on other options beside just floating a worm. Any advice or not would be appreciated: lures, locations, techniques, etc. my dad set up so much of my stuff that I’m learning a surprising amount of the basics even though I’ve fished a bunch in the past. I still need to pick up some line and was thinking I’d go simple with 4lb mono? Any preferred brands? happy to be here!