How do I fish if I've never fished before?

YouTube has every fishing technique on the planet in video form. The problem: most of Watts Bar has spotty cell coverage, and once you're on the water you can't watch a video. The guides below are the no-cell-signal version. Save them on your phone before you launch.

The five skills, with their focused guides

1. Tie a knot: the Improved Clinch and the Palomar handle 95% of fishing. Wet every knot before tightening.
2. Bait a hook and set up a rig: worms, crickets, minnows, cut bait, plus the bobber rig and bottom rig step-by-step.
3. Cast and set the hook: overhand cast, sidearm pitch, what a bite feels like, how to set the hook so it sticks.
4. Land, handle, and identify the fish: how to grip bluegill, bass, and catfish without getting hurt. What species you just caught. Hook-in-finger first aid.
5. Troubleshoot when things go wrong: bird's nests, snagged lures, bails that won't close, drag screaming on every cast.

Parts of a rod and reel (vocabulary)

A spinning combo (the cheap pre-spooled rod-and-reel package you'll buy at Walmart or a bait shop) has six parts you need to know.

The rod is the long stick. The thin flexible end is the tip; the thick end with the grip is the butt. Small metal rings down the rod are guides that the line runs through.

The reel clamps under the rod near the butt. Four parts:

• Handle turns. Switchable for left or right hand.
• Spool is the round cylinder that holds the line.
• Bail is the wire arm. Open (up) lets line peel off freely; closed (down) holds it. Open to cast, close to reel.
• Drag is the knob on top of the spool (or sometimes underneath). Tighter resists harder against a fish; looser lets a big fish run without breaking the line.

Reading a tackle package label

Hook sizes use a backwards scale: bigger numbers are smaller hooks (size 6 is much smaller than size 1). Past size 1 the scale flips: 1/0 (one-aught) is bigger than 1, 2/0 bigger than 1/0, on up to shark hooks. For Watts Bar bluegill, crappie, and small bass: sizes 6, 4, 2. For catfish: 1/0 to 4/0.

Line weight: 6 to 10 lb monofilament covers Watts Bar beginner setups. Heavier is harder to cast; lighter breaks more easily.

Lure colors: for Watts Bar's stained water, look for chartreuse, white, black-blue, fire tiger, or anything labeled "dirty water." Skip natural shad or anything that mimics clear water; those colors disappear here.

Reading the water on Watts Bar

Find structure, find fish:

• Docks hold bluegill, crappie, catfish, bass.
• Brush piles, laydowns, fallen trees hold crappie and bass.
• Rocky points hold smallmouth, bass, white bass.
• Channel swings (where the river channel bends close to a bank) hold catfish and summer bass.
• Creek-mouth flats are where shad spawns happen and fall bait migrations concentrate predators.
• Bird activity (gulls, herons working an area) means baitfish, which means predators below.
• Surface boils are stripers or white bass chasing shad. Cast a spoon or topwater into the boil immediately.

What to do when you're not getting bites

Three problems and their fixes:

1. Wrong depth. Lengthen or shorten the bobber line. If 5 ft isn't producing, try 8 or try 3.
2. Wrong location. Move 30 ft along the dock or to a different one. If a spot doesn't produce in 15 minutes, it isn't going to.
3. Wrong bait. Switch live bait (worm to cricket to minnow). Try a smaller hook.

If all three fail, the fish probably aren't feeding right now. Wait for the next feeding window (low light), or switch species. If bluegill aren't biting, catfish often are. If catfish aren't biting, the bass might be.

Three lures every beginner should own

• Jig + minnow (1/16 or 1/8 oz, chartreuse or white). The crappie standard.
• Soft plastic worm (5 to 7 inches, green pumpkin or black-blue) wacky-rigged or Texas-rigged. The bass standard.
• Inline spinner (Mepps Aglia size 2 in gold or chartreuse). Catches bass, crappie, big bluegill, sometimes catfish.