Fishing for Dummies

• #6 in Best Fishing Books

29 Reviews

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Panic set in when a friend invited me on a weekend fishing outing with a group of experienced outdoorsmen. Having never landed a lunker in my life, I had slap-stick visions of hooking myself with lures, upended fishing boats, and general ridicule from a bunch of plaid-shirted Grizzly Adamses. Fishing For Dummies saved me from this humiliation and actually turned me into a fisherman. In a fun and readable format, it taught me everything I needed to know: what kind of rod and reel to get, how to equip the tackle box, what kind of bait to use, and most importantly, how to actually fish. Fishing For Dummies literally teaches you how to cast the line into the water, how to attract and hook the critters, and how to reel them in and land them. I ended up catching the two largest trout of the weekend and enjoyed myself to boot. If you need a quick, readable reference to get you started in this sport, this is the book for you.

As with almost all the "for Dummies" books I have, the reading is quite easy. The author keeps this book moving right along while providing you with in-depth info on eveything from knots, lures, rod action to what to wear under your waders. This book, although they would lead you to believe is for novices to pros, is definitely geared toward the beginner. If you have been fishing for a while there probably isn't any thing new to learn here. Try getting a specialty book if you need to focus on a particular area of angling skills. All in all this book does provide vast amounts of quality information for those just starting out.

Note: A great feature of this book is its list of websites and books in the appendix. I found these lists to be very useful tools in continuing my research of the great outdoors.

While I am usually quite pleased with the "for dummies" type of books because they are truly a "reference for the rest of us," this one does not deliver on the latter promise. While it is fun to read and easy to understand, I learned nothing from reading this and I am only a casual fisherman at best, going on what my dad taught me over 25 years ago when I was just a boy. I think if you had no idea what you were doing at all this might be a good "get started" book, but if you know what a rod and reel are and how they work, how hooks and lines are gauged and how to hook your bait, I don't think this book will teach you very much. It also introduces a lot of new things to the beginner (such as telling you what the basic types of lures are), but tells you nothing in terms of tips for catching fish any better with these items.

While the author enthusiastically peppers in "fish stories" about huge and numerous fish he has caught all over the world, it is interspersed with basic introductory information that gives no clue to the average fisherman of how he can ever accomplish the same things. In fact, most of us can't afford to go to exotic locales and pay fishing guides who take us out on boats that the author talks about so I have no idea why these stories are in there.

All in all, if you are absolutely clueless about fishing and have no one to ask or who will take you fishing this might be helpful, but otherwise I would recommend skipping it.

This book isn't just for dummies--it's for everyone with any interest in fishing. The author really knows his stuff and shares everything in a fun, clear and comprehensive fashion. This book quickly answered a hundred little questions I've long had about fishing--but was a bit too shy to ask anyone for fear of sounding a bit like a dummie. No longer. I've now got THE book on fishing. Do not hesitate to buy it. It's terrific! (My congratulations and thanks to the author!)

I knew next to nothing about fishing, except that there's a lot to learn. This book covers all the basics very clearly, in a very organized way. I read it straight through, cover to cover, and now feel I have a good idea of what to do, what fish or conditions all the different baits and lures are for, how to to use them, how to tie them on, etc. etc. The book can also be used as a reference--you can skip around and pick up info on just the areas you're interested in. Definitely a good choice.

I am new to fishing, not throwing a pre-rigged line into the water and waiting, but FISHING. I am a single woman who used to have a man do everything for me. Now I am on my own and wanted to learn what to really do to catch fish! This book taught me the basics in easy to understand language with a little humor thrown in so I didn't feel like a dummy at all. There's always more to learn, but this book helped me get out there with the big boys and give them a run for their money! A definite must-have for your fishing library.

I bought this book about a year ago and still refer to it every now and then. Most likely it's not a book you'll really want to sit down and read cover-to-cover. But it makes for nice reading when you're sitting down relaxing and thinking about fishing when you can't actually be out on the water.
The author seems to cover a good bit of ground and for a couple of questions I still had, he was pretty responsive to e-mail as well.
All the different kinds of rods, reels, lines, hooks, artificial bait, live bait, knots, etc. are covered.
All-in-all, worth the money and your time.

I recently took up fishing so I could pick up where my father in-law left off with my sons. I knew nothing of the sport so this book seemed to be the one to purchase. It is a great first read for new anglers. It has just the right amount of information without overwhelming the reader. I learned a lot and so did my kids.

Fishing for Dummies is a great book for beginner fisherwomen and fishermen to learn the basics needed to go out and fish. It was extremely helpful and so easy to understand. I highly recommend it!

This book is so general that even someone who has never fished would know more already. Some of the information is inaccurate and/or not up to date. The auther has not been even been fishing for what I think is a long time. He even admits to getting a lot of his info from guides and charters. In fact he talks a lot about all the fish he has cought on the charters and trips he's been on. Anyone can catch fish on a charter. I hope the For Dummies book are not going to all be like this from now on because they are normally very good.

This book is not even useful for a reference. It talks about the anatomy of the hook; but no mention of the sizes or when to use these different sizes. It doesn't even mention how to tie on a hook.

This book mentions to take a thermometer with you to check the water temperature, since fish bite at certain temperatures; it fail to state these temperatures.

The diagrams are very few and confusing with not much text in reference to the diagrams in many cases.

No mention in the book of how to tie the line to hook or lure, where to attach float and/or sinker. No mention on how to use lures and for what fish.

The "search inside this book" feature on Amazon showed a lot more information than contained in this book and therefore was misleading.

If you know nothing about fishing and are just starting out, you are better served by asking the sales clerk in the sports department at a department store about the type of gear you will need and how it all comes together and what are the popular baits or lures they sell. You will get a whole lot more useful fishing information this way than from this book.

A fishing book which looked very useful for the beginner and as a reference is "Fishing Basics" Fishing Basics. I ordered this book from Amazon and I shall post a review after I read it.

I cannot believe that the Fishing For Dummies Mini is getting the positive reviews that it is getting. People must be referencing the the original 300+ page Fishing For Dummies. The mini is approximately a 2 inch by 2 inch book that has the typesetting of a full-size book. If it was printed on full-size paper, I couldn't imagine it being over 20 pages in length. The Search Inside feature on the website is misleading because it is letting you look at the full-size book, not the mini that is offered here. I was very disappointed when this book arrived. It would make a good gag gift for a fishing enthusiast because it of its size. Please be careful and get the full size book as the mini covers pretty much very very basic items. If you have a small kid who has a limited attention span, this might be decent to introduce them to fishing. Otherwise, the book will probably be tossed to the side and you might not be able to find it again because it is so tiny. This was not the quality of the Dummies book that I have been accustomed to.

Great book to get started and learn tricks and tips even if you
are an intermidiate angler.

Anything beyond what this book offers, you will need to
learn it from experience and from more advanced anglers.

For the novice, this is a good starting book and reference. I would combine this with "What fish don't want you to know" for a much better overall understanding of the technical points and basics (in this book) and how and where to apply them (in the other book).

Of the several fishing guides I have read, this is the best. It contains quite a lot of information and is easy to digest. This book covers pretty much all areas of fishing, which is pretty amazing. The one short coming of the book is its lack of depth about specific fish, but this is completely understandable since that would probably serve to confuse more than inform and would require many more pages. The knot diagrams are not the best: the illustrations are not that good and are often two pages later than the instructions.

This book will teach you the basics and answer some questions that you might have had about fishing. This is a good reference book that goes into enough detail to get anyone started fishing.

This was a great read. Learned a lot. Excellent for any beginner.

I feel that it is my duty to help bring down the review score that this book is getting. some people are obviously mistaking this book for another. The mini is a waste of paper. A book like this is an abuse of freedom of speech. How should a book about "how to fish" not give any information on how to fish. Robbery is against the law; and that's what this is. The best part of this book is the advice of bringing a sandwich with you. You'll need it when you catch no fish. I suggest getting any other book on the subject if you wish to learn about tying knots, casting, bait, etc. The purchaser of this book is sure to be dissatisfied at any cost. I guess there is a lot to be said in the title "Fishing for DUMMIES (MINI)".. Maybe I was a "little stupid" to buy it.

The book was very good, well organized for beginner fishermen. Easy to read.

THIS BOOK HAS EVERYTHING YOU'D NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FISHING AND PLUS MORE

Although the product was not what I was looking for it was my own fault. I didn't look at the description. It came in the great condition and very quick. The seller worked with me and was very helpful.

I was just looking for ideas how to get my message out on the inter net, you know, how to pester and infuricate Liberals on account of the Lord told us to be fishers of men but I suppose that He also meant women, and to troll along this here worlds biggest river of misinformation to catch me some dummies that would get pi**ed off enough to answer my comments so's I'd have a sense of being noticed and important like I see some strong Christins and conservatives doing, but this book is only about catching catfish and croakers when everbody knows they ain't no more natural fish in our rivers cuz all the welfare chiselers and illegals went and caught everthing with fins using velveeta for bait! Dang, I sure wish some bozo would teach me how to troll!

(By the way, I'll be glad to pay top dollar for any real fish any first-time fisherman catches after reading this book.)

I bought this for my hubby for our one year anniversary (cuz your first anniversary is paper fyi) and he loves fishing, so he loved it.

Instructions in this book are fairly easy to follow. Did all the wrong stuff in the past untill I read through this book. Every fishing session from now became more fruitful.

a lot was review for me, but there were several new things I picked up as well.... this is good for beginner and even intermediate enthusiasts.

I originally bought this book for my boyfriend, but I love fishing and know very little about the tricks of catching a fish. I have learned so much about lures and fish and how they think in order to catch fish better. This book is awesome! I totally recommend this book to any "family fisherman" if they want to know more.

Wow! When they say "mini", they mean Mini. This book is tiny. The content however, is actually fairly good. It's a very quick read. The print is actually not too bad for the physical size of the book. It had mostly fairly basic information, but the size would allow for it to be thrown in a tackle box or fishing vest if you wanted. Again, just the basics, but worth the price. My wife thinks it's very "cute" too.

Terrible. Will not help you begin to fish. Poor content, organization, and editing. Bookbuying for Dummies. Dont waste your money.

I recommend this book for the beginning angler. Well written and very informative. The book covers all elements needed to enjoy fishing and to catch fish. Love the book!!!