By LOY MILAM         

     With over 20,000 different species of fish known to man (salt and fresh water) and the angling world making great strides over the past decade in the development of more sophisticated equipment and techniques, fishing might seem a very complicated subject to the newcomer. And in many respects it is. But take heart if you’re just getting started. The basics remain the same. Fishing doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive to be fun.                 

      In search of a starting place, I think it might be wise to say a little something about attitude before we get into equipment and techniques. I’ve seen more than a few newcomers literally go off the deep end when they first began fishing, and as a result, suffer a quick burn-out when they couldn’t compete on a professional level. But that doesn’t have to be the case.        

     Don’t set demanding goals to begin with. Fish for the fun of it. That means not limiting your interpretation of success to certain species. You don’t have to set a world record to enjoy fishing. You don’t even have to catch trophies. So wade in slowly. Begin with the attitude that you want your fishing to be fun... and just enjoy yourself.             

     One of the most important decisions that you will make will be your selection of fishing line. It’s a very critical link between you and the fish. Given a choice, I’d rather have a good name-brand fishing line and an inexpensive rod-and-reel outfit than the best baitcasting rig that money could buy spooled with cheap line. Remember the old saying that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link? Well the same applies with fishing line. Buy the best and forget the rest. Stick with the major brands. It’s not that much more expensive. You can buy a spool of sub-standard line for a small price, but you can have the same amount of line of superior quality for just few dollars more. Take my advice: spend a little extra and get the best. It will be money well spent. In addition to superior strength, quality line also offers proper limpness for easier casting, controlled stretch for better hook-sets, high tensile strength that will hold up under the pull of larger fish, wear resistance and strong knot strength.        

     And speaking of knots, you need to learn to tie a good one to begin with. A little known fact is that monofilament lines lose an average of 15 percent of their strength when wet. Quality lines compensate for that fact by making the various pound tests slightly stronger than what’s marked on the package. But even at that, even the best of knot will result in some loss of pound test, but at the same time, should maintain at least 75 percent of the line strength to be effective.           

     Another important consideration is to match existing equipment with the proper pound test line. Using line that is too large for your reel will result in "ballooning" (inadvertent coils created by using heavy line on small spools), reduced casting distance resulting from increased line friction, and unnecessary reduction of line capacity.

     The following guidelines should be used when choosing the proper pound test line for spinning reels.          
     ULTRA-LIGHT SPINNING REELS: 2- to 4-pound test.          
     LIGHT SPINNING REELS: 6- to 10-pound test.          
     MEDIUM SPINNING REELS: 8- to 12-pound test.          
     HEAVY SPINNING REELS: 14- to 20-pound test.         

     A good selection for most spin-cast reels is 8- to 10-pound test, while baitcasting reels work best spooled with 12-pound and up.

Loy Milam is a Coast Guard Charter Boat Captain and licensed Kentucky/Tennessee fishing guide, web site www.loymilam.webs.com