I use alot of spinnerbaits, jitterbugs, and frogs when teaching someone new to fish, all easy to use, if there is weed beds about 6inches to a foot under the surcace, bring the spinner bait right across the top, and let it fall in opennings. Use jitterbugs early in the am and at dusk, and in middle of the day brin frogs across the top of lillypads, and with top water, let em take it under first, not when they first hit, but that takes practice because of the excite ment of a fish hitting the lure so explosivily. best of luck!

crankbaits and lipless crankbaits is what I recomend. For worms I would use a tru turn hook and hook it "weedless" if you know how to do this.

You couldn't have picked a better place to pick up some useful knowledge, the men and women of F&S are always willing to share their knowledge with the next generation of fisherman/hunters. If you haven't gotten any rubber frogs make sure to grab at least one(a great one is Live target's smaller version in any of the darker colors) and toss that thing out on some lilys, you'll learn how to use it in no time and start catching those bucket mouths. Make sure to listen to Josh from the 3rd post on this thread and let 'em take it under the surface before you swing for the fences! Learn from everyone elses mistakes cuz I'm sure not the only one that's lost a fish by setting it too early!

I think the best bait for a new bass fisherman like yourself is a Soft Plastic Worm. You can use these in spawning season and all though out the summer and even until the water is covered in ice. Another thing I like to use is live bait, such as live shiners and minnows.

Works work great Texas rigged, also remember to use the lightest weight possible to get the worm to sink when fishing close to the shore. You can do the same thing for the lizards as well. You should match the hook size to the size of the bait you are using.