If you enjoy fishing in the Chesapeake Bay or Mid-Atlantic region (or you live elsewhere and found us on the web or YouTube), chances are you're already familiar with FishTalk. When the post-Covid boom of new anglers began in 2020, we knew we needed to help get these people hooked on fishing forever. Thus, the Beginner series was born. The feedback was 100-percent positive and we began receiving more and more emails and PMs from parents who didn’t know how to fish but had kids who were trying to learn; from people who took up kayaking then saw other kayakers fishing and became intrigued; from hikers who watched an excited shoreline angler reel in a bass and wanted to know more. Originally we had intended the Beginner series to run for a year or so until we had the major Chesapeake Bay target species covered, but it became clear that we needed to keep publishing it indefinitely—and it continues to this day. This book is a compilation of articles in the Beginner’s series along with many of our articles focused towards intermediate anglers, including those that cover general tactics and methods (Part I), those that are species-specific (Part II), and those that focus on tackle and gear (Part III). Five years after initiating the series, this book comprises nearly 65,000 words of fishing intel. We sincerely hope - and believe - that reading these pages will help you catch more, bigger fish!