Your First Fish: Bluegill on a Float
The most reliable path from never having fished to holding a fish, usually inside an hour.
Do this exactly and you will very probably catch something.
Find a pond with a weedy shallow bank. Any public pond or park lake. You do not need a boat, and you do not want deep open water.
Rig up. Size 8 hook tied with an improved clinch. One split shot a foot above it. A small float about two feet above that. You want the bait hanging just off the bottom, not lying on it.
Bait. Half a worm. Not a whole one; a bluegill's mouth is small, and a long trailing tail is something they can pull at without ever meeting the hook. Cover the hook shank and leave a short wriggling end.
Cast near cover, not into it. Two feet off the weed edge. Then leave it alone and watch the float.
The bite. The float will twitch first. That is a fish checking the bait, not eating it. Wait. When it goes fully under, or slides sideways with purpose, lift the rod smoothly. Do not swing for the fences; a firm lift is enough to set a small hook.
Landing. Keep the rod up and the line tight, and guide the fish in. If it comes off, it comes off. You found the fish, and there are more where that came from.
Handling. Wet your hands first. Dry hands strip the protective slime that keeps a fish free of infection. Hold it gently, back the hook out with pliers, and put it back in the water facing forward. Hold it upright until it swims off on its own.
If nothing happens in ten minutes, move twenty yards and try again. Moving beats waiting, nearly always.