HC, you didn't mention what type of fishing you were interested in. Its broken down into two general categories:
1.) Warm water: consisting of largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, pickerel, white perch, yellow perch, sunfish etc. For this type of fishing you can go as simple as fishing off a dock or roaming the shoreline. Most enthusiasts buy some sort of boat with an electric trolling motor to move along the shoreline. Most will cast for these species with spinning, spincast or baitcast reels and use some sort of artificial bait or live bait.
2.) Cold water: on Winni, this is landlocked salmon, lake trout or rainbow trout exclusively. By catch may include some of the warm water species above. Early season - shore fisherman can have success from public docks, bridges and some shoreline but once the water warms...that fishery is diffucult to produce from. Most enthusiast (like iShoot) buy a boat and troll for these species using downriggers to get to the depth they expect these species at and/or leadcore with or without planer boards to get down. This type if fishing is too complex for me to write out here as some have worked a life time to accumulate knowledge on speed, depth, color, location all of which combine to be successful. I would recommend a text search on the message board on fishlakewinni.com to find these but as mentioned above, Alan and AJs can get you started and be successful in "minutes".
I fish both so I chose a boat that I can troll for coldwater species on and cast for warm water species also.
I would say...begin by deciding if you want warm water or cold water or both then decide if you have the resources for a both and buy the best choice to meet your fishing type. People on this board and fishlakewinni.com and of course AJ will then help you decide on bait and tackle to be successful. Expect to spend somewhere between $50 and $50K dollars and don't forget that licence. I think NH offers a life time license to retirees that is a good option. Also the fishlakewinni site used to and may still have a RFP (retired fishing partner) group that got together to fish together and tell "tales". If they still have it...that would be a great group to be involved with.
Finally, if anyone offers you a learning trip on their boat...TAKE IT. You will learn more from 4-6 hours with an experienced fisherman than in 10 years of self learning....and you may just find a regular fishing partner. Another great route mentioned is to hire one of the guides from the fishlakewinni "fleet". These guys need to earn a living and will put you on fish.
Good luck...I'm looking forward to you posting your adventures as you learn and grow in the sport. Ice out is a very productive time for cold water species so keep an eye on the ice out page. Many will be out before ice out is declared.
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