When the Penn International 80 started zipping off line, the crew of the Predator had no idea that the blue marlin on the end of the line would be a record-breaking 1005.9-pound grander.

Captain Brendan Farfan, 27, worked the throttle while the angler, 21-year-old Brendan Bernard, was assisted by crew members, 24-year-old Peter Reid, 26-year-old Michael Rostant and 14-year-old Simon Bernard. All of the crewmembers are from Trinidad and Tobago.

As spring fishing season has us all heading to our favorite fishing holes, consider two important points critical to the sport’s progression: 1) Host a kid, or any beginner, and you'll open the door to their personal angling development; 2) First-time lessons need a realistic starting point so hold the dock skipping and deep cranking stuff for down the road.

In many cases, catfish offer a user-friendly option with a good chance of catching something big enough to eat. From the smaller channel cats to the blue variety reaching hefty proportions, catfish are fairly indiscriminate eaters with respectable fights and tasty fillets. Other words, they're the ideal "beginner" fish.

During early summer, big bluegills, in full spawning hues, start their gradual migration toward the shallows. As water temperatures reach 70 degrees, their breeding nests begin to appear—­imagine elephant tracks on a lake bottom. Breeding often continues through August. These fish, the biggest bulls you’ll see all year, are aggressive biters and hard fighters. Perhaps best of all, their shallow-water haunts are easily accessible from a boat or from shore.

Minnesota’s Dave Genz, an icefishing master, calls these fish “no-nosers”—nothing but forehead. He focuses on them the instant that the ice melts, trading his jigging sticks for 12-foot spinning rods. But that’s pretty much all he changes. His terminal gear strategy remains a constant, and it’s a topnotch way to catch plate-sized fish.