Which is a better goal for a beginner: artificial baits or species?

Try artificial, like spoons and spinners ,crankbaits as well as jigs , he open to trying new baits,and presentation.

I have been advised by my mentors to try and think like a fish or act like the bait . Afterall lures are to mimic movements of the living food chain below the fish or during spawning season to challenge the fish protecting the nest. Old school or vintage lures like torpedos, devil`s horse, arbogast hula poppers, and etcs. were intended to agitate the game bass and still do today. The exaggerated spots, vivid colors, and large eyes could appear to serve as both food and smaller scaled fish with intentions of eating eggs. Artificial baits are seasonal especially the time for top water lures or underwater ones. If you spend a lot of time around a lake then you will learn a lot about how frogs and crayfish move in the water or insects appear to a fish that is hungry...like a dragonfly that lights on the surface for example... then you will get the idea how to work your lures. Knowing your fish`s diet is important...like white perch loves live bait like minnows and perch will jump out of the water for a grasshopper.
Catalpa worms, night crawlers, wasp larvae, grubs, and grasshoppers will always work for the beginner. In the spring artificial worms work good but choosing colors are sometimes necessary to ask what other fishermen are having the best luck with.

Make sure you know your state guidelines for fishing.

I'd say learn A-Lures and different Lure presentations. Learning how to fool a fish with the right lure, at the right time, with the correct presentation and retrieve is extremely rewarding! Anybody can soak bait- takes little skill (lol)!

I take it you mean what goal-ed is best. That can depend on a lot of things! If you choose a species to fish for you are restricting your self to what type of fish you want to catch, and depending on were you are fishing artificial lures may nor be legal; also some species do not bite well on the artificial lures and other species like Northern Pike will go after just about any thing. And if you use Grasshoppers do not put the hook throw the hoppers head, the more they move around the better the fish will respond. GOOD LUCK!

Species

just remember, you have to kill any northern snakehead you catch