Thread: Who or what started you fishing? What keeps you fishing?

my pappy first, when I was about 3 or 4 .....still remember him showing me how to ketch minnows by the bank with our hands .....
entice them with a little bread and do it like a bear he said .....give them a real quick paw swipe up on the bank ....
worked like a charm ....
dad was next in the salt water and it never ended , what keeps me going is my down to the bone love to ketch fish

As early as I can remember, my dad brought my brother and me with him in various places in the Atchafalaya Basin (and an annual summer trip to Toledo Bend). We'd catch bluegill, sacalait, goggle eye (warmouth), chinqupin (red ear), and catfish on crickets and worms. However, it was sacalait fishing that he loved, and he was very good at it.

As I got older into high school, I graduated to what I thought was "real" fishing and started bass fishing as often as I could. When I was in college, I would throw a 12 foot john boat behind my truck and fish after my classes at least 3 or 4 times a week. My dad would try to talk my brother and me into sacalait fishing with him, but he would usually give up and fish bass, just to be with us.

Fast forward 30 years, and I bought my first boat about the same time he was diagnosed with lung cancer. When he was going through chemo/radiation, I would tell him that he had to make it through, so now I could take him fishing with me in my new boat like he had done for me so many times growing up. Unfortunately, he was never able to come. When he passed away, I kept a few of his jig poles and his sacalait tackle bag. I decided to use them once pretty much just in remembrance of him once my football team got knocked out of the playoffs and had Thanksgiving break off and make a strictly sacalait trip. I ended up finding some fish and had three of the best fishing days of my life, and I felt the strongest presence of my dad the whole time.

Since that week in 2022, I've become completely obsessed (and many times, extremely frustrated) with this type of fishing. How wrong I was about bass fishing being "real" fishing! I'll be forever grateful to my father for introducing my brother and me to the beautiful outdoors we have here and hunting and fishing. As I said in a previous post, no where do I feel the presence of God (and the presence of my father) when I'm in my boat in the basin AND reeling in a sacalait. That's what keeps me going. Happy New Year to all of you on this board!

My grandmother.

She was a half-chickasaw indian lady with skin that looked like old leather from as early as I can remember. And I think if she were still alive she would still outfish me and all my electronics with nothing but her jig pole, jon boat, and a paddle.

For over a decade she lived on Toledo bend but moved up to north louisiana before I was born and lived on a backwoods oxbow lake/bayou. She refused to use live bait herself but would keep a minnow trap under her dock for us kids to use.

I think the moment I got hooked for real was a spring day when I was around 8 or 9 years old. My grandmother had been sinking christmas trees on the edges of her dock for many years. My grandmother popped her head in the house to tell all of the grandkids it was time to come help her catch white perch (north-louisiana term for crappie) and to be quiet walking down to the dock. Unsure of how many we caught but the first ice chest wouldn't close after a while and we came close to filling the 2nd one.

Ever since that day I've been hooked and she passed down a lifelong love of a great sport.

My story is similar to yours, spoon. My dad was not an outdoorsman and neither was my brother. I got hooked reading Sports Afield and other outdoor magazines. I had to learn as I went with no mentor. There were no fishing shows in the late 50s 60s. I use to wait anxiously for the yearly Sports Afield Giant fishing magazine (remember that) and read every article. It was about a 7 mile bike ride to get to a small lake and stream, but my buddy and I rode there several times a week. Because no one put any importance to getting me any decent equipment, I made do with crappy stuff until I could earn enough to buy my own.
All that said, I have been hooked for almost my entire life.
Bob

Mom and Dad, Shakespeare rods/trolling reels 4 kids and dad in a 16’ Lund with a 20hp Johnson all with lines out trolling mom read books and untangled lines, in the evenings we’ed anchor and still fish for walleye, mom got more reading done then.

For my Grandfather and Father. Summers spent with Grandfather at his summer fishing cabin running lines for catfish and fishing for bait and crappie. Dad taking brother and I to the local lake on weekends. I still have the first Batts rod I bought as a kid with money I earned, that I caught my first fish with, and the Record half-bell reel dad gave me. Brother still has a metal rod and open reel type reel he caught his first bass with. I truly cannot remember a time not being on the water, around the water, or in the water as a child.

Amazing how brothers can be so different when it comes to hobbies! My younger brother fished with me because he had nothing better to do when we were younger. To this day fishing still holds no interest for him. He's lived in Calif. for decades and I still have no idea how he occupies his time.
I guess like father, like son - sometimes.

I know where you're coming from Bob re: magazines.
After getting out of the service, I worked at a V.A. hospital which had a small library. Magazines of all types (other than Payboy ) were donated and there were hundreds that contained fishing articles to choose from such as: Outdoor Life, Sports Afield, In-Fisherman, Field & Stream, Bass Master, Fly Fishing and others. When not busy with patients, I'd sit at my desk and read articles that focused on fishing by excellent writers - many of which I'll bet guys under 60 have never even heard of. Some had their own TV shows which supported the validity or their articles (minus the hype). I couldn't wait to test those ideas and tips on the weekend.

I guess some things never change.....

My dad started taking fishing in his boat when I was 5 and could actual swim, and I've been fishing for the next 40 years since. I love being out on the water and the feel of the fish on the other end of the line, and I prefer fishing in a boat because I started off in a boat. Also, I prefer the taste of crappie, although I actually enjoyed the taste of 8lb catfish that my daughter caught. Crappie is my go-to at home, although I also bring home nice-size catfish, and I fish for trout in the White River behind my uncle's house in Arkansas.