What is the first fish you remember catching

[Glowgood Jigster]

I think the first fish I caught was probably a small rainbow trout from the creek near our house. But the first one I remember was a silver salmon (Coho), when I was about 6 years old. My dad worked on a charter boat out of Charleston, Oregon (Port of Coos Bay), and they had a no-show customer so I got to go on the trip. The salmon were biting real well, and everybody on the boat were getting fish. When I hooked my first fish, Dad told me to keep the butt of the rod in my belly and reel it in. Well, being so small then, the butt of the rod went down my pants and down through the hole in the knee of my jeans. I kept reeling anyways, and got a nice silver that was around 12 lbs. I caught two more that trip for my limit, and each time had the boatfull of customers laughing it up.
We had the fish canned in Charleston, and I remember crying my eyes out when I learned that we gave ALL of that fish to my Uncle who was sailing his homebuilt trimaran to the South Pacific Isles. I never got to eat any of my first salmon. But we always had fish of some kind to eat, and I got over it.
Now I catch the heck out of the crappie, and I get at least half of it. It all evens out over the years, don't it?
Doug

[Glowgood Jigster]

I have to amend the above salmon fishing post, I was going on memories but now I have photographic evidence that I'd forgotten, and pushes those salmon I'd caught, up a year or two. I now belive I was closer to 8 years old when I caught those coho on the charter boat my dad worked on. Because these flounder and petrol were caught when I was 4 or 5.. Many historic details were lost when my family died by 1971, and the rest of the relatives didn't have many details. I'm just patching things together now, with the help of these lost photo's. Apparently being severely nearsighted as a child affects your memory until you get glasses for 1st grade.

[slabsrus]

I was around 7 years old. I had a hula popper tied about 6 feet behind a bobber. My older brother and his buddy took me out in front of our house on White Lake in Milford Michigan. A couple casts into the morning sunrise and a large slurp followed the irratic plurp of my hula popper. An eleven inch speck had been fooled by my crazy rig. From that day forward I was hooked on specks.

[crappiejack fisher mikey]

I was about six years old, fishing the Deschutes River in Tumwater, Washington, just outside of Olympia. I was using the age old method of a stick and line with a nightcrawler and caught a cutthroat trout about 12" long. I remember catching lots of yellow perch from my uncle's dock as well as small trout and bass.

Down here in Alabama my first fish was a small bluegill. My first crappie however came from Lake Guntersville and it was a whopping 2.5lbs and hit a big yellow Bass Buster beetle spin lure I was just dragging through the water playing around. I was about 10 or so. My biggest fish to date is a gar that was about five feet long and around 45 pounds.

EDIT: Here's a pic of the me and the crappie. If you look close you'll see the yellow Bass Buster I stuck to it's mouth.

[cadd1951]

I was about 7 and my uncle from Hueytown AL was visiting us in Orlando, well he took me to a small shallow creek/canal that runs between 2 of the lake Conways. He showed me how to cast (throw) kinda, using a dull red plastic worm (maybe some of you can relate, it had a propeller, a couple plastic beads on the front and two hooks connected with a short length of mono) by about the third or fourth cast I was getting pretty good distance (20-30 feet) and I chunked it towards the bridge. He says good cast, now reel it slow. I was a teeny bit bored and reeled it in pretty quick actually when wham! Right at the bank some damn LMB nailed it! I had caught my first lunker! 10 inches of prime LMB! Needless to say, I was the one who got hooked. When he visited us again the next summer he gave me my first ever fishin pole, a beautiful split bamboo fly rod that I only caught gills on but I sure could give a fly a bad case of whiplash!:D

[handybat]

It's not the first fish I ever caught but it's the fist that I remember. I was just a youngster fishing with my dad and my uncle. We were fishing in some backwater in Lake Overcup in Arkansas. The bank was a little bit steep where I was and I had my rod on a forked stick. I hooked an 11 pound carp and it almost pulled me in, lol. If that forked stick hadn't been there I would have been all wet for sure. I was hollering at my dad to come help me but he and my uncle were in tears from laughter. It was a struggle but I finally got it in. That was a lot of fun and something I'll never forget as long as I live

[GRIZZ]

I've been addicted to fishing since the first thump when I was a little kid. Its kinda a funny story. I was 3 yrs old, and my family was vacationing at a lake in PA called Canadohta Lake. Nearby was a small pay fishing lake full of trout. We went there just to watch I think, and me being me, a bit of trouble, wandered off by myself to watch an old fella fish. He had a block of Velveeta cheese he was cutting squares off for fish bait sitting next to him on the ground. Well, hes minding his own business and he turns around to see whats behind him and a 3 yr old (me and I was cute little feller back then) is hunkered down beside him, eating his bait. I don't remember exactly what he did or said, but everyone thought it was pretty funny including him. He was a nice old guy, and after he retrieved his bait from the jaws of uh.. well me. He offered to let me hold his fishing rod after he cast it out, which I did, feeling rather important. Well, a trout hits the bait, and I remember what that felt like to this day. The thump, the tugging on the line, the old guy helping me land the fish. I was so excited I think I wet my pants. Actually I don't remember doing that, but it sounded good in the story, but I distinctly remember the thump and the fight and the feeling I had. Its a very vivid memory. I've never been the same since.

[handybat]

That's a good story bud, lol. Yes I bet you were excited. The bait that I used to catch that carp with was called dough balls, a mixture of Wheaties, peanut butter and bread, lol. Good bait tho.

[Songdog]

First I remember was a big stumpnocker in the Escambia River up by Cotton lake in Fla I don't remember how much it weighed but it seemed like a monster that day Daddy had to tell everyone the story of me catching it What I wouldn't give to be able to fish with him one more time

[Glowgood Jigster]

dough balls, a mixture of Wheaties, peanut butter and bread

I remember seeing Jimmy Houston giving a similar receipe for carp dough balls, but it was Wheaties, Strawberry Jello powder, and strawberry soda pop enough to make it into stiff dough. I tried it once but the carp were jumping all over and not biting. I think they were spawning and off the bite.