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

My father never held a fishing rod in his life, but my uncle did. He took me fishing in Baja California when we visited him every other year. My mom took me shopping for a fishing rod & reel, bobber and hooks and I dug up worms in the backyard for bait. Whenever we went to a lake, the tackle was in the trunk. I preferred fishing over swimming and caught mostly panfish from the bank. Course, I didn't know a bass from a pickerel or a smallmouth from a largemouth until fishing shows started airing years later. Same for fishing-dedicated magazines and tackle catalogs.

The only fishing hole near me was 1/2 mi. from the house and I walked there when the weather allowed. I went with my younger brother when he was old enough. No one on my street fished.

My reel was a Zebco, line was 10# test mono and a medium-action 6' rod (to my knowledge). I can't remember catching anything over 8" but it was enough to keep me hooked year after year (pun intended.)

Years later after fishing shows started airing, lures caught my interest and that was the start of buying crap - each lure advertised as a sure thing! Of course, many good lures were bought that actually caught fish like Mr Twister grubs and worms.

The airing of tournaments got me thinking of maybe becoming a pro or at least becoming as good an angler. Once that fantasy wore off, lure making - especially when the weather or season didn't allow fishing - became as big a challenge as fishing itself. Lure design in particular and the best presentations to make use of those designs became a never-ending search. Why let the pros have all the fun hyping sponsored lures when I can make lures I can prove catch fish!?

What's your story?

My dad loved to fish and we followed in his footsteps. When we were young he would come home with a stringer of crappie and leave them in the sink for me and my brother to clean. We would grab the spoons and start scaling and removing the head/innards. We then got our own Zebco 202's and started crappie fishing around the age of 8. We played little league football and a city park that contained a pond. After practice we would fish for bream using can biscuit dough for bait. Dad then bought a 1978 Raycraft bass boat and we really got heavy into crappie fishing. Night fishing with Coleman lanterns tied up to either flooded timber a bridge pilings. My dad used Ambassador bait casters with 17lb test and double minnow rigs. During the spring we would take bamboo cane poles and with some metal clothes hangers and electrical tape would make jigging rods. We would sometimes drift fish for catfish at night but my dad fished for crappie 95% of the time. He fished to put food on the table and I don't think he ever caught a crappie with a jig. I still have his original metal minnow bucket. I bought my first boat when I was 28 and we would go fishing all the time. I evolved into light spinning jig/plastic crappie chaser but my roots came from dad. I miss fishing with him dearly but even as a inner city kid he taught us to enjoy the outdoors. One of his favorite saying was a man will never starve as long as he owns a 22 rifle and pocketful of bullets

My dad took me fishing when I was just walking good . Mother said he sat me on the boat seat next to him . She said he must of beat it into me with the sculling paddle.:Rofl Not many kids around alot of my younger years and hung out with old retired fishermen. Good times out in the woods and water . :fish

I don’t ever remember not fishing, my brother and I walked many miles to fish the ponds around us.

My Dad only took my younger brother and me 3 times when we were little and my brother didn't really like it much but my Uncle!! He always picked me up and we'd go fishing all the time!!

My parents had me in a baby carrier on the bottom of a jon boat when i was a newborn they say. My mother told me on one occurrence, I'd laugh or chuckle when my dad reeled in an itty-bitty crappie. 30 odd years later, he reels in a small crappie or unintended species, I still laugh at him. When I became a toddler, I was still too small for a life jacket, so my dad tied a fish stringer to my belt loop and the other end to jon boat rib. If I fell overboard, he'd pull me in like crab pot.

Started when I was a pup ... my Maternal Grandparents were the single biggest factor, not only in getting me started fishing, but mainly fishing for Crappie. There were also forays to the "riffles" of our local lake to fish for White Bass on their spawning run. My childhood buddy furthered the deal into Bass fishing (as well as Crappie). His older brother & my roomie for about 7-8yrs furthered my Bass fishing trips, got me into Bass fishing tournments (ABF), and out of state trips (Tenn & SC) as well as to state lakes other than my home lake. After that, my two current BFF's have kept me on the hunt for Crappie (here in KY, as well as Tenn & Ala).
I basically got the bug when I was a young feller, and my long term friends were pretty much chosen because of their love of fishing.

(I actually had Crappie fillets for Dinner, tonight :biggrin )

I might add my dad and is buddy use to run trotlines out of a old leaking wooden row boat. As a 10 year old my job was to scoop out the water with a old Folgers coffee can.

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Originally Posted by Grainraiser

I might add my dad and is buddy use to run trotlines out of a old leaking wooden row boat. As a 10 year old my job was to scoop out the water with a old Folgers coffee can.

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LOL !! Yeah, my first "boat" fishing adventures were in rental wooden flat bottom row boats. My job was to sit in front and use a sculling paddle to ease the boat down the bank while my Grampa dipped Silversides that followed the light of the gas lantern hanging over the side, with a wire mesh basket "dip net" that he'd made.

Dad took me fishing in a boat when I was 2, he hooked a small bass and handed me the rod and I reeled it in. I still remember that trip, my earliest memory. Mom would fill the bath tub when I was a toddler and I would sit on the toilet for hours catching and releasing small plastic fish. The first reel I ever purchased was a Johnson Century and still have it. I never owned a boat, always loved bank fishing and still do to this day. Started tying jigs over 30 years ago adding to my obsession with many, many days spent sitting at the vise trying to create the best lures I could. Every day I still do something fishing related whether it's tying jigs, fishing 3-4 days a week now that I'm retired, or on the computer reading about other's experiences. It's a possibility that I might die with a rod in my hand which would be fine with me.

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Dad took me fishing in a boat when I was 2, he hooked a small bass and handed me the rod and I reeled it in.

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Surprised fish didn't pull you overboard at that age. Either that or you were a very large baby! :Rofl

Your reply describes me to a T! There isn't a day that goes by that I don't do something fishing related - including boring my fellow anglers with my wisdom.
(I'm sure thankful we don't live close! :bash)
Reminder: got to remove where I'm from in my profile...

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 :highfive

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. :fish

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.

For me all I can say is that it’s in my DNA.
The best I recall I remember fishing somewhere for sure before four years old. I was fishing with both my great grandpa and great grandmother with cane poles in farm ponds. Then at four my Dad bought me a Zebco 202. I started bass fishing with him. My grandfather and Uncle both creek fished on my Mom’s side of the family. I would also go with them. As a kid I spent all day many days fishing till about 13 then started working. Then I would go at night mainly. I was the kid riding a bicycle with a pole in one hand and a stringer of fish in the other. Had a few wrecks doing that on those country dirt roads.
Then to further that love, my wife’s family was fresh water commercial fishermen. This moved me to big river fishing such as the Pearl & Mississippi River. Of course by the time I got into the family they only did it for pleasure. So I am pure blood fishermen.

I love it like breathing air!

Then in 2000 something happened. I started crappie fishing full time of course where I come from it was called “white perch” fishing. I only get on the creek bass fishing from time to time these days with my son and grandson. Getting old to get in and out of that small 10 foot boat or Wade fishing.
If I have a day the crappie don’t bite, that only makes me want to go more. If I have a day they bite as fast as I throw it in then I analyze what was different to make them react better. As I do the same with when they don’t. Last week was such a week, I went on the 30th and left fish bitting catching as fast as I threw in. Went the next day fished all day and may have caught 10. Still analyzing what was different. Water clarity and water temperature definitely.
So I guess to sum it up, I guess I am still to competitive. Which one is more hard headed me or the crappie? Some days they win other days I win.


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Some days they win other days I win.

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You just described fishing. As far as predicting accurately anything fishing related, bait types are at the top of the list. The rest is hit-or-miss. I learned early on that fish location is predictable but only when a location-pattern holds for more than one day (i.e. in spring/fall). One thing I've always told the grandkids: if the fish don't come to you, you go to them.

(Strange that the fishing fever has skipped a generation. Their parents won't even hold a fishing pole.)

My love for fishing began with my Dad. I can think back to countless trips with him from bank fishing in a farm pond catching bass and bream to deep sea catching grouper and snapper. Growing up crappie fishing was always done for us in the spring under a cork with a minnow teasing the bite. That was and still is our favorite fresh water fish to catch.

As I’ve grown in the sport of fishing my love specifically for UL fishing has taken forefront in my favorite way to fish. From chasing crappie year round to walking creeks in the warmer months there is nothing better in my opinion then the fight and the wide variety of fish you will catch with the UL gear specific.

What keeps me fishing is the love/thrill of the catch. So long as the good Lord blesses me with good health I will continue to go when I can.


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It’s all I have ever known my entire 67 years. All my kinfolk were fisherfolk’s, freshwater and in the salt. I fish to be in nature and for the thrill whether with other folks or by myself.
I’ve caught many different species of fish over the years but there are still a few I would like to go after. But I have to say my favorite is that tap or seeing that cork bobble or “float”.

Dad & mom took us kids some when they could. Moms parents lived in Illinois so we’d go there every summer on vacation & I usually got to stay most of the summer with Granny & Grandpaw. He’d take me fishing at the ffa lakes almost every evening then go to the hen house restaurant for coffee before going home. Man I still miss him every day. Later a neighbor who him & his wife ended up being like a second set of parents to most of us kids around home started taking me fishing at Lake Cumberland all the time & the rest is history. He also started me coon hunting & deer hunting. Needless to say I hunted & fished more than most grownups around home let alone the kids. Lol

My folks have pictures of me fishing with a fishing pole when in diapers, knee high to a grasshopper you could say. Been having fun ever since.

It's what i do with dad now that he's older too. We go fish. Don't have to get up early or walk thru the woods in the dark, just get up and go to the boat ramp, get him in the boat and we're off to the races.

Fishing is different things to different people and fishing, unlike many hobbies, continues to intrigue us year after year. We anglers are lucky to be able to appreciate that which many cannot. Regardless of who took us fishing for the first time or at what age, the challenge and adventure of catching fish, apart from the daily routine, is forever part of us and something to look forward to until we can't.

I was raised in an old cotton mill town on the Tallapoosa river. The area was poor in monetary values but rich in knowledge and community status. Most men were raised there and worked in the cotton mills. The first shift ended at 2:00 pm every day and as kids we waited for the men to get home and play dominoes and tell fish stories. I have fond memories of walking to the river and loading up on crappie and bluegill as a 5 yo. We would dig up wigglers in leaves and slop areas on back alleys. Raised up on cane poles and fly rods. I remember first time getting to go telephoning on the back water. Which is lake Martin now. One neighbor had a pickup , one had a jon boat and one had a 9.9 Johnson with a gas tank. It was a group effort when they fished no such thing as a complete truck boat combination in that village , things have changed a lot. It’s illegal to telephone now. Not sure about the early 70’s but seeing a 50 lb yellow cat roll up was exciting. I was hooked from an early age. I had to earn my keep to get to go telephoning by testing the equipment The old men made me hold the telephone wires while they cranked the old army phone laughing as I shook. Nodding that the telephone was working. Mom caught me testing the telephone at an early age and my telephoning days came to an erupt halt. But my love for fishing had been developed and the knowledge of earning my keep was instilled in the mill village. I operated a very lucrative HVAC business for many years allowing me to buy boats and build lake houses. I enjoyed many hrs and nights of fishing for crappie and catfish. Some of my fondest memories of fishing has been with my dad . Later on I hooked up with a local youngster who guides now. I’ll refer to him as the fish whisperer. His passion for fishing is legendary. Him and me have set on my pier never cranking the boat and landed 60 crappie 12-15” long off a deep water light I had on my pier. Good times I tell you. I’ve held a couple crappie camps at my lakehouses with CDC members. What a wealth of knowledge there is in the CDC community.

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Thanks all for the great stories and sharing your memories. These have been some good rides.
Bob

My father & mother, as they were boating almost every weekend before I was born and for several years after.

My Dad didn't take me fishing, but did buy property right next to this awesome lake and my brother and I figured out the rest on our own.

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I fished as far back as I can remember, but when I went my dad took me.

Dad, and Mom went too. She had her own R&R. All of our Rods had Mitchell Reels.
Saltwater though. Pensacola.
All of those Rods bent and swayed in the Surf. UGHHH. haha.

Had no idea what a Crappie was.... Does a Croaker count ?

My grandfather introduced me to crappie fishing at a young age but didn't have the patience for it. Some time when I was a teenager I started going again and loved it. Then I joined the Air Force and spent 6 years overseas before being stationed back in the US. I missed fishing for crappie but would make trips to TN and fish with my grandfather and my cousins. Now I have my own boat and try to go often. My grandfather is now up in age so I try to make a spring and fall week trip to crappie fish with him. He only goes out fishing if someone is with him now so I think he lives vicariously through our fishing talks and pictures. I love spending time in God's creation.

I started fishing when I was in grade school, my buddies and I would play Baseball during the day then fish a lake or river for cats at night.

My Dad started taking me very early, Fished with him for 50 years, I would give anything to have another day on the water with him( he passed about
20 years back), Sometimes I wonder what he would think about all the tech we use now.

MO

Like most folks, my Dad took me fishing when I was 5 or 6 years old. I'm 84 now and still fish. Dad passed some years ago, but left me a lifetime of memories that I'm still making with our adopted daughter who is now 10. Gosh I guess I'll never get over missing him. As Bob Hope often said: Thanks for the memories.