When I was young(maybe 4) me and my daddy would fish for supper. It's what drove him. He was a meat fisherman his entire life and thought it silly to release a fish back to be caught another day. I, like many others in the South, started fishing with a cane pole. We caught many bream, catfish, crappie, and an occasional bass. I simply liked to fish.
When I was seven or eight we lived so rural that It was just fine to ride our bikes to local ponds and the river to fish. We knew everyone on the road and they knew me/us. We caught a lot of Catfish to eat. It was a bonus to stop somewhere on the way home do get a drink of water or sweet tea but mainly cookies, from the few houses on the road. The oldtimers would always, and I mean always, take a few Catfish we offered as there was always many. It also taught me a good life lesson In that generosity was free. Those days are gone now but those memories will always be warm.
When I was 10 my daddy bought me a Mitchel 300 spinning reel and some off-brand rod. It was magic. I started to read anything I could get my hands on that was related to fishing. I still fished what I knew but there was the occasional want to throw something new and the first artificial for me was a small crankbait of unknown origin. It caught everything except a bass, oddly enough.
I fished, and fished, and fished. I caught several bass on red worms and it was exciting. Fast forward to when I went off to college. I still had the same reel, several baits,(they were there for show as most had never been fished) and a true love of fishing. As luck wold have it I became acquainted with two guys that would have a dramatic Impact on my learning to bass fish. They had a 16 foot Jonboat and after several times asking to go, they finally relented and let me join in a trip. The one thing they Insisted on before we launched was that we were going to be there all day and that If I complained even one time they would drop me off on the shore and I could walk home. This(fishing from a boat) was all new to me and I can safely say that while we only caught one fish that day(a 2 lb. white bass that I caught) I knew from that moment on I would bass fish. The next weekend we went to a small lake and I caught my first seven(7) largemouth on a Rabble Rouser Baby Ashley crankbait. It's a squarebill that was one of the 4 baits those gentleman had given me to start a "bass" box. I still have that bait and It hangs proudly with the other three baits they gave me in the tackle room.
These boys were unselfish and taught me all I needed to know about the basics of bass fishing for the next three years. If not for them the learning curve would have been much steeper. While I would have fished now and can never thank my daddy enough for getting me started those two boys we gracious enough to start me on a life long passion chasing those beautiful green fish.
