"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."
I joined this forum as a wildly enthusiastic young kid who had zero knowledge about bass fishing and even fewer lures in my tacklebox. My first ten or so fishing trips were spent fishing with every single lure and soft plastic bait I owned. I would just cycle through them and tie on another when I felt like changing things up. Didn't take too long to go through them all, because I had about 4 hard baits and a couple bags of plastics.
Joining Bass Resource introduced me to an extraordinary amount of information. I learned so much from each and every member on here. I gathered an incredible amount about fishing, but I also learned how to behave on a public forum and so many of you showed me a lot of grace, despite many moments of rash and immature speech.
One of the things that will always stand out to me about you guys is your generosity. Over the years, I've received over a thousand dollars worth of fishing tackle from the members of BR. I don't think I'm exaggerating that number. I've been sent reels, a decent chunk of a previous Tackle Warehouse Ike Miaconelli giveaway prize package, line, and countless hard baits, jigs, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, soft plastics, and terminal tackle. My parents were blown away when they saw me open some of the packages. They aren't well off and never had the money to buy me tackle themselves, and for them to see the generosity of strangers on the internet was incredible.
For me, it was like being a kid in a candy shop. I had so many new things to try and your gifts gave me the chance to try techniques, lures, and styles of fishing that I would have never spent the money to try on my own.
Most of that took place about two years ago. I couldn't even begin to name everyone who's reached out in that regard, because I wouldn't want to leave anyone out. But since then, I've come to a place as an angler and a human being where I no longer need or desire free stuff. Not only have I found the brands and styles of baits that I like to fish with, I also know there are people who can use things far more than I can.
For the last two years, I've been wanting to do something similar to what everyone did for me. I accumulated a ton of tackle. I found myself fishing with less than a quarter of the tackle that I owned; the rest was just sitting on shelves, gathering dust. That had to change.
A few weeks ago, I compiled a large assortment of baits and was able to get in touch with a guy I know who runs a local tackle shop. He was fixing some equipment for me, and was more than willing to help out when I talked to him. He helps run a kids tournament every year on a local lake in NC, and he's going to be giving the kids my tackle as part of that tournament. Some of that tackle is more than likely from some of you guys who sent it to me originally.
I highlight this not to promote personal generosity, but to say to each and every person who has given me information and tackle and wisdom over my years on here: you have given a gift that keeps on giving. Many thanks.
Kyle
P.S. Here are a couple fish I've caught on baits y'all have given to me.
