When Did You Start?

[FrogFreak]

Let's see my grandfather was a part time commercial fisherman off the Oregon coast and he took me salmon fishing pretty young. My dad and I would fish for trout in the mountain lakes. I got into bass fishing when a friend from Alabama took me fishing and introduced me to the Hula Popper in 1992. So I've been addicted to top water fishing since then. Both my boys are grown and live to fish. Basically fishing is life.

[Fish'N Impossible]

I grew up on the largest inland lake in Ohio as we own a landing there. i started fishing when i was old enough to walk although most of the time it was for panfish and catfish to eat. I actuall y left fisihg for about 10 years and just started back into hard about 5 years ago.

[Basshammer]

I remember fishing the river close to my house when i was 6 with worms i dig up and snelled hooks and a johnson closed face reel.  I wore the gears out in that thing and bought a zebco 33, those were the days.

[msk]

I started young and fished a lot through high school. Hung up the rods all through college and in the beginning of my career. Picked it back up about 3 years ago when I started taking my youngsters. And as you would imagine...I'm hooked again! I figure I'm only 31 so there are lots of fish ahead of me!

[RF813]

My Dad bought us a couple Rods and reels as a kid, but I didn't enjoy it.  Picked it up again last year at 36 y/o.   Started my Son off at 6.

[jeremyryanwebb]

Got second in a mens church fishing tourney when i was only 4 or 5 and did it with a snoopy rod. Id say we were a little lucky that day or either my dad was puttin me right in front of fish.  My cousins found they had an artesian well on their land, built a pond and fished it til it dried out when I was like 10.  Then I really didnt fish much again until I started my current job, running outdoor and fishing activities for the outfitters center on a plantation. I love it....funny how the good Lord will put you in positions to better yourself.

[boostr]

Started fishing in general around 10 yrs old, started bass fishing 5 months ago at 40 yrs old

[reb67]

Started sometime in the early 70's fishing lakes, ponds, creeks, rivers, the bay for any thing that would bite and we could eat if my dad  thought we could catch any thing we would have fished mud puddles also. How ever I just started sport fishing for bass it's foreign to me to release perfectly good food. But I do it.

[DogBone_384]

I fished a lot between about 8 - 18 years old (1970's - early '80s), I was lucky there was a pond behind our neighborhood, then, of course, work, girls, & college took over.

I picked it up again when my daughter was around 5. She's a teenager now and wants nothing to do with me unless it's a ride to swimming, dance, etc.

I take my younger nephews at least a few times a year when they ask/show interest.

Otherwise I fish alone or with a college friend to get away from 'it' for a while.

[brgbassmaster]

2 years old my dad was carrying me on his shoulders down streams in alaska. He would drop the nightcrawler in hook a trout hand me the rod and make me reel it in. Caught my first silver salmon at 3 years old. Cant wait to have our first kid here in August. So i can do the same things my dad did for me. Teach me to love the outdoors. 

[MarksHooked]

I was taken out for sunfish and stuff when I was growing up, but it was spring 2013 at the age of 28 when I really became passionate and started trying to soak up all the information I could. 

[geo g]

I began fishing in the boy scouts some 53 years ago.  We fished the Ramapo River in NJ and a small boy scout lake for trout and smallies using salmon eggs.  Then in college I fished for smallies and largemouth in Ohio, and had many fun afternoons exploring the lakes and reservoirs in the North East Ohio area.  I actually hooked a musky in Lake Mogadore in Ohio, what a hoot that was!   Upon moving to South Florida after graduating college, I began having a serious obsession with bass fishing.  I still fish 5 or 6 days a week, a lot from the shore, one or two from the boat.  I look at fishing like some people obsess at gambling.  Everyday I go out I never know what luck will bring.  All you can do is raise your odds with knowledge and experience.  If you spend enough time on the water good things are going to happen, and even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.  I have caught a lot of fish over the years and never get tired of feeling that tug on the line, whether its a dink or a double digit. 

[grizzgreen18]

caught my first bass at age 2 in 1993 a ky bass that was barley legal size to take and my grandad had it mounted didnt fish again till i was eight or nine when my grandad took me and my little brother bluegill fishing still didnt catch till my junior year in high school and if me and my buddies were not at someones house drinking beer and jammin on guitar on a friday night we were at the lake trying to catch them kittys. It wasnt till i was 19 (im 21) when a guy from work took me smallmouth fishing that i got hooked on bass fishing and now it hurts when i havent fished for a long time 

[blongfishing]

I started at 18 months and never looked back. My family gave me a fishing influence. My uncle and grandpa were guides and my great grandparents own a fishing store. My dad dosent like fishing and I love it!! It's all those times I was at my grandpas and he took me out.

[Texfisherman]

My dad started taking me fishing when I was no more than 4 or 5. Live bait and my Zebco 202. Such a small thing really affected the entire future of my life.

[fishguy613]

i turned 24 in january, ive fished for bass and walleye since i was around 6-8 my dad has always been a fishing nut and has always wanted me to have a passion for it. I always enjoyed it but didnt think of it as something i could dive into, about 2 years ago i got tired of playing paintball and was looking for something new. While at my cottage with a girlfriend my dad took us on the water and i realized then that i loved fishing, since then i have been fishing a little too often. I would be out every day if possible, sometimes i find myself working for 12 hours then going out and fishing for 10-12 hours immediately afterwards. Then right back to work again, how do i sleep?

My dad has become my best friend and im really happy we share the same interest

[WIGuide]

I started pretty early.....https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201534300471839&l=fd372aa502

[Pz3]

My parents recorded video the first time. I think I was 4, and like most everyone else catching the bluegils. I've fished since then but it was an off and on thing. Usually to kill time in the summer as a kid or using bait bottom fishing (I love catfish) Only recently started trying to get good at bass fishing. I learned along the way (how to use worms, crankbaits, basic knots, etc...) but only recently started wanting to get better at it. I would say since around september I started building my tackle collection one paycheck at a time. I would consider that being when I started. 6 Months and I already surpassed my personal best. It was around 4lbs and now it was somewhere in the 8lb neighbor hood. Sometimes I sound like I have a bunch of big fish stories. Like missing an estimated 12lb monster or acouple 10lb fish.... but truth is I hook into a lot of monsters but for the life of me I just can't get them in.

 

Then again, my uncle didn't believe a 35-40lb carp was in the pond out back. Sometimes big fish stories are true.

[Djman72]

Been fishing since 93' with my Pops..... I was born in 90'

 

Fishing was the best thing that was ever forced on me

[ROCbass]

I was 7 for the first fish I remember catching, but my parents have pictures of me holding fish I caught when I was 3 or 4. it's kind of weird to me that I remember lots of things from when I was 3 or 4, but not fishing, even though I evidently did.

[The Rooster]

I didn't start until I was 21. I went a couple of times when I was younger but it just never caught on. One time I particularly enjoyed it but for some reason I still never wanted to go again. Maybe it was the grossness of live bait. I can't remember now because I'm long passed that gross out factor, even though I use lures exclusively now.

The day I first went bass fishing when I was 21, back in 1996, I remember it vividly. I came home that day and said out loud to my (then) wife that I would always fish. I knew that day I was hooked for life. Before the end of the year I had a tackle box and several rods.

Today I am getting my grand daughter started early. She was going by the age of 3 and caught her first fish that fall in 2012. Here's the pics.

[crankcaster100]

I started last summer when I went our with my brother. I was hooked (pun intended) immediately. Something about the "fight" with those bass.

I'm happy that my 2 boys (7 and 4) are also into fishing and they love watching Genes videos (the ones where he is pulling in fish) with me

[Jar11591]

I started as soon as I was old enough to hold a rod, so maybe 3 or 4 years old. It was love at first bass!

[AQUA VELVA]

I grew up in a fishing/hunting family so it's been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I feel sorry for a lot of the young people today. They don't understand anything about the natural world and how things work because they are not part of it. All they hear is how bad it is to hunt and fish from organizations like PETA.

[Felix77]

I didn't start until about 6 months ago at the age of 29. No family or friends were in to fishing growing up. I started watching Bill Dance, Jimmy Houston, and Hank Parker on Saturday mornings with my one-year-old daughter because there was nothing else on and she liked to see the fish; that really sparked my intrest. I'm looking forward to taking her out this spring... I'm jealous that she'll grow up fishing and I'm just starting from scratch.

 

I was in the same boat a few years ago.  Don't worry there is plenty of time to catch up.  2 full years in and I blame this site for helping me learn fast.  

 

I have a 6 year old who is quickly becoming my fishing buddy.  I am so happy about that.