Question to all bass fisherman/women

[NC Bassin']

My dad taught myself and my brother how to fish when we were really young.  Started out with catching panfish on cane poles from docks, to when we got older with better gear and a drive to seek out bass.  Now it has become an addiction that I'm passing on to my kids.

[StevesBass]

My grandfather died when I was two but I remember seeing newspaper articles and pictures of him hanging up in the bait shop at Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee.  He used bamboo fly rods he built himself and he caught some monster bass.  I think he was somewhat of a local legend down there.  Anyway, I like to think I got my love of fishing from him.

[Scott F]

On Father's Day weekend, in 1965, I was 10 years old. My dad took me on a road trip driving all night from Gary, Indiana to his childhood home near the St. Lawrence River. We spent 4 days living in a big house on an island in the St. Lawrence where my uncle was the caretaker, catching bunches of smallmouth on inline spinners and minnows. It was probably the most influential 4 days of my entire life. I still am a smallmouth nut. I run a smallmouth club, I still love taking road trips to go smallmouth fishing and even my house is decorated with artwork that reminds me of the river.

[WTnPuddleJumper]

I was fortunate.  I was raised on a 17 acre lake.  had a 6 foot glass rod and a zebco 33.  our go to bait was one of them mepps spinners that looked like it had a little catfish as the body.  Back then it would catch anything in the lake.  I'm 51 now and still greatful of such a good upbringing on a lake.

Thanks Mom & Dad

[pondbassin101]

Has anyone here discovered bass fishing completely on accident?

[Bucky205]

My grandfather got me started fishing with cane poles and crickets when I was young.  I don't remember when I started bass fishing.  I've chased bream, marlin, and even sharks.  As long as something may bite the hook I'm willing to fish for it.  Bass fishing has over time become my favorite. For whatever reason I find bass fishing the most challenging.  IMO It is more difficult to catch a 10+ lb bass than a 500+ lb marlin

[Bucky205]

On 5/8/2017 at 3:52 PM, jimf said:

I remember that B.A.S.S. patch your dad had, I put it on a jacket I think.   Completely forgot about it until I saw that picture.

 

 

Back in the early 90s my patch came as part of a welcome package for new B.A.S.S. members.  Many of us over 50 have one. LOL...Now I'm feeling old.

[MTPanda]

I actually started saltwater fishing with my dad at the age of 5 or 6.  He was always an avid angler and took my brother and I on his trips to the pier and eventually out on the boats.  I didn't start bass fishing until a few years later when I would visit my older cousins in Arizona who were doing a lot freshwater fishing for bass, carp, catfish and trout.  It was actually one of my cousins who really got me into bass fishing after spending a summer in Arizona fishing the local ponds and the Salt River.  I believe at the time my cousin also had a Bassmaster magazine and we would spend hours reading the articles and trying to apply new techniques at the pond.  I just got hooked on bass fishing because the bass would hit the lures so hard and put up such a great fight that I started bass fishing my local ponds in California.

[pondbassin101]

I actually forgot to add that I'd done some saltwater fishing with my dad before,  bass fishing was something I discovered on my own

[Rick Howard]

It started with my father when I was so young I can't even recall.  I do recall from abut 6 or 7 years old fishing in the back of the old mans fiberglass tri hull with a whopping 9.9 mercury.  I drove the "big motor" he worked the troller in the front.  That boat retired 15 years ago but the old guy and I are still going 33 years later.  Different boat and I stand in front now 

[Dinger0306]

My dad had fished for a while for catfish and such, but got away from it for some reason while I was growing up. I think I was 11 or 12yrs old when our grade school class went on a field trip to a local lake to fish. Didnt catch anything but a few of my classmates caught bluegill and I wanted to catch something. So when I got home I asked my dad to take me fishing the next day.

 

We went out in his little storage building and found some old push button reels, grabbed the two that had hooks still attached and a sinker on the line. The line had to have been 10yrs old and the hooks were pretty d**n rusty. Went in the backyard, dug up about a dozen earthworms and headed down to a local creek.

 

Thats where I caught my first fish, probably a 12" largemouth bass. After that day I was HOOKED on fishing in general, and my dad got back into it too.

 

I think I learned about bass fishing from TV or the internet. Caught a few bass here and there on random lures like grubs or small plastic worms but nothing any big. Ended up saving up $70 to buy a used baitcaster off of the fishing flea market from this site (good deal on a barely used $130 reel) and told myself I'd learn to catch bass. Gander Mtn had a free shipping no minimum order deal and I had a few bucks on a debit card so I bought a 3/8oz White House brand spinnerbait from there mainly to get rid of the $3 that I had sitting around.

 

Caught a 17" bass on that spinnerbait and that's what really got me hooked. The rest is history...

[Turner9087]

i got started after my grandfather gave me a rod and reel and showed me a little he started me on a texas rig and i fell in love

[Bassun]

Not a weird question at all, and has elicited some great stories.  And nostalgia... nostalgia rocks!

 

I started fishing with my dad using literally a stick and line for blue gills.  And I mean a literal stick with a line tied to it.  Not even a cane pole, lol.  Dad had a few spinning reels, but I was way too small to use them so we used what was around.  I LOVED IT!  Fast forward a couple years, and I was probably 6 at the oldest and had gotten a "Snoopy" pole.  So, I went up to my aunt and uncles place, who had a small, muddy, farm pond.

 

My aunt tied on a 6 inch red creme worm, and told me there was a huge bass in that pond that no one had ever caught.  They had hooked him a few times, but none had landed him.  I, being 100% boy, was just positive I could catch him, lol.  I cast out a few times, and BAM something tried to steal my pole.  It scared me.  I jumped, and threw down the pole, lol.

 

Someone grabbed it, and gave it back and told me to reel.  So I did.  Like a mad man.  I just reeled the devil out of it.  I'm sure it was high quality line (ahem) but luckily the drag must have been set decently as I never broke off.  And, eventually drug this huge fish out of the water.  The adults were all going crazy, so I got excited.  Turns out, my first fish on a real rod was a citation sized Largie that no one had ever landed before.  That was that, hooked for life!

 

It was a few years after that when I discovered this feller on TV catching fish like that on every cast, I still blame Bill Dance for me having too many lures lol.  I saved up and ordered my first set of lures from Bass Pro, and the lure craze has been on ever since.

[TheMississippiOutdoorsman]

I started out with a 5"8 button cast rod and reel from the great place called "Walmart" I used the tried and true H&H spinnerbaits, and 10lbs test, and the rest was history, I now fish almost 4 days a week, and have a few baitcasters and more lures than I know what to do with

[pondbassin101]

2 hours ago, TheMississippiOutdoorsman said:

I started out with a 5"8 button cast rod and reel from the great place called "Walmart" I used the tried and true H&H spinnerbaits, and 10lbs test, and the rest was history,

 

What was the casting distance with that? I can imagine it was terrible

[scaleface]

5 hours ago, TheMississippiOutdoorsman said:

I started out with a 5"8 button cast rod and reel from the great place called "Walmart" I used the tried and true H&H spinnerbaits, and 10lbs test, and the rest was history, I now fish almost 4 days a week, and have a few baitcasters and more lures than I know what to do with

 

The H&H spinner was my favorite spinner for rivers .

[ww2farmer]

I have lived my whole life on my home lake.

 

When I was 8 or so my parents split up...things were ugly, and my grandparents (mothers side) took me in and raised me from that point on.

 

My grandpa took me fishing for bullhead in the spring, and we caught a bunch, as well as some bluegill. That's my first memory of fishing. 

 

When I was about 12 or so, I started riding my bike to the lake, which was just on the end of the road I grew up on. At first I fished for bullhead, and panfish, but caught a bass or two here and there.

 

What hooked me on bass fishing was catching my first one on an artificial lure....a yellow mister twister grub. I promptly told my grandpa I was done with chasing bullheads and panfish and was going to be a bass fisherman from now on. Without saying a word, he went out the shed in the back yard, got some old rods/reels out, dusted off a big metal tackle box, and with a smile on his face said..."OK, me too"

 

That box held bass fishing treasures from days gone by. He never said a word to me, but he too liked to chase bass and pike years and years ago. 

 

We started renting small fishing boats from the local boat livery on the lake, and spent weekends, and evenings after work fishing for bass. We used mann's jelly worms, floating rapala's, jitterbugs, johnson silver minnows, and many other old classics, and caught lots of bass and pike. We did this for many years, through my late teens, and we constantly mixed in new lures/techniques I would read about in magazines like In-fisherman or see on TV. We also would fish some small local derbys/tournaments. Never won anything back then, but we had fun.

 

When I graduated high school, moved out, and started working, we, and I rarely fished anymore. It was about 10 years later I got back into bass fishing. I used my modest savings to buy a shiny new aluminum bass boat (which I still have and use daily) and Grandpa let me keep at his house as it was just up the road from the lake. 

 

For the first couple years I owned that boat, it was just like old times again. Gramps, now retired and all alone (my grandma passed a way a few years before I bought the boat) went with my all the time. We fished our home lake, made trips to explore and learn other lakes, and had a ball. He could still catch them, and I showed him all the new fangled things and ways to catch bass. 

 

A few years into it, he started wanting to go less and less, and then he had a stroke about 5 years ago, and I couldn't take him at all anymore.

 

Grandpa passed away early last summer, but he left me one last smile on my face.....I won the next four tournaments in a row that I fished. I have won plenty over the years, but never 4 in row....I don't think it was luck.

 

Now my boat sits in a new spot. His house, my childhood home, has been sold off to strangers. But I drive by it all the time on the way to the lake, and the cemetery he, my grandma, my sister, my mother, and my uncle who was like a brother to me are buried in over looks the lake, so every time that boat hits the water they are all with me and watching.............Sorry guys, it just got a little dusty in here.

[Wild Idaho]

Ive fished since I was a little kid. Didn't care if it was a trout or a carp,just wanted to fish and hoped to hook a pig. When I was 20 I offered to build a pole barn out of town on a reservoir that has big smallies. The guy we built it for let us take his little 16' sled with a small outboard out on the water after work each day. I was just fishing night crawlers and hooked into a 5lb smallie. Absolutely hooked after that. Over the weekend I spent hours online and digging in field & stream mags on gear,rigs,lures and what to look for to fish. Bought a rod & reel & a bunch of plastics,mainly tubes and worms. I pounded the weeds,rocks & every point I came across. 12 years later I don't think I've touched a night crawler haha. I love steelhead fishing,salmon fishing and fighting sturgeon but bass takes the cake for me.

[TheMississippiOutdoorsman]

15 hours ago, pondbassin101 said:

 

What was the casting distance with that? I can imagine it was terrible

Well once you get the hang of it, you can get a solid 20yrds

Especially with a 3/8-1/2 ounce spinnerbait 

12 hours ago, scaleface said:

 

The H&H spinner was my favorite spinner for rivers .

It's crazy how good they are for like 2$, the frog like hooks pin them so well. I still use them

[pondbassin101]

4 hours ago, TheMississippiOutdoorsman said:

It's crazy how good they are for like 2$, the frog like hooks pin them so well. I still use them

 

Might get some, my spinnerbait selection consists of one  1/2 ounce booyah spinner

[Lures'n'Liberty]

My story is a long one, started as a toddler with dad and or one of my grandfathers with a bobber and a worm catching whatever. After my grandfather passed, grandma and I took a week long trip to Erie when I was about 8 and she wanted to take me fishing. We chartered a boat and basically watched a guide fish all day and the coolest part was when he let me drive the boat. The next day, however, she wanted to really fish, so we rented a little Jon Boat. It was awesome, I was on the stick. We brought our Zebco 33's, the same poles my mom and cousins used when I was a little kid. Grandma also stopped at a bait shop and bought some Hula Poppers, which I later found out were the only lures she knew how to catch fish on. We slammed smallmouth all day. I still fished with Dad on his cabin cruiser with a bobber and a worm during the day and I really liked going out at night with some big bait in the water chasing flatheads but it was always kinda boring, not as much fun as throwing the lure with grandma and fighting those bass in. Dad took me to trout camp with the guys when I was 12 and things started changing, at 16 when I could drive, it was all trout or catfish. I tried bass in college but my baitcaster kept ticking me off and I never knew what lures to throw or when and never really got into it. Once or twice a year, between girls, I'd give it a go, I'd catch a few, birdsnest, and drink a lot of beer. I caught my PB (the monster 27 lb largemouth in the picture) when a buddy took me out after a bad breakup and I caught the bug but hated the reels. A few years ago, a friend with a youtube channel invited me out with my neighbor who owns the oldest established Daiwa Warranty Center in the USA. He sold me a goldcast when everything that I owned that was suitable for bass fishing failed and I mounted it to the custom rod I bought in college. I went back to basics and hit a few ponds with Grandma's old Hula Poppers and my spincast combo. The bug started biting back. Fished with buddy some more, watched more of his videos, started learning more and more within the past year, especially when another friend started inviting me out with him and I quit drinking. With the addition of bass to my fishing, I can stretch a day into a fishing marathon. I used to hit the pond at 4 or 5 PM and catch a dozen bluegill to take to the river before chasing flatheads all night. Now, I get up at the crack of dawn and hit the bass on the ponds and lakes until around 4 or 5PM...

 

[pondbassin101]

1 hour ago, Lures'n'Liberty said:

. I caught my PB (the monster 27 lb largemouth in the picture) 

 

Did I read that right?

 

[Lures'n'Liberty]

1 hour ago, pondbassin101 said:

 

Did I read that right?

 

You did and if I tell the story 4 more times, it will be up to 28! Really, though, it was 16.2 and came out of a private pond that used to be a pay lake.

[pondbassin101]

17 minutes ago, Lures'n'Liberty said:

You did and if I tell the story 4 more times, it will be up to 28! Really, though, it was 16.2 and came out of a private pond that used to be a pay lake.

 

New something wasn't right, current world record is 22lb. The fish gets bigger by 0.5 lb every time you tell it right?

[UPSmallie]

Just saw this recently.  I started fishing on my own probably at the age of about 13.  Never had a dad, Grandpa, or friend to take me fishing so it all really just started at the local kid's trout pond.  First time I ever fished, I showed up with a Walmart rod for $10 and didn't have a clue what I was doing.  It was one of the happiest days of my life when my dad purchased that rod for me.  Out of frustration of never knowing what to do, I quit fishing for some time.  A year or two later and my Uncle downstate took my brother and I fishing for bluegill and crappie at a local lake.  Hooked into at least a 2 lb bass that shook the hook, but the seed had been planted.  From that point on I read and I mean READ everything I could get my hands on pertaining to fishing.  1970s books at the local library, fishing articles, snippets here and there, everything. A lot of things didn't necessarily translate to where I was fishing, but after a while things started to sink in.  I showed up the following summer and slayed those stocked trout with nightcrawlers and corn.  I learned how to use pliers, scissors, splitshot, things were looking up.  All those hours of reading about fishing started paying off.  It wasn't until my Junior year in high school until I caught a truly wild fish in the form of a Pink Salmon.  Year after year I kept getting better and the fish kept coming. There's not a strong population of bass where I live, but every now and then I am blessed enough to catch one.  I would say that today I am 100% of a different fisherman than I was 7 years ago.  Being self-taught is hard because there is a steep learning curve, but if you are observant on the water, things will start clicking and fish will start biting.  Fish On Everybody.