Question to all bass fisherman/women

[pondbassin101]

Seems like most people either discovered bass fishing by accident or had it handed down from there dads

[WIGuide]

My dad had a love for fishing and passed it on to me. It started at a very early age watching fishing shows with dad, looking through the BPS catalog like a bible, and catching panfish. It quickly grew from there, going out with my dad more and more trying to catch bass and northerns. I bought my own boat in 5th grade and I've never looked back.

One disadvantage of starting so young is I don't remember my first trip or my first fish or any of that, but I really must have enjoyed it because it kept bringing me back time and time again growing this fishing/bass fishing thing into a passion I'm sure nobody could see coming haha. A few pics from the early years...

[jimf]

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.

 

 

[bowhunter63]

Caught a smallie when i was about 8,Been hooked ever since.In-fisherman magazine got me going too.

[Bankbeater]

When I was little my Dad and I always use to go catfishing from the bank.  When the catfish weren't biting we would cast for bass.  Neither one of us liked cutting up bait, or messing with the dough bait, so gradually we started fishing for bass all of the time.

[gim]

I learned how to bass fish on my own about 15 years ago.  I was an intern surveyor with the MN DNR one summer doing a northern pike study and I was allowed to fish some of these small lakes in study in between surveys.  That was usually when the weather was questionable or during the middle of the week.  Prior to that I mostly targeted walleyes and panfish.

[wdp]

My Dad & Grandfather got me started, but mostly it was my Dad. My Dad & I still fish together a few times a year as our schedules allow. 

 

About 43 years ago, I hooked this 7 & half pounder. It was a bedding fish that I caught with a dead shiner on a Zebco 33. We could see it in about 2 FOW in some weeds. Near end of day & all the minnows in the bucket were floating. My Dad said to put one of the dead minnows on and shake the rod when it got close to the bass. When my bobber got too close to the bank, he said throw it back out & keep repeating. Did that for about 30 mins when she finally hit it & boy did that Zebco start screaming. Dad had to come help me reel it in. Here's a pic after we got home. I was 7 then, and the rest is history. 

 

Heres a more modern pic of my Dad who mostly likes bream & crappie fishing these days. 

[ScottDB]

I used to fish for bluegill with my dad a long time ago and didn't pick up a rod again until about 3 years ago. I borrowed my buddy's uglystik and was just casting out expecting little bluegills then something fat hit my line. The adrenaline rush and feeling the bass was enough for me to purchase my own rod and start going regularly. I ran into some problems after that where I couldn't go as much and stopped going all together for about 2 years. Those problems subsided and I started going regularly again about 4 months ago and I'm in love with it more than ever now. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder I guess haha

[Cesar]

12 hr drive from E Paso TX to San Antonio basketball game. Game turns out to be a dud..All starters benched, next day Brother in Law says im gona show you how to really fish.. Been fishing a local pay daily for fishing channel cats lake in El Paso. Thought i was a fisherman til he told me the basics. Texas Jig..jerk jerk.rest....jerk jerk jerk rest and.........more luck than anything...but i was hooked...5 pounder that felt like 10....I have the pics but this .15 mb restriction is not helping out...Been fishing local lake since, 1 lbs max 10 inches. Cant wait to get out there again

[Sam]

Family. My family fished so I fished, too, down in south Louisiana.

[Crestliner2008]

When I got out of the service in '69, I was into trout fishing more than anything else. A friend took me to a local Oxbow with a tub of shiners and I caught my first bass.....maybe 2 lbs.. That was IT. What a fight! And the jumps sealed the deal.

[NYWayfarer]

My dad introduced me to bass fishing as a toddler thru my teen years.

 

My interest was rekindled in the 90's while watching Roland Martin's show. My friend and I would plan weekend trips to whatever body of water we could find to drop a line for bass. "Posted" was our least favorite word in the English language at that time.

[lonnie g]

my dads was actually that guy that would rather sit on the river back with three or four different poles all with different baits. the excitement being not knowing what he was going to catch ,or how big. but he and my bass fishing cousin would also take me to ponds and lakes bass fishing. I like the river thing. but for some reason bass fishing seemed to trip my trigger the most. I guess the challenge of it in general and the feel of that bite. I love the quest of figuring out the game and the  passion for wanting to win that game.  thanks to dads and elder cousins for showing young kids a sport or passion of something to do that will challenge them as well as there mind. then if you add family time and building relationships. is there any one thing better to teach or try to master?  NICE POST! POND BASSIN 101.something for us all to reflect on.

[RMcDuffee726]

This fish, circa 2013.  Don't know why it hooked me, but it did.  Never have looked back since.

[BCline]

I grew up saltwater fishing with my father.  I joined the boy scouts in 1976 and one of the requirements for the fishing merit badge was to catch a freshwater fish on an artificial lure.  One nasty, rainy morning we head out to a public pond in Savannah, GA and I throw a fly rod for hours until a 6" large mouth bass finally hits the fly.  I land and identify the fish. Dad and I looked at each other and said well that sucked, we won't be doing that again and head home.

 

Fast forward 37 years to 2013 and I find myself in-between jobs in Saint Marys, GA and a short walk away from a community pond.  While waiting for replies to my resumes, I kept myself sane by float fishing for blue gills.  After catching hundred of pan fish out of that pond, I tried something different and tied on a top water buzz bait.  The first time I saw the water boil under that lure I was hooked.  I walked that same bank, throwing that same lure for hours everyday until I rejoined the work force.  I caught dozens of bass out of that pond with a few 3 pounders included.

 

I now live in the bass fishing capital of the world (South Florida) and bass fish everyday during my lunch hour and frequently on the weekends.  I have caught many hundreds of bass since living here with my PB being 7-4 (the one in my profile pic).

[RPreeb]

Really, no idea when I actually caught my first bass, but it was probably in the late 1950's while I was still using a cane pole fishing with worms and bobber for sunfish off the dock.  My first outfit where I was actually fishing for bass was an ancient steel casting rod and reel that belonged to my great grandmother, using an equally aged redhead Bass-O-Reno (my only lure).

[bma3]

I saw a picture of a huge bass when I was younger in a tackle shop and always wanted to catch one. One day I threw a popper out into the middle of this pond and it got blown up on immediately. That's when I was hooked. 

[XpressJeff]

I had never done any Bass fishing. Did a fair bit of salt water fishing while stationed at Camp Lejeune but when sent to NAS Jacksonville for a few months one of the guys at work told me the St John's river was pretty good. Had a really good day and have been hooked since. I still have that spinner bait in my upper lip I guess!

[Columbia Craw]

I came to earth from another universe where my planet did not permit fishing or hunting in any form.  My planet is called PETA and everyone there wears clogs. Anyway...being the rebel that I am, when I settled into this form you call a body, I went right to work hunting ducks and fishing for anything that swims.  Being that I was green and had scales myself, the bass was the first species I went after and the rest is history.  Don't worry...be happy.

[pondbassin101]

 

NICE POST! POND BASSIN 101.something for us all to reflect on.

Thank you

[Ratherbfishing]

I like to fish for a lot of species (if they are biting) BUT the reason I favor bass fishing is that you can catch them with a LOT of baits and a lot of methods in a lot of locations.  They always keep it interesting.

[Adleyfishes]

I had a friend over when I was 11 and I realized I didn't have a rod so the next morning me and my dad snuck out of the camp ground and I bought a pfluger spinning reel. funny thing is... I reeled it upside down. The next day I was throwing a T-rig

[RoLo]

My father introduced me to fishing in the 1940s, but his target fish were everything but bass.

In saltwater, we targeted porgies, sea bass & flounder, accompanied by blowfish, sea robins and eels.

In freshwater, my dad mostly targeted trout, carp, catfish & yellow perch, using very different methods for each

 

By saving my weekly allowances I was able to buy my own fishing outfit in the early 1950s.

It was a blue Conolon spinning rod with a black Mitchell-300 cap reel filled with brand-X nylon monofilament.

I quickly gravitated to largemouth bass, and though I'm not sure that I remember my very first bass,

the first bass I do remember catching was like yesterday. I was alone in a quiet backwater slough

casting a Creek Chub Injured Minnow, which is a topwater plug with fore & aft spinners.

Though it was the last thing I expected, suddenly a defined "V" wake headed straight for my lure

then shattered the water surface!       That did it for me!!

 

Roger 

[pondbassin101]

Great stories everyone

 

[HawkeyeSmallie]

Great question, thanks for asking.

 

I grew up river fishing, small rivers to be exact with the occasional trip to the Mississippi. My favorite fish was a Smallmouth.

 

Fast forward to now and I fish mostly for Largemouths in small lakes mostly because they are close. Probably three years ago I took my son fishing for anything that bit and we caught a couple pretty decent bass. That's all it took. It's full of weeds so my first purchase was a Mojo Bass frog pole and started chucking some Spros. Oh man talk about exciting.