First time fishing story.

[Shanexd9]

I was thinking about the very first time I went fishing as a kid. I was with my dad sitting on the side of a farm pond throwing worms and catching blue gills. I don't remember how old I was. I know that I was young though. Probably somewhere around 5 or 6. I thought this would be a good discussion here on the forums. What is the story of your first time fishing? Or what happened that sparked your interest in fishing?

[Doelman]

This wasn't my first time fishing, but it's my first fishing memory.  I was 3, fishing in a brackish water canal in south Florida with my dad, I had a tiny little kid rod.  I don't remember what I was fishing with, but I do remember what I caught.  It was a baby tarpon, about 5 lbs, and it jumped like crazy while my dad helped me reel it in.  Been hooked on fishing ever since.  

[Shanexd9]

That's awesome. If I had a chance at a tarpon when I was kid I probably would have lost my mind. 

[scaleface]

I can remember catching my first fish and where . It was a chute off the Mississippi river . I caught a sunfish with a bobber and worm . I remember how brightly colored it was and when Dad said it was a sunfish I actually thought it was from the sun . Its one of my earliest memories , maybe three or four years old . I was just at that spot a few minutes ago , looking things over .

[Sam]

Around 8 years old.

 

Went to a "camp" on the north side of Lake Pontchartrain to visit friends with my aunt and cousins.

 

I was given a baitcaster and a red and white spoon and I threw it into the marsh behind the house.

 

Had not idea what to do so I just started to reel in the lure.

 

Caught my first largemouth bass that day.

 

Have never looked back!

 

 

[jr231]

Probably 14 or so years ago ... Me and my best friend would troll jointed rapala minnows off the back of a paddle boat... We caught bass, and this is where I developed a love for using artificial. 

 

Still a huge fan of rapala. 

[RPreeb]

4 hours ago, Shanexd9 said:

I was thinking about the very first time I went fishing as a kid. I was with my dad sitting on the side of a farm pond throwing worms and catching blue gills. I don't remember how old I was. I know that I was young though. Probably somewhere around 5 or 6. I thought this would be a good discussion here on the forums. What is the story of your first time fishing? Or what happened that sparked your interest in fishing?

 

I can't say that I actually remember anything about the first time (it was 60 odd years ago), aside from the fact that it would have been with a 10 foot bamboo "cane" pole with a length of line the same length rigged with bobber, splitshot, and hook with worm impaled on it.  I'd have been after any of the several species of sunfish (bluegill, punkinseed, sunfish) that inhabited Balsam Lake (WI).  I'd have been fishing from the end of the dock, and catching a few rock bass, perch and bullheads along with the sunnies. 

 

That's pretty much how all the kids I knew started out.

[Shanexd9]

Some good ones so far. I got one of those telescopic poles a while back to try and experience the cane pole style. I've yet to take it out though.

[XpressJeff]

I was about 6 years old in 1962 and my Dad took on what's called a "Party" boat out of BelMar NJ. That's where about 30 - 50 people go out in the Atlantic ocean about 6am and motor out for a couple hours. We would drift fish with short stiff rods using cut bait and 3 -4 ounce sinkers until 2 or 3 when you head back to the pier. It was a tangled mess when several people hook up at the same time. Mostly Bluefish, a few sharks, rays too. I remember Bluefish as tall as I was when Dad held 'em up.

 

Was a long day for a 6 year old!

[Bassin' Brad]

One of my 1st memories was also of catching a sunfish, and being in awe of its colors....

[Bluebasser86]

I wasn't quite a year old yet the first time my parents took me fishing, so I don't exactly remember it. Some of my first memories are fishing my grandparents pond and catching what I thought were huge catfish at the time, but were probably only 4-8 pounds in reality. 

My first experience with a bass was also in their pond catching bass on my trusty 1/8oz rootbeer colored roadrunner.

[SuperCorona]

My first memory of fishing was at a pond close to Carthage MO where my great grandparents lived.  We were sitting on a dock fishing with worms and cane poles catching bluegills.  I had to be 4 or 5.    My first fish casting was a big bluegill on a Hula Popper/Zebco combination when I was 11.  I was with my dad and grandpa on Beaver Lake.  I remember another fishing trip to Northern WI close to Spooner when I was 7 or 8 with my parents and grandparents.  The 2 things I remember about that trip were eating frog legs for the first time and my grandpa reeling in a yellow perch and a big northern pike  clobbered it at the boat.

[N Florida Mike]

I was 4 or so and we were near Ft Fisher NC .My dad and me had waded out in the marsh and I caught this small purple fish on shrimp. He thought it was some kind of perch.I remember begging him to keep it but he made me throw it back. The fish must have been really small because his idea of catch and release was catch and release into the ice chest!!!

 

[Suwanee Pops]

The first fishing that I remember doing was with my dad and brother in the Mobile River delta using seed shrimp on a cane pole in a rented wooden boat and catching bluegill ... probably 6 years old ... and had the best time! And it certainly wasn't catch and release.

[Shanexd9]

1 hour ago, N Florida Mike said:

I was 4 or so and we were near Ft Fisher NC .My dad and me had waded out in the marsh and I caught this small purple fish on shrimp. He thought it was some kind of perch.I remember begging him to keep it but he made me throw it back. The fish must have been really small because his idea of catch and release was catch and release into the ice chest!!!

 

I know Ft. Fisher. Im from right down the road about an hour. 

[N Florida Mike]

Yeah Ive got family all over SE NC.

We used to surf fish a lot at Ft Fisher and at Ocean Isle beach.

[the reel ess]

I started so young I can't remember it. But my earliest memories are from a weekend place we had at a nearby lake. I would bug the crap out of my Dad to get me a can of worms on the way to the lake so I could fish first thing in the morning. I would get up with the sun and sneak out the sliding door and walk the banks and our dock with my cane pole and the worms. I considered it my duty to stick a hook in every little fish within my reach. I remember talking to all the bass fishermen that came trolling by while I was fishing. I would go up for breakfast when my parents got up.

 

Another time I remember going crappie fishing with my dad and his buddy in the boat. They were using minnows and poles and all I had was my Zebco 33. My dad's buddy had some early Mister Twister white curly tail grubs and gave me one. I wore them both out that day and we stopped by the store on the way home and bought the store out of them. I was hooked for life, pun intended.

[Shanexd9]

16 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

Yeah Ive got family all over SE NC.

We used to surf fish a lot at Ft Fisher and at Ocean Isle beach.

My Parents live in Calabash. I lived there most of my life until I moved to florida. 

[the reel ess]

1 minute ago, Shanexd9 said:

My Parents live in Calabash. I lived there most of my life until I moved to florida. 

Love that area, Oak Island and Southport.

[Shanexd9]

There's some great bass fishing up that way. The ponds in Sea Trail in Sunset beach. I've caught some giants out of there.

[the reel ess]

33 minutes ago, Shanexd9 said:

There's some great bass fishing up that way. The ponds in Sea Trail in Sunset beach. I've caught some giants out of there.

We used to pass Oyster Bay Golf Club on the way into Sunset Beach and it looked incredibly "bassy". But I could never tell if the public could fish there.

[Catt]

People who know me find it amusing that when I was 4-6 yrs old I was deathly afraid of boats. My dad had to whip me to get me in a boat but by 7 yrs old he had to whip me to get me out. 

 

My first fish (age3-4) was a bluegill on a cane pole with a cork & worm. My uncle had a camp on the Calcasieu river, the bank had 20-25 steps going down to a wharf. I seen my cork go under, don't remember setting hook, just remember running up the steps with fish bouncing off each step.

[Shanexd9]

1 hour ago, the reel ess said:

We used to pass Oyster Bay Golf Club on the way into Sunset Beach and it looked incredibly "bassy". But I could never tell if the public could fish there.

I don't know about oyster bay but in sea trail if you stay out of the golfers way nobody will say anything to you.

[Gundog]

My first memory was when I was about 8 or 9. Me and my brother and friends from the neighborhood would walk down to the end of town to a little pond. We caught tons of sunfish but the bass in that pond wouldn't bite. You could see them swim around but no matter how hard I tried with nightcrawlers, I couldn't catch one. I think not catching those bass is really what kept me fishing. I would spend hours stalking those fish from the high bank around the pond. I used all sorts of live bait. Crickets, worms, crawfish, nothing worked. But I kept coming back to try. 

[Shanexd9]

Ive never caught a bass on a nightcrawler. Panfish will tear them up but bass don't seem to want any part of them for me. I have caught bass on plastic worms so that one is a mystery.