Remember when: the old days

[haleywp]

I can remember in the old days we would come home from a football game and my Granddad would be parked in the front yard with his van.  He had this van he had converted with a bed and everything you would need to camp for about a week.  He had the boat on the top.  We would leave out that night and go camp and fish.  This was in the 60’s.  You would put the 14-foot flat bottom boat in the water, grab the 2-foot Feather-lite (I think it was called) paddle and take off fishing.  We did not have a trolling motor, and don’t even know if they made them at the time.  I remember seeing my first trolling motor.  It had a motor on top that was as big as a lawnmower motor with a shaft that bent at the bottom with the propeller attached.  My first depth finder was a flasher paired with a paper graph.  Then this thing called The Color-C-lector came out (I still have it and once found in storage will post a photo).  You put small tape, provided in the box, every foot or two.  You would drop the head attached to a wire down to the depth you thought you should fish, push the toggle switch and it would tell you what color bait you should fish with.

Grandmother would not let Granddad drink at home.  On the way to the fishing/hunting spot, about 3 miles from their house there was this long curve in the road.  Granddad would pull over on the side of the road, cross over the barbwire fence and go out in the woods.  He would return holding his favorite bottle of wine/whisky and off we would go.  On the way back, if anything was left, he would stop and put it back.  I be there is still a bottle in the hollow tree.

 

Pat

[Mobasser]

I learned from my grandpa, dad, and older brother. My brother and I spent much time on the family farm during the summer. After the days farm work was done, we would fish the biggest pond from a wooden rowboat, untill dark almost every night. It was a good way to learn. The alternative was to sit in the house and watch a small blk/ wht tv, with no AC. We looked forward to fishing every evening.

[scaleface]

My Grandpa had a magic bobber . It would dance . Mine just set there . I wish I had a magic bobber .

[Scott F]

1 hour ago, scaleface said:

My Grandpa had a magic bobber . It would dance . Mine just set there . I wish I had a magic bobber .

Use a bigger minnow.

[Alex from GA]

I remember before spinning reels when all there were were knuckle busting baitcasters.  When spinning reels came to being I always wanted an Alcedo Micron.

[Oregon Native]

My grandma...bless her heart would tell me stories of how I would fish in the water bucket while grandpa would wash his car.  She also told me a story on how I would take one of his rods and when he would bring home salmon I would put a hook back into their mouth and pull them all over the basement floor.  She said it was quite a mess! 

Would have loved to have gotten to fish with him.

[N Florida Mike]

I Never knew either one of mine because they had already worked themselves to death before I was born. Farming and esp.coal mining has done that to many....? It was a choice they made though. There wasnt much else to do where they were from...

[Bluebasser86]

Every weekend during the summer months when I was out of school was family camping/fishing/swimming weekend. My dad would put a sheet of plywood in the back of his old Dodge truck with a camper shell. Mom and dad slept on the bottom, my little sister and I slept on top of the board in the back of his truck. There would be 2-3 dozen family members camping on a sandbar at the lake, big fire going, lots of rods out leaning in forked sticks waiting for catfish to bite, always be guitar playing and my great uncle playing his harmonica. Summer never lasted long enough. 

[Heartland]

I was raised by my Grandparents, I learned to love fishing and spending time outside from them, with them.    They were both very aged and beaten down from things that we have never had to deal with, World Wars, Ore  mines, Great Depression, Dust Bowls and a host of other things that would destroy our modern generations.   However when we went fishing I got to see them both relax, smile, and some of the burdens of life and age were lifted. Grandma fished with a cane pole, and Grandpa with a Zebco 33 combo that he received from his co-workers at Cessna Aircraft when he retired.  We were your typical bucket fisherman, I am not ashamed,  we kept everything, small perch, bass, crappie, whatever we could catch.   We would take them home and clean them and have them for dinner the next night.     Sometimes I still dream about these times shared, I never know quite how to feel, if I should smile because I remember them, or cry because I was too young to appreciate them enough.  Either way it is part of who I am, and I count myself lucky to have had  two people who loved me and shared their love of fishing and the outdoors with me.

[The Bassman]

22 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

I Never knew either one of mine because they had already worked themselves to death before I was born. Farming and esp.coal mining has done that to many....? It was a choice they made though. There wasnt much else to do where they were from...

 Very sorry to hear that. Never knew mine either. Have to think it impacted my personality.

[TOXIC]

I was lucky enough to know my grandparents well and even both of my great grandparents on my mothers side.  My grandfather was a great fisherman and went from Iowa to Canada every year.  I got to go once before he passed since his requirement to go was that you could pull your own weight and do a lot of the heavy lifting the trip required.  It was the trip of a lifetime.  Growing up I spent a lot of my summers on the farm in Iowa and we would go catfishing in some of the local rivers and I would ride by bike to any number of ponds and big creeks to fish for whatever would bite (a lot of Bullheads).  My father went with a group of guys to Minnesota about every other year and I got to tag along on a few of those trips.  As a teen, a group of us would regularly take camping trips to the Platte River in Nebraska and camp on a sandbar partying all day and catfishing all night.  Fishing has always been a part of my life and I don't expect that to change.  

[Spankey]

On 1/27/2019 at 10:59 AM, Alex from GA said:

I remember before spinning reels when all there were were knuckle busting baitcasters.  When spinning reels came to being I always wanted an Alcedo Micron.

I can't remember when the spin caster was not around. I still have two from when I was a kid.

[Spankey]

17 hours ago, Heartland said:

I was raised by my Grandparents, I learned to love fishing and spending time outside from them, with them.    They were both very aged and beaten down from things that we have never had to deal with, World Wars, Ore  mines, Great Depression, Dust Bowls and a host of other things that would destroy our modern generations.   However when we went fishing I got to see them both relax, smile, and some of the burdens of life and age were lifted. Grandma fished with a cane pole, and Grandpa with a Zebco 33 combo that he received from his co-workers at Cessna Aircraft when he retired.  We were your typical bucket fisherman, I am not ashamed,  we kept everything, small perch, bass, crappie, whatever we could catch.   We would take them home and clean them and have them for dinner the next night.     Sometimes I still dream about these times shared, I never know quite how to feel, if I should smile because I remember them, or cry because I was too young to appreciate them enough.  Either way it is part of who I am, and I count myself lucky to have had  two people who loved me and shared their love of fishing and the outdoors with me.

That's great man. I dream and think about those similar times. My situation is just a bit different. I was taught about trout fishing at a young age. Trout and bass fishing has always been part of my life. Can't say there has ever been a gap. Family and kid obligations altered schedule over the years but somehow got around it.God bless you, you hang in there and enjoy it.

[NorcalBassin]

The older I get the more I appreciate the times with mine. My grandma lived on Clear Lake for 30+ years up until passing away a few years ago, and the last 10 or so years of my grandpa's life he spent more than 50% of his time there with her as "friends" after they divorced in the 60's. I can still taste the bacon and pancakes she'd have waiting for us every morning when we returned from fishing the early morning and the fried chicken when we'd return again in the evening. I still try to make it to Clear Lake a couple times a year and at least one of those times I make sure to fish her dock.

[OCdockskipper]

I never met my mom's dad, he died in his early 50's before I was born.  He was a hunter & a fisherman, first in Minnesota where he was born & later in Central California, where they moved when my mom was young.  From what I have heard about him, he was gruff with younger kids (he was from the generation that believed children should be seen but not heard), however he had a soft spot for his grandkids who showed an interest in the outdoors.  My mom believes he would have taken a liking to me based on my interest in fishing, but might have had a hard time understanding my preference for catch & release.

 

My oldest son is going to have their first child (a boy) in May and just in case I have my grandfathers short lifeline, I am planning on having my future grandson in the boat before he can walk...

[Columbia Craw]

My grandfather on my Dad's side died when he was eleven. I have very few memories of dad's mother as my grandma lived in Saskatchewan.  I had limited time with my Mom's parents who were wheat farmers in Alberta.  My Grandfather was born in 1885 in Stalbridge England and spent over fours years active artillery duty in Belgium and France during       " the Great War"  and was gassed. His fingers were always yellow from rolling his own cigarettes. The rest is mine. My dad didn't hunt or fish. He worked six or seven days a week. 

[WRB]

Spinning reels came out to the west coast in the early 50's and they were made France; Ru, Mitchell, Alcedo and Luxor as I recall. 

My older brother was working at a boat landing in the early 50's and I was his helper.

Bill was given a Ru rod and reel by a customer who bought it and didn't like it. We didn't know how to use it so it sat around a few years until someone showed Bill how the reel was held under the rod and the line pick up swung outward to release the line. We were impressed with how easy it cast light lure used for trout fishing. Michell 300 came out in the mid 50's and my middle brother Bob was the first to get one. Bob has problems learning to use a bait casting reel and loved his Mitchell's until he passed away a few years ago. Spinning reels are not new!

I have mentioned before my 1st reel was a Langley Lure Cast 330 baitcasting reel and a Connolyn tubular bass rod. Worked a month to earn the money to buy it at age 12. My 1st lure was a Hawaiian Wiggler #3 weedless spoon, red/white. I would walk the shore line casting the spoon over weed beds reeling it on top and into pockets catching bass all summer. The Langley reel only held 50 yards of 20 lb braid line and could cast 50 yards easily stopping the spool just before it hit the knot on the arbor.

Langley was bought by Zebco, Connolyn by Garcia, Fred Arbogast no longer makes the #3 Hawaiian Wiggler spoons and Ashaway braid is a memory.

Tom

[schplurg]

So many people have Grandpa stories! I got kinda sad reading a similar thread once, but my Dad told me recently that I caught my first fish with my grampa, probably 5-6 years old! I remember fishing the pier in Santa Cruz, and off the cement boat in Capitola. Yep, cement boat. I don't remember who I fished with each time, but I now know I did fish with grampa 

[Oregon Native]

1 hour ago, schplurg said:

So many people have Grandpa stories! I got kinda sad reading a similar thread once, but my Dad told me recently that I caught my first fish with my grampa, probably 5-6 years old! I remember fishing the pier in Santa Cruz, and off the cement boat in Capitola. Yep, cement boat. I don't remember who I fished with each time, but I now know I did fish with grampa 

I remember fishing with Grandma...loved to salmon fish out of Warrenton, Oregon.  It was my Grandpa's marina.  Never did get to fish with the Grandpa's.  Remember them but from memories they seemed to work all the time.

[Crestliner2008]

On 1/27/2019 at 10:59 AM, Alex from GA said:

I remember before spinning reels when all there were were knuckle busting baitcasters.  When spinning reels came to being I always wanted an Alcedo Micron.

Wow....does that bring back memories! I remember being so proud of owning an actual Alcedo Micron spinning reel. It was the "cat's meow" back then. It actually had ball bearings on the shaft end. Great little reel.

[TnRiver46]

My grandpa was a huge fisherman but he was a little shaky for boating or being near water by the time I came around. I actually think he had a stroke the day I was born.  I remember riding in a boat with him (his boat that I still use) once or twice but I can’t remember fishing with him much.  I’m sure we did though, especially from the bank or the dock. Funny thing is, although I don’t have a lot of personal fishing memories with my grandpa, I can tell you in great detail about dozens and dozens of his fishing trips. We spent most of our time together sitting on the breezeway and he told me all the stories he knew. He also gave me all his lures and had a story for each one. I’ve got a pretty cool shadow box of them, lucky 13s, Mepps spinners with the plastic minnow body, and bayou boogies. I’m already mildly shaky at age 34 so Im creating fishing stories of my own every time I get the chance!!! Haha. Here’s one of the reels he gave me that still use. I also have some 1929 and 1933 reels he gave me but the handle spins when you throw them. I believe “knucklebusters” is what I have heard @WRB refer to them as. I can still cast those too just not far hahah. They are in storage

[the reel ess]

The good grandfather I had died young of cancer. The other one was a no-show and not a very good human. I have no idea how my mom turned out to be a good parent.

 

But we had a house on Lake Wateree. When my parents first bought the place we had a pop-up camper. If it rained we had to pack up and get all the cars and camper out of the lot before we got stuck in there. Later we had a used single wide trailer moved in. It was heaven to me. We would head over to the lake on Friday evening and I would bug my dad to buy me some worms so I could fish early the next morning. I would wake up with the chickens on Saturday and sneak out and grab my cane pole. I would fish off our dock for bream and walk the bank down to a blow-down. I would go back and forth until I was called up for breakfast. These are my earliest fishing memories. Later, we used our Glassmaster runabout to go out and tie up to stumps and fish for crappie, still with cane poles. Then we got serious. We got a pontoon. Everyone on the boat used two poles and we anchored (cinderblocks were $.50 anchors) over brushpiles that we put out. These were probably the best days of my life. I tried to pass it on to my daughter, but she isn't interested anymore. But maybe one day she'll have a kid who is before I'm too old to take them with me.

[A-Jay]

My Mom & Dad would take me fishing most every Sunday morning all summer, weather permitting.

Many of the local swimming spots, state parks & community lakes and just about any water hole they could sit next to, while I casted my little arms off, fill my memories.  Could never thank them enough. Did the same with my own son, when I was home. 

 

A-Jay

 

[scaleface]

My Avatar is the earliest picture of me fishing . Caught these on a cane pole and worms out of a cousins farm pond . 

[the reel ess]

Oh, I remembered a grandpa story! My "good grandpa" told me of a time he was fishing from a boat at "the river" as they called the lake. They could remember when it was just a river. He and another guy caught a limit of crappie while fishing around a stump. They needed to take the fish back so they wouldn't get caught with more than a limit. So my grandad sat on the stump while the other guy took the fish and dropped them off and came back. This is one of those stories that I feel pretty sure was a "fish tale" told just for my entertainment, especially since I never heard of him fishing any other time. But he told it like it was the Gospel.