When You Were A Kid....

[papajoe222]

My dad got me hooked on fishing. I was a walleye and crappie angler until I joined the army. I had caught a few bass prior to then, but it wasn't until I was exposed to the southern waters of Missouri and Georgia that I fell in love with bass fishing.  I had no mentor other than the writers of a few magazines and information was all but nonexistent.  Other than a pre-rigged Creme worm, Rapalas and Mepps spinners were the only lures in my tiny tackle box.  I didn't fish from a boat until a few years after my discharge. B.A.S.S came into existence around that time and good information and competition followed.  Although I still occasionally compete and  fish for walleye, crappie and muskie, my passion is bass fishing and over the last decade has focused on trophy sized bass.

[Catt]

Kinda funny but at 4-5 I absolutely hated boats & my Dad literally had to spank me to get me into one.

 

Since then I've hunted, fished, & trapped all over the marshes/swamps of Southwest Louisiana & Southeast Texas.

 

1965: Spend the entire summer working on my uncle's charter fishing boat in the Gulf of Mexico and learned how to locate deep water structure.

1972: Started bass fishing seriously on Toledo Bend at my father-in-law's camp on White's Point in the mouth of Lowe's Creek.

1974: Joined two bass clubs whose members included John Torian, John Hall, John Dean, Villis P "Bo" Dowden SR, Harold Allen, Larry Nixon, Tommy Martin, & Zell Roland.

1976: Attended a seminar in Houston Texas that totally changed my outlook on bass fishing. The man putting on that seminar was Elwood L. " Buck" Perry, not only did I buy his books but I became a devout student of his teachings. I took what Buck taught about deep structure fishing and applied it to Toledo Bend. Not only did the quantity of bass I caught go up but so did quality.

 

That's the who's now for the what's

I was introduce to night fishing in 1973 and have continued until the present. These years of having limited or no visibility has heightened my awareness of what is taking place below the surface. This heightened awareness has made me better at fishing deep water where feeling the bite is harder than finding structure.

[greentrout]

dad took me to some farm ponds in rural sc ... set me up with a zebco and a cage full of crickets ... caught my share of bluegills ... got me hooked ... his fishing buddy a sgt. in u.s. army took the time to show me how to bass fish on those farm ponds ... he once held the state record for the largest lmb in the state of sc where he caught it on a fort jackson sc pond ... early in the morning ... mitchell spinning reel and rebel minnow lure ..

 

i was a lucky young man ...

 

good fishing ...

[Sphynx]

I caught my first rainbow trout at probably 4 years old at a fish farm with my maternal grandfather, mom and dad have a picture of it somewhere but I don't really recall the event, pretty sure grand dad was having a ball though and was sinfully proud of my cousin and I that day. Most of my childhood was spent fishing for trout either with salmon eggs or powerbait dough on spinning tackle as we backpacked all over the Pacific Northwest either with the family or the Scouting program.

 

I never fished for bass until I was 19, and a PFC at Ft. Hood, a buddy I met and formed a fast friendship with from Alabama had an old Ford 500, and we went down with our first paychecks to Walmart and bought a Daiwa reel which I still have at home, it was on sale, and a cheap spinning rod each, and some hooks/bullet weights and trick worm style plastics. Our first few outings weren't terribly productive, mostly bluegill, and a few catfish on some worms we dug up, but it wasn't too long before he figured out the lakes we used to camp at and we'd spend more weekends out camping and fishing than not, bass all day, then right about supper time we'd snag a few cats and eat them for chow. Since then I have fished when and where opportunities allowed, careers have often gotten in the way of a lot of it, but the last few years haven't been so bad. Hoping to get down to go fishing with my old buddy this year in October or so in 'Bama and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thrilled to bits for it.

[Ratherbfishing]

My dad took me and my 7 siblings (yes, 7) to a pay lake to fish for mostly rainbow trout when I was...6 or 7.  After he died a few years later, and I was left to my own devices, I would ride my bike about 2 miles to a bridge where a creek widened and deepened under it and I fished for punkinseed (mostly) and yellow bullheads.  After a couple of years, when I'd "graduated" to an actual spincast outfit, my first fish caught on an artificial lure (a creme worm on a harness) was a small "grass pike."  I didn't know what it was but I was hooked on the idea of tricking a fish with an artificial lure and the rest is "history."

[Bankbeater]

When I was a kid back in the '70's, we fished for catfish and panfish to fill up the freezer.  Bass fishing was something you did when the catfishing was slow.  As we got older we started fishing more for fun than food.   By the late '80's we were fishing for bass almost every trip.

[Rip_lipz]

My dad was stationed in the pan handle of Florida we fished in the ocean often. My earliest memories was catching fish off a bridge, I remember my mom cutting up bait for the hooks. My first bass was at a motocross track, the pond they used to water the track had so many 2lbs you could catch two fish on a crankbait fairly often, after that I was addicted. I didn't start really getting into bass fishing in till my late teens and early 20s. When I came back from the military, I started shore fishing and worked my way to a glitter rocket.

[J Francho]

On 7/25/2019 at 6:32 AM, Mobasser said:

What are your earliest memories of fishing for bass?

I've either been fishing or with someone fishing as far back as I remember.  My first memorable bass, the one that got me hooked on targeting bass, was probably when I was around 10.  I caught what my grandfather declared was a huge bass.  It was probably around 6 lbs.  I remember it being over 20" long.  We didn't weigh fish back then.  I ate that fish, and it tasted terrible. 

[Mobasser]

1 hour ago, J Francho said:

I've either been fishing or with someone fishing as far back as I remember.  My first memorable bass, the one that got me hooked on targeting bass, was probably when I was around 10.  I caught what my grandfather declared was a huge bass.  It was probably around 6 lbs.  I remember it being over 20" long.  We didn't weigh fish back then.  I ate that fish, and it tasted terrible. 

Agree. The big ones are not that good to eat. But a 6lb bass at 10yrs old is still a very good one!

[Paul Roberts]

On 7/26/2019 at 12:24 PM, A-Jay said:

 Growing up in MA during the mid - 1960's, my Mom & Dad took my younger brother and I fishing on weekends.

I lived for it !

We'd go to small state & county parks that had lakes. 

 My Mom loved to sit in the sun and read or knit (believe it or not) so these were almost always mid-day affairs.

  My brother & I would pick night crawlers from my Dad's garden the night before and then beat up on the local panfish population that next day.  Every once in a while, we'd get a bass and that was always a big deal.  

Routinely took fish home 'for supper'.

Once I was old enough to ride my bike around by myself, all bets were off.

With my Sears & Roebuck Ted Williams Signature (pistol grip) Spin-Casting rod & reel securely (sort of) strapped to the frame, a small assortment of pre-rigged Creme worms (the ones with the little propeller on the front) along with some Mr Twister curly tailed worms, I'd be up at the crack of dawn all summer long to ride that one speed, coaster brake Schwinn, several miles to fish all day. 

Always had to be home by dark (used to bum me out as I hated leaving 'early' to make it). 

At 16 1/2 years old, I got my drivers licence, a job and bought my Mom's 1970 Ford Maverick: fish from the bank all over New England for a couple more years until I joined the service - didn't have a clue what I was doing but I was learning every trip out. 

A-Jay

 

 

 

A-Jay... you still look the same! How could that be?

1 hour ago, J Francho said:

I've either been fishing or with someone fishing as far back as I remember.  My first memorable bass, the one that got me hooked on targeting bass, was probably when I was around 10.  I caught what my grandfather declared was a huge bass.  It was probably around 6 lbs.  I remember it being over 20" long.  We didn't weigh fish back then.  I ate that fish, and it tasted terrible. 

Gotcha beat. We ate a 7lber, 23" long. Yeah, it tasted terrible. Maybe that's why C&R is so popular with bassers.

[A-Jay]

8 minutes ago, Paul Roberts said:

A-Jay... you still look the same! How could that be?

 

LOL ~ 

Must be the hair - or the lack of it

A-Jay

[redmexican5081]

As soon as I could hold a rod I was out on the boat with my dad and grandfather.  I counted as a fisherman and that meant we could take another limit.  My earliest memory is from the late 80s when i was maybe 5 or 6 and is of being out on the ocean trolling for bluefish at the Isle of Shoals off the coast of NH.  I heard the clicker on the reel click about 5 times and looked back to see the flash as the fish pulled the line.  Nobody else had heard it and I grabbed the rod and started cranking.  My grandfather was ticked that I would mess up the spread of baits and started yelling at me for touching the rod.  I told him there was a fish on it but he didn't believe me because he hadn't heard the line peeling out as a typical bite would have done.  I didn't listen to him when he told me to put the rod down and I kept bringing the fish in.  When I finally got it along the side of the boat the fish was about 12" in length and was probably the smallest one we caught that day.  I can still remember the change in tone on the boat as he admitted that I was right and gave me a huge pat on the back and told be that I was turning out to be a great fisherman.  I still smile thinking about that day and would give anything to have another day to spend fishing with him.

[schplurg]

When I was a kid I cast my Zebco into some river in Canada, as in the rod came apart and half of it went into the river. Guess the hook was small cause I didn't get it back. That cast comprises the complete history of my fishing in Canada.

[Armtx77]

My  love came from my next door neighbor, Tom Cambell.

He had a Skeeter and towed it behind a V6 Toyota SR5.

I was more of an annoyance to him most summers. He was a school teacher and had summers off. His garage was a meca of fishing for me. He had Rapala crank bodies, hanging on the ends of strings for the overhead lights and posters of bass boats climbing monster waves. Trilene posters of huge bass, wrapped up in the knarliest snags.

A couple times a summer he would take me out on the river. When I hit 16 he helped me pick out yo left handed BlackMax baitcasters and two Bass Pro, PowerHump rods.

 

While I know I was a nuisance to him as a kid, he helped shape me into an avid outdoorsman. 

[Oregon Native]

On 7/26/2019 at 5:17 PM, scaleface said:

My dad   liked catfish and use to take me to irrigation ditches  that were full of bullheads .  That way I was assured to catch some . When I got old enough my uncle and I { we were the same age } use to ride our bikes to these ditches and catch bullheads .  Dad worked at the lock and dam on the Mississippi and I would go with him day or night . I'd  spend 8 hours fishing below the locks for catfish , carp , white bass or whatever would bite . I loved to go at night with friends and sit on a sand bar , and make a campfire  . When I got older I took him fishing  . He wasnt into bass fishing but loved to catch catfish .  Mark Twain lake was new and we figured those cats out . Here he is preparing to clean our nights catch .He passed away last month .

Sorry for your loss

[Oregon Native]

All good reads.....

Grandma tells me of when I was very little back in the 50's of taking grandpa's rod when he got home with fish and putting a hook in the fish's mouth..usually a salmon and dragging it around the basement.  Also I guess I was pretty found of fishing in the bucket when she was washing her car.

Not too many memories of fishing with Dad as he was always busy...but I remember riding my bike to fish everywhere.  Three miles was usually the max I did for this although I do remember once going over 20 miles to catch trout with a buddy....what a sore butt that got me!!

Earliest memories of bass was riding my bike to a farm pond in Oregon three miles from our house.  Was an amazing adventure every time.  I remember using weightless night crawlers and then one day this man gave me a florescent orange worm....oh wow...those bass would come up to the top and crush it.  So I remember going home and taking some lizards I had in my tackle box that weren't melted and cutting the legs off and making worms....

Now I pretty much just chase bass...but in the earlier days if it swam I was after it...freshwater...saltwater it was game on.  While in the service I remember having a Mitchell 300 and an ol four piece eagle claw that went everywhere with me.  I was on a "DE" off Canada once and all my line was off the reel while we were off shore somewhere.  I remember being told that big halibut were in the area.  Well....I guess they were right as I had this bite..set the hook and was able to reel this fish up about ten cranks...went back to the bottom and there it sat...first and only fish I ever intentionally broke my line because I could do nothing with it.

Thanks for bringing back memories

[Scott F]

I caught my first bass, a smallmouth, on June 19, 1965. It came when my dad took me on a road trip from Gary, IN back to his hometown, in the Thousand Islands area of the St. Lawrence River in upsate NY when I was 10. We'd spend 4 or 5 days fishing the bass opener every year for about 6 years in a row. We'd use minnows, inline spinners, or top water poppers on a fly rod. Those few days were the only time I fished every year until I was in my upper twenties.

Here is a picture of my first 20" smallie from June, 1969 when I was 14.

[Alex from GA]

I was an avid saltwater and trout fisherman until the late 70s when my buddy bought a tackle store in Burbank, CA and one of his customers took me bass fishing to Castaic Lake.  Another customer took me to a buddy tournament with him and I caught big bass and we won the tournament.  I still fished saltwater mostly and fly fished for trout in the Sierras but went bass fishing a few times a year.  Then in '99 I moved to GA next to Lake Lanier and took up bass fishing seriously.  I fish several times a week in either in Lanier or kayak the N GA rivers for different kinds of bass.  GA DNR has a program called a "bass slam" that I have participated in for the past couple of years.  There are 10 species of black bass in GA and if you catch 5 of those you have completed the bass slam.  I got 9 last year and all 10 the year before.  They give you a certificate and tickets to the GA Go Fish center in Perry, GA along with some nice stickers.  Most of the friends I've met in GA are through bass fishing.  I spend the winters fishing in FL mostly for bass.

[Hillbilly Bennett]

My first fishing memory was when I was 5. I went to a local lake with my grandpa and I caught a small bass and a crappie or two on an in-line spinner. I also hooked his ENORMOUS fishing buddy right in the back on a cast I made too. It scared me to death until he started laughing and I knew I was in the clear. After that I had the bug. Everyday I dug red worms out of the garden to catch little bullheads out of the creek in our back yard. (Mom didn’t believe I was catching fish but I brought one I caught in the house and you should have seen her face when it shook off the hook and it fell in the bathtub with her! True story!) That fall I went to Dale Hollow with dad for the 1st time. We caught a bunch of smallmouth and I caught a mud cat that was as long as my leg. That was it. I was hooked. From that point in my life I have chased bass all over the eastern half of the country. No matter where I have been and what has been going on the one constant has been that I fish as much as possible. It has provided me with 32 years of peace, tranquility and enjoyment. I just hope that my son picks it up and loves it like I do. He’s 6 and loves the boat but he just wants to swim. That’s ok with me though, just as long as he’s with me I’m happy. 

[813basstard]

Walking around a retention pond during summer probably 7 years old. Saw a kid throw what looked like a purple worm into these lily pads. He pulled out a fish. 

I said “what’s that?”

He said “it’s a bass”

That was pretty much the extent of it. I wanted to do that. 

[the reel ess]

My dad was taking me fishing before I was old enough to hold a rod or pole. He used to tie our old Glassmaster boat up to a stump and pole fish with minnows. I walked the bank a lot with a cane pole at our lake house. Later we started making our own brushpiles and we got a pontoon boat to fish from. We used to have as many as 8 people on that boat. Then we would have community fish fries. He got an aluminum bass boat when I was 13 and that's when i got into bass and never looked back.

 

[mmayes]

My Grandfather was who got me into chasing Bass.  He was an excellent angler and known in the area we lived in.  He was adept at casting with either hand accurately.  He talked bass with everything from a flyrod to a casting rod. I got to be with him when he caught his last Bass it was a little over 7.   He and my father would pack me fishing with them in the child carrier and set it between them while they fished before I could walk (I was walking at 9 months).  As I got older dad was on the road so much and mom worked my Grandfather was self employed and had a lake house so we would spend every available time on the water.  We would for fun catch crappie by the 100's in the spring but it was a sideline to break up Bass fishing. I was started on an Ambassador Red 5000 at age 7-8 and was proficient with it and the 5000C by the time I was 8-9.  I caught my first what I would call big bass (by KY standards) at 13.  It weighed 8.9lbs and I had 2 5lb fish with it.  I fished hard and wanted to fish at the Pro level as a teenager and my dad discouraged that.  I burned out on Bass around 19 and did not fish very much over the next 15-20 years other than as a sideline to Crappie but still managed every year to catch one 7-8.8 a year.  My hunting partner got me back into the passion about 2 months ago and I have made up for lost time since. I now live on the lake I grew up on and have torn the cabin down to build a house.  I can be found most evening fishing the last 2 hours of daylight. 

 

Mayes

[Dave Davidson]

As a child I lived in Northern Va, right in the city. Dad fished a bunch and I'd go with him whenever he went. At about 10 years old I went to a camp that was on a lake and Dad bought me my own fishing pole, it was 2 tone brown, maybe a zebco 33 or something.

Caught a few fish on a bobber at the lake and thought I was doing well.

 

There was a pond about 1/2 a mile from our house and when I got back from camp I hoped on my bike, peddled to the pond, bit on a few split shot, loaded up a night crawler, and gave it the hardest heave I could out toward the middle. 

That was a learning experience I'll never forget. As that worm sailed into the abyss, so did the forward portion of my two piece rod.

 

Lol -- To this day I still despise two piece rods.

 

That pond was something magical to me as a kid. A couple guys would fish is regularly tossing a 4" ringworm around the grass or hooking a minnow on a bobber. I saw them pull out 3-4 lb four pound bass regularly. I think I caught the bug watching them. 

 

I remember one occasion when one of the guys (who'd been fishing a minnow on a bobber for a while) asked me to climb a tree and see if anything was watching his minnow. I climbed the tree, looked, and there was a HUGE bass (for a 10 yo) face to face with his minnow, both of which were motionless. I relayed (shouted) to the guy what was happening, after what seemed like several minutes, the guy tugged on his line a few times causing the minnow to move. Just then the bass engulfed it, the guy hooked it and I saw what I remember as my first good size bass in person.

 

That guy may never know he didn't just hook into a good fish, he also helped hook a kid on bass fishing.

[haggard]

Grew up on a salt water bay in Massachusetts, as a kid, plenty swimming, sailing, windsurfing, exploring tidal pools for years, but for some reason never tried fishing (excepting one time on a rowboat with a hand line and caught a big crab). As the saying goes, wish I knew then what I know now.

 

Better late than never. Now at 50, trying to make up for lost time.

 

[SeaCrow]

My dad died when I was 5. My grandpa took me fishing with him sometimes. The first fish I can remember catching wasn't a bass but a speckled perch. My uncle was with us.I remember him hollering for grandpa to help me, grandpa said "hell, he's got it". I got it into the boat,  2lbs..biggest one that day...remember when rods were metal?