Your Total Years

[LonnieP]

I’m 50 now and I was probably 4 or 5 the first time my dad took me fishing. I remember walking around the pasture with him digging up night crawlers underneath the dried up cow pies. 

[Columbia Craw]

First fish was a rainbow at five years old. Caught my first bass on a Red Devil spoon at eight.  I’m 68.

[T-Billy]

2 hours ago, A-Jay said:

I'm pretty sure I'm getting close to Maxing out my allotted number of 'Likes' for the day.

But just want to say, I really enjoying reading through ALL of these.

Fish Hard Bassheads !

A-Jay

Ironically enough, I used my last like on this post. 

[cyclops2]

I worked as a Busboy at the Last Supper. Been fishing ever since.    

[dodgeguy]

1967 I started. My grandmother bought me my first zebco combo.we fished live worms and ate most of what we caught. I became serious about bass in 1985 and started to target them exclusively. It's been fun all the way 

[Bird]

31 minutes ago, cyclops2 said:

I worked as a Busboy at the Last Supper. Been fishing ever since.    

That's cheating! Back then 2 fish fed 5000.

[Way north bass guy]

I was about 2 when I first caught fish with my dad ( sunfish and rockbass). We fished for just about everything as kids, but mainly bass and trolling for lake trout. I used to go to my dads construction jobs ( that were mainly cottages on the Muskoka lakes here in Ontario), and would fish off the shore or dock all day while my dad and his employees worked, go have lunch with them, then right back to fishing until time to go home. Got serious about it when I got a decent bike around 12 or so and could travel on my own to different lakes and rivers. Got my first bass boat at 17, fished tournaments all summer for about 8 years or so, did some guiding for a few years ( even filmed an episode of a fishing show out of my boat one time), then got out of guiding about 15 years ago and now just do my own thing either solo or with my son or a friend or two. I’m 42 now so I guess it’s been 40 years of wetting a line, and been chasing bass on and off for pretty much all of them. 

[SC53]

Probably 1959 for me when we moved from Miami to Plantation. I was only 6 then but remember (barely ?) fishing the banks of our neighborhood south Florida canals. 
By early 70’s I was light tackle saltwater fishing but never gave up bass fishing. It’s still my passion today, 62+ years later. 

[crypt]

started with a Zebco 202 when I was 6. have been addicted ever since. 58 now and not slowing down anytime soon.

[Bankbeater]

I started fishing 55 years ago when my dad got me a Johnson Century 100A reel on a kiddie rod. 

[Trox]

Started fishing when I was 5, and probably averaged bi-weekly fishing trips until my mid 20s where I was able to started fishing 3 or so days a week out of a bass buggy, weather allowing... Once my step dad sold me his 2005 ProCraft 210 SuperPro when I was 29 it was all over though and I've been an obsessive tournament fisherman ever since... pushing 33yo now.

[Log Catcher]

My dad took me fishing for the first time around 1957 or 58 when I was 6 or 7. Fished with a cane pole and worms for bream. Started bass fishing when I was around 12. I missed fishing for 3 or 4 years when I was in high school and working a lot of hours after I got out of school. I didn't have time to go. Got back in to it around 1975. Bought my first boat from a guy I worked with in 1982. Been going at as much as I can since then. I probably have close to 60 years in fishing. Maybe someday I will learn how to catch them.

[Tackleholic]

Began at the age of 2, sitting on my grandmother's lap on the bank of a small creek behind the house.  Tackle consisted of a broken off tree branch with a short string, hook, small stick for a bobber, hook, and a worm;  caught creek chubs and small bullheads.  That was in 1944.  Dad came home from the War in 1946 and my angling experiences with him moved me up to catfish and bass.  Today, at the age of 79, I'm continuing to upgrade and expand my collections of lures and tackle which fill my house, garage and new $100,000 bass boat.  77 years of fishing and still looking ahead.

[12poundbass]

My grandpa took me pan fishing when I was four or five at my aunts lake. My dad isn’t an angler but did take me ice fishing a few times with his boss. 
 

My stepdad came along at six or seven and he had a house on a lake so we’d stay there frequently and fish quite often. My friend and I would get dropped off by his dad and we’d fish from their bass buggy during the summer. 
 

Age ten or so we’d go to northern Michigan during the summer holidays and walleye fish. A couple years later we bought property on Bay de noc in the UP and more walleye fishing. 
 

Age 16 my best friend and I would bass fish a private lake 2-3 times a week for several years. I bought my first tin rig on my 19th birthday and my friends and I would explore several lakes a week. 
 

So I guess I’ve been almost exclusively a bass angler for 22 years. 

[Logan S]

I'd been taken fishing here and there when I was younger and caught various panfish and even a bass or two, but I don't really count that in my 'real' fishing time because I wasn't actively into it even though I did like it.  I first got interested in fishing on my own when a friend moved into a new house that had a pond behind it.  I was probably 8 or 9 (1994-ish)...And we were walking around the pond just checking it out and saw a bunch of sunfish swimming around near the bank and decided it might be fun to try fishing.  

 

Told my dad about it and he took me to the local tackle shop.  He picked out some hooks and weights and such but then also threw in a Mepps Comet, the inline spinner with minnow body.  Anyway...Few days later I go out to the pond for my first 'real' fishing trip and I had that Comet tied on.  No joke, literally my very first cast I ever made, I caught a bass on that Comet.  Was a solid 2lber or so and WAY bigger than anything we expected to catch since we had only seen the sunfish.  Thought I had just caught the loch ness monster .  Anyway, I was hooked from that first cast catch and became a bass head right there on the spot.  

 

Fast forward thru several years of bank beating, I scored a hand me down 40 year old 12' v-hull from an uncle when I was 13.  I modified it a little to take a trolling motor and make it easier to stand and fish.  My mom would drop me off at a local lake on her way to work and pick me up on her way home.  That when it really took off for me.  Got a 17' Tracker at 16 and started fishing tournaments, won my first tournament that year too and have been at it ever since.  

 

So...for bass fishing 'for real' I'd say I've been in it for 28 years (94 to now).  Boater in some form for about 23 years.  Tournament fishing for about 20 years.  I'm 36 now.

 

Fun trip down memory lane .   

[billmac]

I don't remember when I started fishing (born '62). I remember going fishing with my parents while camping when quite young.  But I latched onto it and took it farther than my family ever did.  By my teens I was fishing every free moment.  The first fish I remember was a walleye, I don't know if I fully caught it myself or if they hooked it and I reeled it in (something I did with my kids and still do with my grandkids).

[WRB]

We lived at Big Bear lake on Mallard bay. I started fishing with my brothers since 1945 and fished all my life.

Tom

[PressuredFishing]

13 minutes ago, WRB said:

We lived at Big Bear lake on Mallard bay. I started fishing with my brothers since 1945 and fished all my life.

Tom

What are your honest thoughts on the lake now and how it's changed over the years?

[rgasr63]

I started fishing with my uncle and step brother about 1969. My uncle taught all the children to catch bluegill with dough balls so we would have bait for catfish. Mid 70's I would fish after school and on the weekends with my dad. I fished farm ponds and Lake Wateree on the weekends with dad until his health got bad probably 15 years ago. I kinda put fishing down then. About 5 years ago I started up again and I found a lot of fresh knowledge on this forum. I fish weekly as long as I am able. I have found fishing to be a superior past time. 

[Mobasser]

5 minutes ago, rgasr63 said:

I started fishing with my uncle and step brother about 1969. My uncle taught all the children to catch bluegill with dough balls so we would have bait for catfish. Mid 70's I would fish after school and on the weekends with my dad. I fished farm ponds and Lake Wateree on the weekends with dad until his health got bad probably 15 years ago. I kinda put fishing down then. About 5 years ago I started up again and I found a lot of fresh knowledge on this forum. I fish weekly as long as I am able. I have found fishing to be a superior past time. 

Well said. A superior pastime indeed.

[WRB]

1 hour ago, PressuredFishing said:

What are your honest thoughts on the lake now and how it's changed over the years?

Population quadrupled, cabins without any fences became 3 story homes with walls and fencing, the village turned into town with shopping centers instead of small markets.

Big Bear was a trophy trout fishery with wild brown and rainbows that spawned in the creeks, since the 60’s hatchery rainbows, no wild trout.

Both LMB and Smallmouth bass fishing has remained about the same. Like all SoCal lakes population and recreational pressure affects everything. 

Lots of good fishing memories.

Tom

[Jaderose]

Fished as a kid.  Went back to it around age 30 or so with spincast gear to get out of the house as young Father.  Got serious about bass fishing around 2006 or so.  

[MIbassyaker]

First time I went fishing was probably the summer of 1982 or 1983, when I was about 7.  Dad took me down to the river in town, and we bobber-fished live worms we had dug up in the backyard. I remember hooking a good-sized fish that got away, which dad said was a catfish.  He caught a little bullhead, but said my fish had been a lot bigger. I fished a lot growing up, usually for catfish, pike, walleye in the river, or other species like like perch and sunfish if we were on vacation somewhere. I caught bass occasionally, but was never into targeting them specifically. 

 

After leaving home to go to college, I didn't fish much for awhile --I had so many other things going on, it wasn't a priority.  But I got back into it 17 years ago, when I was living very near some park lakes  where I thought, "hey I should do some fishing...wonder what people catch here?".  Turns out it was bass, so I tried fishing specifically for bass, for the first time.  And then a couple years later I moved to MI and really got into bass fishing upon discovering there are bass everywhere here. 

[Aaron_H]

Got my first combo in 1993 ("Rhino Tough" Zebco 33) when I was 5 years old, but grew up solely fishing saltwater for snapper and grouper. I didn't get into bass fishing until somewhat recently, picked it up in May 2016 and have been hooked since. As much as I love being on the ocean, bass fishing has become my primary passion. So I've been fishing for ~29 years, but only seriously bass fishing for ~6.

[PressuredFishing]

4 hours ago, WRB said:

Population quadrupled, cabins without any fences became 3 story homes with walls and fencing, the village turned into town with shopping centers instead of small markets.

Big Bear was a trophy trout fishery with wild brown and rainbows that spawned in the creeks, since the 60’s hatchery rainbows, no wild trout.

Both LMB and Smallmouth bass fishing has remained about the same. Like all SoCal lakes population and recreational pressure affects everything. 

Lots of good fishing memories.

Tom

amazing info, was never around back then but my grandfather used to live up in  san bernardino in the outskirts and went up there often, he did do  some fishing but hunted a lot in that area until it got to old for him to hunt with his age+all the hunting permits rules, fees, and raffles.