Your Total Years

[clayton86]

My dad has pics and stories of me fishing with him from a stroller at like a year old with a snoopy pole tucked into the stroller with me so he could fish the creek that went along our yard while my mom was at work.  I guess when pregnant with me my mom would be fishing with him in his boat so in a sense been fishing sense conception haha.

 

Been fishing my entire life used to walk “home” from school and fish that same creek that also ran along school property and knew when the street lights came on get my butt home. 
 

even a deployment I fished the year I was in country as we were ripping with the unit we just got on base and the guys we were replacing came around asking if anyone liked fishing and everyone started yelling “George” to get my attention haha. Bought the gear off them and fished off the pier at Kuwait navel base getting needlefish, queen fish, strawberry groupers a couple sharks and other fish I have no idea what they were but became bait in the end. 
 

bass were always my prime focus but was kinda just see what ever bites usually it was smallies and bull head from flipping over rocks to catch craw then using them as bait. Started to be serious about bass maybe for 15 years now and I’m 35. 

[Big Rick]

On 2/1/2022 at 11:49 AM, Catt said:

Bass 65 years ago on a H&H spinnerbait walking a rice feild canel.

Oddly enough, I caught my first bass on an H&H, white and red if I remember correctly. Dad had given my brother and me Zebco 33 hand-me-downs spooled with Bass Pro Excel line. This was in the early 80's and the Bass Pro catalog was a much perused item in our household. Anyway, I was fishing a Louisiana Delta lake from the bank fan casting that H&H for hours when out of nowhere a bass smoked it and about tore the rod out of my hand!  I started reeling for all I was worth and backing up the bank until I pulled the fish up on the bank. It was a yearling about a pound or so. But, it could've been a 12 pounder for all I cared. I had finally broken the ice and I was forever changed. 

 

Over the next couple of years we learned how to take down and rebuild those old 33's. The line would eat through the posts and would either break the line or just quit working. It didn't take long for us to graduate to the much vaunted Ambassadeur 5500C's, again hand-me-downs from Dad. Then it was replacing the pawls and worm gears because we fished those things like there was no tomorrow. We were pumped when we found some ceramic pawls because they lasted so much longer. I still have some of those reels, long since retired. Every so often I'll get one down and reminisce. 

 

Dad is gone now, cancer don't play. But every time I go fishing I think of him. He showed me how to work that T-rigged worm just right and gave me access to his tackle boxes. He also took me out in the boat until he decided I could handle it myself. Then the lake was mine to have. My brother and I spent countless hours in that old stick steering boat catching untold amount of fish. We really didn't realize just how good life was. 

 

Fishing is my favorite thing to do. It brings back the most pleasant memories and gives me a sense of well being. Miss ya, Dad. Thanks for those old reels and instilling a burning desire to best those bass. 

[N Florida Mike]

4 minutes ago, Big Rick said:

Zebco 33

 

4 minutes ago, Big Rick said:

Ambassadeur 5500C's

We got hooked on both these in the same order…Can’t believe we ever got a fish to the boat with the’33 . That is one slow reel !

[whitwolf]

Started at 3 years old catching Bream and shell cracker on a cane pole. Bass in a couple of years as they were bigger and good eating. My Daddy was a meat fisherman and never understood why in my late teens I practiced catch and release. 57 years fishing and it has been a great ride!

[Koz]

On 2/1/2022 at 11:59 AM, Mike L said:

Growing up on the So Side of Chicago in the 50’s and 60’s there wasn’t a lot of fishing spots! Fishing wasn’t even a thought. 

 

We're you hanging out with Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown - the baddest man in the whole d**n town?

[slonezp]

Fishing since '73 or '74 and targeting bass starting in the early 90's.

[Koz]

I grew up in Newtown, CT and as kids we would ride our bikes and fish Taunton pond, another little pond outside a convent, and I remember a small pond with an old pump house where we used to fish. I remember catching yellow perch, bluegill, and the occasional bass.

 

We also did a lot of camping and I remember fishing at Bantam Lake (CT) and Lake Bomoseen (VT). I also remember one time it snowed in the summer in VT and we had to go buy some warm clothes,

 

In my early teens we took trips to Lake Nipigon up in Canada - north of Lake Superior - yo fish for pike. We stayed in cabins and the cabin owners had a HUGE dog they names Sasquatch. One year we went up there and Sasquatch was gone. Poor guy got hit by an 18 wheeler - and totaled the truck!

 

I pretty much stopped fishing in high school and didn't fish for about 35 years. When my son turned 7 we started fishing local lagoons and I got hooked on fishing for bass. That was 9 years ago. Now I own way too many rods and reels and a ton of tackle, not to mention a pedal kayak. And now that my son is a butthead teenager he hates to fish, but I still love to get out there as much as I can.

[slonezp]

On 2/1/2022 at 10:59 AM, Mike L said:

Growing up on the So Side of Chicago in the 50’s and 60’s there wasn’t a lot of fishing spots! Fishing wasn’t even a thought. 

Mike

What about perch and smelt? 

 

You're a little older, I was born in 70. I spent a lot of time perch fishing at the lakefront, did some smelt fishing, and threw some trot lines for trout. Didn't start fishing the lakefront for bass until early/mid 90's. Pretty sure I ate a few 6lb smallies. Might even have a Polaroid of one taken in my kitchen before I had it for dinner. 

[GreenPig]

45 years

[islandbass]

For me, I don’t think I could use the word years. The more descriptive noun would be seasons. The reason is because actual fishing  more or less is 9 months out of a typical year. The “fishing” season for most lakes I fish are only open from the last Saturday in April to October 31.

 

I started fishing in April 2004, so that would be 18 “years” including 2022 — or better yet, 18 seasons through 2022. 
 

18 years = 216 months

18 seasons @ 9 per season = 162 months

162/12 = 13.5 years of actual fishing. 
 

I know, this is odd, but it is fair and more reflective of my actual experience. Not only that, in the dead of winter and from the shore where I live, it’s practically a zero chance game in lakes open. I actually proved myself right today… time after time, again and again. Got off of work early today, went to Lake Washington and all I got were two frozen hands that I couldn’t not form into a fist. It was not that cold temperature wise but the strong winds just sapped the heat from my fingers. Still on my quest to get a winter bass. Skunked on bass but I’ve been killing it against trout.  But what good is trout if you want to catch bass? Better than nothing, lol. But the “No bass in winter” monkey has been riding me hard for over 20 seasons. ???

Edited February 3, 2022 by islandbass
Grammar

[Hammer 4]

Lemme see, started at 10, now 73, so 63 years.. How time flies when your havin fun..lol

[billmac]

It's been awhile since I rode a bike.  When I was a kid 10 speeds weren't quite a thing yet.  We had banana bikes.  There was that little open bracket between the seat of the bike and the back tire. Perfect for inserting the handle of a fishing rod.  We put hundreds of miles on the road with our fishing rods sticking out the back of our bikes.  Anyone else?

[Mike L]

10 hours ago, Koz said:

 

We're you hanging out with Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown - the baddest man in the whole d**n town?

More than one!

But nobody named Leroy!

?

 

10 hours ago, slonezp said:

What about perch and smelt? 

 

You're a little older, I was born in 70. I spent a lot of time perch fishing at the lakefront, did some smelt fishing, and threw some trot lines for trout. Didn't start fishing the lakefront for bass until early/mid 90's. Pretty sure I ate a few 6lb smallies. Might even have a Polaroid of one taken in my kitchen before I had it for dinner. 

My whole world was 71st to 67th street 

Damen to Ashland. (Little Sicily)

I think the first time I even went to the lake

(Rainbow Beach) was in my mid teens. 
From ‘65 to ‘70 it was all about surviving a changing neighborhood and Viet Nam

 

It was a different world

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Dwight Hottle]

I started fishing around the age of 10 which was 1958 with my dad & younger brother. We started with cane poles & red wiggler worms that bled mustard when you pierced them with a hook point. So that dates 64 total years.

[long island basser]

Bass fishing for 42 years now. Started at the age of twelve.

Really addicted for the last 25.

Just retired this past May at 54 and I’ll just say my addiction has increased some?.

 

 

[Bluegillslayer]

15 hours ago, islandbass said:

Skunked on bass but I’ve been killing it against trout.

Story of my life, haven't caught a bass in months but still slaying the trout.

[dodgeguy]

2 hours ago, Bluegillslayer said:

Story of my life, haven't caught a bass in months but still slaying the trout.

I'm the opposite. If I catch anything that's not a bass it's unusual.

[islandbass]

4 hours ago, Bluegillslayer said:

Story of my life, haven't caught a bass in months but still slaying the trout.

They say misery loves company or something like that, lol. Glad I’m not alone. That said, I suppose catching something (trout) is better than catching nothing.?

[Bluegillslayer]

4 hours ago, islandbass said:

suppose catching something (trout) is better than catching nothing.?

Absolutely. I don't mind catching trout at all, in fact im planning on specifically targeting them trolling this weekend.

[Smells like fish]

35 years an angler and still going strong 

[river-rat]

 

I'll be 70 in March. I have been bass fishing for 58 years since I was 12. I was fortunate enough to have a grandfather and Dad that were both serious bass fisherman. They started me on panfish when I was 5 years old. 

[Jmilburn76]

I would say around 40 but I stopped fishing completely for 15 yrs after my grandpa passed, so about 25 total.  I have only fished in one bass tournament as a co-angler but Im hoping to enter some kayak tourneys this year.

[rtwvumtneer6]

I have memories of fishing a few times with my grandfather, and with my dad.  I was young and had no patience.  I'd find the bots and pieces left by other anglers and dangle it in the rocks at the bank.  Sometimes I out fished my dad that way?

 

After we were of age to drive, I would pond hop with buddies, and trout fish a few times a year, but baseball was a full time commitment.  As I got into college my years and moved around through my early professional career, the rods always moved with me but never got used much.  

 

Without going into all the great details, I made a significant lifestyle change a little over 5 years ago, and fishing has become not only a hobby and a passion, but a critical part of my life.  It gets me outdoors and active, is therapeutic, challenging, and offers a competitive aspect which I have always had a hunger for.  

 

P.S. 34 years old... With a lot to learn!

[padlin]

Started with ocean and small pond fishing somewhere around 10. Pretty much all salt water up till 20 or so years ago, so maybe 55 years total.

 

When I first started all our reels were baitcasters, and I had no problems with em. Now I use only spinning and can't cast a baitcaster to save my life. 

[jbmaine]

65+ years for me.