How it all started

[Catt]

Who and/or what made you the angler you are?

Here's mine

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 all guides at Toledo Bend's Pendleton Harbor Marina. Ray Scott would latter come up with the "The Hemphill Gang" moniker arguably the most successful group of professional bass anglers to ever emerge from one small region of the nation.

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.

[BD]

Mine started with my best friend, and then later my younger brother, when he was old enough to go. My buddy had a pond on his property, and we would catch bluegills all day. I can't remember when I started reading bass, or how to fish for bass, but we found bass in the pond too. Behind my house growing up, my friend, brother, and I all fished the lake and rode motorcycles etc.

It's all been downhill from this. I have a bass addiction that most can't understand ;D

[liquidsoap]

My neighboor used to take us all the time when I was about twelve...

We would go to a his son's pond about 40 minutes away and this place was absolutley loaded with bass.  After a while that started to dwindle down.  About a year ago I was golfing and seen a bunch of carp in a golf course pond and thought its been so long why not go bass fishing.  It was the first time I went in years, I was using a rubber worm and I caught 5 bass.  Booy I was hooked!  Now I enjoy my time on the bank, boat, or ice fishing for whatever bites just not only bass.  

[SPEEDBEAD.]

My fishing began b/c I was an only child. It was a way for me to stay entertained w/o really needing anyone else to have fun. When we went camping, I would disappear on my bike, fishing rod and 5 gallon bucket in hand, and return after dark with bluegills and whatever else i could catch.

The first time I became serious about fishing (especially c&r), I picked up a fly rod and amassed a central group of buddies that put a serious hurting on the trout and smallmouth of Central PA. When I moved to Chambersburg 5 years ago, I became interested in fishing for Largemouth and havent looked back....

During May, I will fish for spawning smallmouths...but the rest of the year is greenbacks only. 2006 was the first year since I started fishing that I didnt devote at least one day to catching trout. Heck, I even spent the sacred "First day of trout in PA" on Shawnee Lake fishing for piggies!!!!!!!

[Deuceu72]

For me, it all started with my dad........My dad grew up in Idaho and was a trout fisherman and he started bringing me along when i was about 4 or so.........I used to have to piggy-back on his back to reach the hole in the river.........was a fly fisherman for about 20 years before I moved over to the Bass.........A friend had taken me to a little farm pond here in Colorado that had bass and the 1st one i caught..........that was it...........I loved trying to figure those darn fish out. It was like putting a puzzle together.........make all the pieces fit, and you have a fish on your hook as a reward..........Trout were too simple and easy to catch so..............been a bass fisherman since...........THANKS DAD! YOUR THE BEST!

[Guest avid]

My dad died when I was 11 years old.

We had to move as soon as school was over.

So here I was in a strange neighborhood in the summer with no friends.

I had fished a few times before and liked it.  So I talked mom into buying me a "grown up" fishing outfit.  It was a mitchell 300 and shakespeare rod.

I would ride my bike about 4 miles to Belmont lake in Babylon NY and catch bass, trout and pickerel.

My favorite lure then was a daredevil.

[Captain Cali]

I started fishing in the mid 80's with my dad. We used to fish nothing but saltwater and it wasn't really for sport. It was more to get away from everyday life and catch some food in the process. I was more into dissecting anchovies and sardines at the time. We stopped going after he sold his boat and I didn't fish for about 15 years after that. Well...I did, but only a handful of times. Nothing serious.

One day in June of 2005 a friend and I decided to go fishing. We really had no clue what we were doing but it was fun. We were after anything that would bite, which wasn't much. Very soon after I got hooked on bass before I even caught one. I think I read an article about Bob Crupi and Castaic which really opened my eyes. Castaic is my "home" lake so that was the kicker. Then I started looking for any information I could find about largemouth bass and I stumbled across this wonderful site. Since then, it has been like a crash course in bass fishing. With BassResource.com and the time I was putting in, I learned real fast. Still have a lot to learn but that will never change.

Those early days gave me a taste of fishing and it was great quality time with my dad. But BassResource.com has made me the angler I am right now.

[Captain Underpants]

It all started with my dad stocking our pond. Seven years later, I've gone from Mickey Mouse tackle box to On ethat weighs at least 10 pounds!  :

[Tom Bass]

My Dad took me and my brothers catfishing when I was about 8 years old. Dad was a Muskie guy but also liked fishing for carp for the battle and catfish for food. I guess he figured we could fish for catfish too.

We moved to Rogers Arkansas when I was in 7th grade and Dad got the Bass bug. I caught the bug too. Life was good.

A year later my brother was killed and me and my Dad still fished but it wasn't the same. He went back to shore fishing for cats and carp. I still toyed with the bass and the panfish.

I joined the Navy in '79 and the next time I really got back into fishing was '88. In the mean time I did some fishing but nothing real serious. In '88 I really caught the bass bug again and life was good again. Dad had died while I was in the Navy but I used a lot of what I learned from him when I got back into bass fishing.

In '89 I moved back to California where I lived until December 2004. I moved my wife and me to North Carolina for a new job and quality of life. For years in CA I dreamed of bass fishing again. Sure, I fished for trout and did a little ocean fishing but I truly missed my two favorite fishing experiences; bass and panfish. I have been having a good time fishing ever since I moved here. I'm thinking about winter Striper fishing in Lake Norman. I know nothing about Stipers but I am planning to learn.

It's funny, the whole time I wa in CA I really didn't think about bass fishing. I had other things to keep me busy, hunting, shooting, camping, off-roading, etc... I went back to CA to visit and wanted to fish Irvine Lake. They wanted a $25 admittance and $90 to rent a jon boat....Reinforcing why I left CA. High prices for what ya get and the regs there for fishing are covered in a book. Here in NC the regs are 3 or pages of the entire outdoor sports regs.

I love where I live now and enjoy fishing to the fullest. I'm no champion bass fisherman but I thouroughly enjoy every bass and other fish I catch.

[Fish Chris]

When I was just 3 years old, my late Uncle Elton Wise, placed a cane pole in my hand, baited with red worms, and told me to "pick up, when that bobber (he called it a cork) pulls down". Apparently, this was just about the coolest, most amazing thing, I had ever experienced, because here I am, nearly 40 years later, and I still get as excited as any 3 year old, every time I win the battle with a trophy sportfish :-) Of course nowadays, what constitutes a "trophy" has grown just a bit, but in reality, it's all the same, as no matter how big a fish you catch, there is always a bigger one out there somewhere, just waiting to be caught :-)

Fishing is just flat MAGIC ! You cast your line out, with all of these hopes and dreams attached to it, but their are just no "givens". So when it finally happens, and you stick that monster that you have wanted to catch so bad, for so long, their is just no other feeling like it ! The phrase, "Only a fisherman would understand" truly applies !

Great fishing to all,

Fish

PS, At some point during, or after, pretty much every big catch I make, I imagine my Uncle Elton smiling down on me.

[Gatorbassman]

Wow Catt. That list of names is like a who's who in legends. That's awsome.

My dad was a guide on the Snake River back in the 50's and 60's. By the time I came along my family lived in GA but trout was still my dad's favorite. So for summer trips we would go to the North Georgia Mountians to trout fish. I had fished for bass on and off for most of my young life. Then when I was a junior in high school if meet Adam (Doghouse). At the time he was a very talented bass fisherman and he stoked the bass fishing fire in me. I've beem hook ever sence, but I still haven't been able to get my dad to go bass fishing with me. We still go trout fishing every year.

[fishbear]

Then when I was a junior in high school if meet Adam (Doghouse). At the time he was a very talented bass fisherman and he stoked the bass fishing fire in me.

At the time???????   Wow, Doghouse, are you gonna take that from him????????  Made you sound all washed up.   ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Catt]

At the time they were just guys we sat around drinking coffee or cokes with at Pendleton Harbor Marina, Harbor Light Marina, or Lowe's Creek Marina.

Ok that's one moderator how about the rest of y'all?   :

[BASS fisherman]

When I was 5 or 6, around 1986-87, my uncle took me out to fish for the very first time to his small pond across the street from his house in Ohio. I can vaguely remember that trip.

Later my Dad used to take me to a local pond where we would catch bass and catfish and blue gill on home hunted nightcrawlers.  We used to go out after a good rain and hunt for them with a flashlight.  I don't think I ever got any but my Dad was a pro at catching worms.

The first nice bass I ever caught was around the age of 10.  I was again using nightcrawlers, and hooked into what I would guess now as around a 4lb LM bass.  When I started reeling I had no idea how to play a big fish at the time, and I remember seeing her jump and shake my hook.  She could have only been a pound because things seem bigger when your young, but she was big nonetheless.

Around the age of 12, I got to go out with "Papy" the father of my mom's friend.  He had a pontoon boat and we went to a local lake for some bass fishing.  Using live minnows I was pulling little bass out left and right.  Lots of fun to a kid.  

When I was in my early teens I got to go trout fishing up in the streams of lake Erie.  We used egg sacks and waded all through Walnut, Elk and a few other creeks catching steelhead.  

I trout fished the majority of my teenage years mostly at local lakes that stocked trout, aka "the bass buffet".  Never caught much of anything and around 2002 I stopped fishing for about 2 years.

After the 2 year "break" I had the chance to go back up to fish the Erie tributaries for steelhead again.  And remembering the fun I had before, I had to go.  This trip rekindled my love of fishing and got me back to the local lakes fishing for trout again.

I moved out to Gettysburg Pa in the early spring of 2005 and found several lakes and streams in that area to fish for trout in.  One day as I came in from work, I noticed a new tenant moving into the building where I was living.  I saw he had several fishing poles lined up along the hallway wall and a huge tackle bag sitting next to the rods.  I hesitated to check out the gear, and he came out to get the stuff.  I introduced myself and welcomed him to the building.  He asked me if I fished and I said yes I do for trout.  He gave me a sort of dissapointed look as he told me how he likes to bass fish. Thats when it all really started.

A few days later he asked me if I wanted to go fishing at a small pond behind the Gettysburg college.  I said sure, but I don't know the first thing about targeting bass.  He taught me alot of basics such as worm fishing, crankbaits and jigs.  He helped me find a decent spinning rod, and got my tackle collection started.  His name was Jeff Jones, and he used to tell me about tournament fishing and how much fun it was. I can remember watching the classic in Pittsburgh from Gettysburg, and wishing I was home and could go downtown and watch those guys fish.  Jeff taught me alot of basics, a few great techniques, and even gave me some lures to fish with and keep. Most of the time he caught many more bass than I did, but on a couple occasions I was catching all the bass.  After moving back to Pittsburgh, he got a different phone number, so we have since lost contact.  If only we could go fishing together now.

[fishbear]

My dad is responsible for hooking me on fishing.... we went lake fishing for trout all the time growing up.... then my uncles got me hooked on drift fishing for salmon and steelhead....(learned that when fishing for winter steelhead, it gets darned cold, and after you break the ice out of your guides and reel back in,, you need to take a shot of blackberry brandy or peppermint schnapps..)  ;D ;D After that, it became a natural progression and a learning curve to try for different species, different techniques, etc.....