Has Anyone Else Taught Them Selves How To Bass Fish?

[Aluma-Bass]

My dad was never the fishing type, makes me sad bc i know we would have a lot of memories together if he did. Anyways with that being said and no real fisherman in my fam i took it upon my self to learn to fish as a kid. Asking questions and watching others as a grew up, reading mags etc! Now i look back and think wow...i taught my self how to become a good angler and didn't really have any help from pops or friends growing up like most do. I can remember catching my 1st bass on a culprit worm and thinking what an accomplishment it was at time " i was a kid" getting a bass to bite an artificial bait. Since then i became in love with bass fishing still to this day!!

I have tried to get my dad into fishing, even bought him a shimano reel for fathers day years ago growing up...only to find it in his shed still in the box. With me not having a mentor so to say to follow, i like teaching others who are in same boat as me and enjoy watching them catch fish off knowledge i gave them!

Jus curious if anyone had same story as me where you didn't really have someone show you the ropes or introduce you into fishing.

[Gatorbassman]

I did. My dad is a trout fisherman. If the water ain't cold and moving he won't fish it. So I taught myself most of what got me started and then I found BassResource and here I am.

[SoFlaBassAddict]

I grew up in a fishing family. Freshwater was really never part of the equation when I was growing up. It was treated more as eh, whats the point. We would go fishing for one major purpose besides the fun. Food. We'd go out offshore or to the reefs and load up the boat with fish to eat. When I bought my house, I wanted waterfront property. Turns out I was able to buy a house pre-construction on a private lake. Thats when my bass fishing fever really started. Being able to get out on the water just to relax made it all worthwhile. Over time I really began to appreciate Bass fishing. The puzzle, figuring out what the fish were doing, how to catch them. I started primarily learning as I went, then I found Bass Resource. I've learned more off of this site than anywhere else. I've been fortunate to fish with several of the local BR guys here on more than one occasion and was able to learn from them as well. I hope along the way people have learned something from me. Theres no greater feeling than being able to help somebody else become a better angler.

[slonezp]

I also grew up in a fishing family. My grandfather was a walleye/pike/musky fisherman. My father a Lake Michigan perch/salmon fisherman. My son and I bass fisherman. I had the basics growing up, but taught myself bass specific, and continue to teach myself and my son.

[hookingem]

My dad Rarely fishes with me, and has fished with me even less with his new job. He thinks it's a great habit but really just doesn't have the time to do it. I have learned most of what I know from just putting in the time on the water and reading up on it. You all at BR have definitely helped me a lot along the way, and I know if I have any questions you all will give me great responses. So no I haven't taught myself the family at BR has taught me.

[Flangler]

I pretty much taught myself. I can feel ya with the Culprit worm. That's what I caught my first bass on. Red shad! I Since then I have been hooked..

[Aluma-Bass]

good stuff....yea growing up we really didn't have much internet...it was like dial up but at time couldn't afford it either. It was all tv shows, mags, and just asking questions from other bass anglers and putting pieces to puzzle together and saddle time..meaning learning by hands on. As i grew up into my teens i met few other friends who also enjoyed bass fishing and it took off from there.

One of main reasons why i come on bassresource is bc i can talk bass fishing and people understand. I have added so much more to my arsenal by being a member here and this is my fishing fam i dont have at home

[hookingem]

I want to go out to powhatan lakes again with you Aluma-bass! We need to do it again sometime.

[Aluma-Bass]

I pretty much taught myself. I can feel ya with the Culprit worm. That's what I caught my first bass on. Red shad! I Since then I have been hooked..

haha red shad is a classic...i also was in love with their fire n ice color. Had a ton of red/blue flake in it.

[Raul]

Everything I know I learned on my own.

[Aluma-Bass]

I want to go out to powhatan lakes again with you Aluma-bass! We need to do it again sometime.

yea man anytime! I live on same road, so im down anytime! i enjoyed it last time! Fishing has gotten better now the temps are leveling out

[fadetoblack21]

My father always took us fishing, but not bass fishing. We would cat fish all the time. It wasn't until late in high school that I became interested in bass fishing. A buddy of mine and myself would go out in our big red bass boat (paddle boat) and throw top water poppers all day long. The explosiveness of the bites was enough to hook me for life. As time went on we started throwing different baits and started learning what worked and what didn't and when. Now I cant digest enough information on bass fishing, mostly from this site right here.

[SDoolittle]

My dad was a crappie fisherman. He would take me out to drown minnows anytime, but he had no interest in bass fishing. Jimmy Houston, Bill Dance, and Hank Parker were my heros growing up. When I was old enough to start fishing alone (about 8 years old), I always targeted bass. I'd like to say that I taught myself, but I learned an awful lot from draw partners when I was fishing tournaments as a non-boater.

[Hamby]

My dad and grandpa love fishing...but they like the easy fishing. For a while at our lake the crappie fishing was unbelievable. Some of the best in the state. For many years we'd simply drop our lines over the side of the boat, let the wind push us across the lake, and watch our ropd tips. We could easily pull in our limit of crappies doing this when the fishing was good.

I dunno about the rest of you guys, but that's only fun for so long. I learned how to fish for bass from the neighbor, tv, just experimenting, etc. I've learned an absolute TON in the past 2 years just fishing with some awesome guys. Neither my dad nor grandpa ever had any interest in much of anything other than soaking some minnows. My grandpa is getting too old to be fishing, and my dad is too busy with work.

[grimlin]

It all started at a summer camp one day....Had somebody show me the basic of how to cast but that was about it.

From that point on it was begging mom or dad to drive me to a local lake or pond to fish.

[Scorcher214]

It all started when some relatives and my family would rent a cabin in the upper part of Michigan, me and cuz tony would go out on a paddle boat and just cast lures, not having any idea what we were doing. Then one year, I bought a good rod and reel and caught my first bass on a zoom trick worm with a 1/2oz bullet weight in about a foot of water. Ya i know, 1/2oz, overkill but I was still a newb. YouTube, books, mags, And the biggest impact, Bass Resource.

I guess i didn't learn on my own, I had everybody at Bass Resource too teach me

[zenyoungkoh]

Me too, i just picked up fishing a couple month ago. No one in my family fishes, none of my friends are good at fishing artificials. I am trying to learn everything about bass fishing now lol. Its a great feeling catching your first bass

[islandbass]

I had always wanted to try fishing since I was a kid. However, I only went fishing once with a childhood friend once when I lived overseas. Although we all skunked out, that didn't diminish my desire to learn.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance until I much later in life, about seven years ago and that first fishing trip was well past twenty years.

I didn't remember anything let alone know anything. As one who prefers to be as prepared as possible, I read three fishing books before I even bought my first rig. If you asked me what a bail was before I read those books, I would have told you that was something you paid to avoid jail. I'm not kidding!

I thought I'd try fishing for trout first, but the first fish I caught in a lake was a bass on a small rapala floating minnow. I was converted immediately. I was hooked for sure.

I have an interesting twist. I always enjoy hearing/reading those stories of how people got into fishing because their parents or grandparents showed them the way to the light when they were young.

I knew that this was not going to be my case, but perhaps I could turn the tables a bit and take my dad fishing. He usually visited annually and I have taken him a few times. I took him fishing for trout, bass and even salmon and I am blessed that he enjoys fishing. The last couple of times he has visited, he would ask when we would be going fishing and those words are music to my ears. Oddly enough, I've offered him my better rigs like my Lamiglas drop shot special rod mated to a Rapala 6Sxi spinning reel spooled with 6# Invizx, and he graciously declines, insisting on using a $15 Berkley Cherrywood rod. Go figure!

This is a great topic!!!!!

[Bluebasser86]

I learned some very basic things from my dad but he's mainly a walleye,catfish, crappie fisherman. Wasn't a lot of bass fishing where I grew up but when we moved that was almost all there was. I remember reading about different techniques and then going to the lake and teaching myself. I remember catching my first bass on a plastic worm like it was yesterday, 6' light action lightning rod with a 1000 size shimano TX spinning reel and 6lb test. I had a 6" Mann's worm that came out of a big kit I bought from wal-mart. Cast the worm next to a dock and my line just took off. Jigs were tough, I spent many fishless days when I took just jigs and trailers in the boat and forced myself to learn them. The feeling of accomplishment when I caught my first fish off a laydown was great though! Since I became more knowledgable I try to go out of my way to teach other people how to fish so they can get the same enjoyment out of it that I do!

[Grey Wolf]

My old man fished but with trotlines and gigs. I never saw him with a rod & reel in his hands , so I'm self taught.

[roadwarrior]

This might help:

[J Francho]

I grew up fishing, and my grandfather certainly taught me a ton about bass, but we didn't do a ton of bass fishing. My dad was more of a pike and trout guy, but I learned from him that the more casts you make, the more time your lure was in the water - even if it's in the wrong spot - the better your chances were.

Bass fishing, as in modern bass fishing is an evergreen process. I learn new things all the time. And I learn them from all sorts of places, a big one is here.

[SoFlaBassAddict]

Bass fishing, as in modern bass fishing is an evergreen process. I learn new things all the time. And I learn them from all sorts of places, a big one is here.

This Is something that I thInk a lot of people need to read and understand. Treat every day like there is something new to be learned. We'll never know all there is to know about fishing.

[senile1]

Much like Bluebasser, my Dad taught me some basic things. We fished for a number of species including bass on occasion, but I didn't learn that much. We had a couple of very small lakes with good populations of bass back then, in which Rapalas and plastic worms always seemed to work. We fished enough for me to fall in love with bass fishing, but, essentially, I taught myself the finer points from seasonal/environmental effects on bass behavior to versatility with lures. Books, magazines, this website, and time on the water have been huge resources for me.

[Missouribassman95]

I'm thankful that my dad was a good fisherman! He would take me out when I was like five and fish for anything with worms. He's more of a trout/fly rod fisherman so I taught myself how to Bass fish. We're always getting into arguements about which is better, Trout or Bass.