What childhood memories do you have, What was the biggest fish you caught? who got you started?
Do you take a kid fishing with you?
Almost forgot to
include my childhood memory,I was about 9 yrs old and I was taken along on a scout camping trip ( my uncle was the scoutmaster). I was using a spinning reel for the first time on a small lake in the state park where we camped. My first cast I wound up with a birdnest of backlash. I had a jitterbug on and it was sitting motionless in the water. I was trying to untangle the mess on my reel when I almost had the rod pulled out of my hands.
The pole was dropped to the ground and I proceeded to hand over hand line in, whatever was on tugged even harder. after what seemed like forever, I pulled a Snapping turtle out of the water. It had a shell about 2 feet long and had to go at least 20 pounds.
I still have the Jitterbug!
I started
at around 10. Fishing small ponds. My first fish was also caught with a Jitterbug. I was using an old Johnson spincast reel. I kept working that bug over a weedbed for what seemed like an hour. WHAM! Finally a nice, fat black bass took it. The excitement I felt at fighting that fish and watching it flop on the dock after I landed it is the same thing I feel every time 40 years later.
Too many to count
I loved fishing as a kid, and still do. I would ride my bike forever to get to fishing locations. I fished a stinky polluted pond just to catch bluegills and toss them back.
I first learned in a pond with a bobber and garden worm, like a lot of folks. Well, my Dad liked fly fishing and wading small limestone or spring fed streams. So, he decided to teach my brother and I. We hiked back into a creek (pronounced crick, mind you) and fished for a while. I was using a very small spinning rod and a spoon with a single hook trying to catch trout. Well, about the time we were getting ready to go, I slipped, bumped my butt down into a spring fed creek and got soaked in cold water. The hike back to the van warmed me up. When we got there, Dad didn’t say a word but let me figure out how to deal with the wet clothes and getting dry, etc., on my own. When all was said and done and we were all seated in the van with the engine on, Dad said a quick little teasing joke and followed it up by saying I handled it just right. I don’t remember if we caught any fish, but I remember the trip because it was the first time my Dad treated me like one of the guys rather than his little boy that he had to look out for. It made me feel real good.
- Big D
My best
was in a Grumman 17’ standard canoe, at Leesville lake in Ohio. I was five years old or so, and had the fishing bug. I was bound and determined, as five year olds can be, to catch a Muskie. My dad motored us around the lake almost the entire day, stopping only for lunch. I must have cast my tiny little kid-sized rod and reel a million times.
It was finally time to go in, but I was begging for just a few more casts and my dad let me. I made my last cast, and you pretty much know what’s coming here. The water boiled, my rod bent, the line ran part way out and then broke. My dad stared flabergasted. He couldn’t believe that a Muskie had hit my Rapala or whatever lure it was that I was casting. I talked everybody’s ear off for about two days. Moved to the Northwest shortly after that, never been to Muskie territory since. Still want to catch one.
Early memories
– Last Updated: Mar-24-05 1:38 PM EST –
I can remember my first ever fishing trip 54 years ago. We all went from St.Louis to Wisconsin with my mother's parents and fishing we went. I was five years old and I wanted so much to use a baitcasting rig. My grandfather said I needed to learn with a cane pole first and when I was older I could fish with rod and reel. I caught bluegill and was hooked for life. I fished many more times with my grandfather and finally was able to out fish him. Since that time I have taken my kids and grandaughter fishing. This spring my wife, son, and myself are going to be taking my three and four year old grandsons fishing for the first time. I know that I will get to do very little fishing of my own that day, but I know it's going to be fun. Tight lines and take those kids fishing!
shiners
Hollywood, FL-Polk Street? 50 years ago in the canal that divided the end of the street from a golf course - I tried to catch shiners with Xmas bulb hooks…