Why Did You Start Fishing?
- Thread starter JKMG
- Start date
Bill
Administrator
You need a reason?
My mother grew up in upstate NY in a town on one of the finger lakes. So my folks had a camp on the lake. I spent every summer there from 6 to 15 years old, mostly with Mom. Dad came most weekends. I thought everyone spent the summer swimming and fishing off the dock. Unfortunately, not everyone does but it would be nice if they did.
My mother grew up in upstate NY in a town on one of the finger lakes. So my folks had a camp on the lake. I spent every summer there from 6 to 15 years old, mostly with Mom. Dad came most weekends. I thought everyone spent the summer swimming and fishing off the dock. Unfortunately, not everyone does but it would be nice if they did.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
Always wondered.....what kinda fish in the finger lakes. I heard it was pretty much devoid of fish?
Bill
Administrator
We were on Owasco. As a kids we caught sun fish, small mouth bass and yellow perch on a regular basis. Also what was called bullheads. Looked like a cat fish to me but more of a red color. But we were kids, the serious guys ran down riggers and caught land locked trout. Lake trout was the local name, but those suckers were big.
Can't tell you how many flat rocks we flipped over catching crayfish, so many we learned not to pick them up like a lobster, just grab the sucker and throw them in the bucket. A lady down the road would pay us for them and make gumbo.
Also had some crazy Asian carp that got 10 foot long.. ok again, I was 10 so maybe 4 to 5 foot long. I've since heard they killed them all off. Also heard some invasive grass took over the lake. When we were kids on inner tubes you could see the bottom at 20 feet deep.
Can't tell you how many flat rocks we flipped over catching crayfish, so many we learned not to pick them up like a lobster, just grab the sucker and throw them in the bucket. A lady down the road would pay us for them and make gumbo.
Also had some crazy Asian carp that got 10 foot long.. ok again, I was 10 so maybe 4 to 5 foot long. I've since heard they killed them all off. Also heard some invasive grass took over the lake. When we were kids on inner tubes you could see the bottom at 20 feet deep.
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
First ever was cane pole out with my Dad when I was very small at my great uncles farm pond. Have been at it ever since...chased trout for awhile haven't done that in a long time. Still hit the big lake for walleye now and then, love eating fish. Best enjoyment now is raising them in my own ponds for grandchildren to get after.
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
The world would be a much better place for young people if that was common place.
My 1st fishing trip was well before I am sure I can even remember. One of my Grandpas really liked to fish he took me and my brothers I would say probably once a week during the summer. We had his phone number memorized I am sure before we knew our own. We would spend a week at my Grandparents house in the summer going to youth religious summer "camp" during the day, but we knew we were going fishing probably every night that week! I don't fish nearly as much anymore, simply a lack of time. We do have a neighbor up the road with a pond with some fish in it now and we went a few times last summer.
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Catscratch
5 year old buck +
It was just what we did. Dad load the poles when he got home work and took whoever was at our house to the river. The neighborhood kids all figured out the routine and made sure they were hanging out with me late afternoon and on weekends. We swam, played, and fished. Judging from pics I'd say this started when I was 3 or so.
Telemark
5 year old buck +
Grandma used to take all the kids out to catch perch and other panfish for dinner at our summer place in Ontario. I would cast from the dock most days to catch smallmouth bass. When I was big enough, I went out in a canoe or a rowboat alone to catch bass. When I was about 16 my mom ended up buying a Sea Nymph with a 40 horse outboard, and then I really got good as I was able to drive all over the lake. Now I go after big fish, mostly smallmouth, walleye, big brook trout and lake trout. I like ice fishing for burbot as well.
I moved to the coast of Norway some years ago, and the fishing opportunities here are pretty limitless. I get a lot of pollock, some cod and haddock. I also go after flatfish and monkfish in the sandy areas, especially lemon sole. I have a huge turbot in my freezer I need to eat. I also set crab traps and sometimes langoustine and lobster traps. The freshwater brown trout fishing here is also really good, my biggest is 3 lbs.
I don't have a boat here, so in the winter when my in-laws' boat is winterized I go diving for scallops and shoot fish with my spear gun. I do far more fishing than hunting, always have.
I moved to the coast of Norway some years ago, and the fishing opportunities here are pretty limitless. I get a lot of pollock, some cod and haddock. I also go after flatfish and monkfish in the sandy areas, especially lemon sole. I have a huge turbot in my freezer I need to eat. I also set crab traps and sometimes langoustine and lobster traps. The freshwater brown trout fishing here is also really good, my biggest is 3 lbs.
I don't have a boat here, so in the winter when my in-laws' boat is winterized I go diving for scallops and shoot fish with my spear gun. I do far more fishing than hunting, always have.
Derek Reese 29
5 year old buck +
There’s a pic somewhere of me and my dad with a perch caught off a dock in Canada and I am about my son’s age (less than 2). Grew up in a development but there was a 10 acre farm with a half acre pond below it that my brother and I pounded, catching bass, bluegill, crappie and the occasional huge channel cat. Throw in yearly trips to Canada for walleye and good fishing for bass on the Susquehanna and some really sneaky good trout fishing nearby. Seems like we we went several times a week in the summer as my dad was a teacher who had to entertain 2 little boys (and who called himself a “domestic engineer” when he was home with us in the summer haha).
bigboreblr
5 year old buck +
MY mom worked nights, babysitter took us down the road to a pond. Probably just to shut us up. But, the pond was across from her house too.
When we went to town to go shopping it was next to the Hudson river. Guys would hit the stripper spawn. Had duck hunting shacks along the river too.
Friends of the family took us to a sportsmen club picnic. Was maybe 4 or 5, but bunch of guys half in the bag bragging about the bucks and fish they were catching.
Still live in the general area today. Striper fishing isn't as good, fleets of fishing boats catching herring and bunker in NJ. They use airplanes to find the schools. All for cheap catfood and fish oil. Still give it a good go. It's a staged game.... Catch the bait, then catch the striper. Lot of time spent doing both. Switching my focus to the NYC reservoir system with a small flett of rowboats. Lake trout, smallmouths, sunfish, some catfish too. Very clean water as well. Fishing are semi-protected by no gas outboards and you got to keep your boat at the reservoir.
When we went to town to go shopping it was next to the Hudson river. Guys would hit the stripper spawn. Had duck hunting shacks along the river too.
Friends of the family took us to a sportsmen club picnic. Was maybe 4 or 5, but bunch of guys half in the bag bragging about the bucks and fish they were catching.
Still live in the general area today. Striper fishing isn't as good, fleets of fishing boats catching herring and bunker in NJ. They use airplanes to find the schools. All for cheap catfood and fish oil. Still give it a good go. It's a staged game.... Catch the bait, then catch the striper. Lot of time spent doing both. Switching my focus to the NYC reservoir system with a small flett of rowboats. Lake trout, smallmouths, sunfish, some catfish too. Very clean water as well. Fishing are semi-protected by no gas outboards and you got to keep your boat at the reservoir.
My dad took me fishing some starting at age four. Then, at age ten, I started tagging along when my dad went golfing. A couple of trips to the golf course and I started fishing the water hazards. Just kept going more and more. When I could start driving, there was no holding back.
Bill
Administrator
I started my son very early. Catching sunfish and bass off the bank of farm ponds. We moved up to a little borrowed boat and caught big mouth and pickerel in a bigger lake. Then I took him to the boat ramps on the back bays of the ocean when he was about 10 and we caught all the sand sharks he wanted. Then came surf fishing at night for anything but mostly brown sharks.
Today we're full into the offshore thing. He would rather fish than hunt and I figure I'm going to support his passion. I grew up hunting alone as far family was concerned. I've since gotten my brother hooked on the hunting.
Starting early may be the key. Although, I just sold my duck hunting boat to a young guy who grew up in Philadelphia. He said his college roommate was from Jersey and took him duck hunting once and it was all over. This kid is hooked! Boat was being sold as is and needed a bit of work including new water pump on the outboard. I liked the kid so much we did all the work in my shop.
I think he's even going to be coming fishing with us this summer. So maybe later in life works too.
Today we're full into the offshore thing. He would rather fish than hunt and I figure I'm going to support his passion. I grew up hunting alone as far family was concerned. I've since gotten my brother hooked on the hunting.
Starting early may be the key. Although, I just sold my duck hunting boat to a young guy who grew up in Philadelphia. He said his college roommate was from Jersey and took him duck hunting once and it was all over. This kid is hooked! Boat was being sold as is and needed a bit of work including new water pump on the outboard. I liked the kid so much we did all the work in my shop.
I think he's even going to be coming fishing with us this summer. So maybe later in life works too.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
Our family used to fish bullheads each spring. We had some steel fishing rods, and level wind reels with braided line and usually steel leaders. Worms from the garden. Then I remember fishing bullheads with my Grandpa a few times.....before a friend and I started fishing together at one of the small lakes in Southern Minnesota. We'd get dropped off in the morning and picked up in late afternoon with a stringer full of bullheads. Cleaned 'em with a big chunk of wood, a nail and pliers to get the skin off.....gutted them and a good rinse in cold water.
Had to learn how to eat bullheads carefully.....without choking on the bones. Later started fishing the MN river with some freinds and we would pull big treble hooks at the dam to hook fish. Mostly carp. I was always envious of folks living further north where those waters held some walleye and other game fish. Now......I live summers on a great Lake.....and have not gone fishing in two years.
Had to learn how to eat bullheads carefully.....without choking on the bones. Later started fishing the MN river with some freinds and we would pull big treble hooks at the dam to hook fish. Mostly carp. I was always envious of folks living further north where those waters held some walleye and other game fish. Now......I live summers on a great Lake.....and have not gone fishing in two years.
S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
I was born, raised, and still live within an hours drive of more miles of trout streams than I could ever fish In my lifetime. It would be a slap in the face to the creator to not enjoy them.
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The first time I remember was ice fishing with my gramps. Don’t remember catching any fish but we had hot chocolate that grandma made for us. The kind made from scratch with whole milk and cocoa powder. Pretty sure I was 5 or 6.
I’m still fishing both hard and soft water over 50 years later and I still love hot chocolate on a cold day.
I’m still fishing both hard and soft water over 50 years later and I still love hot chocolate on a cold day.
started off young with uncle and grandpa taking me to the rivers and creeks during spawning. i was about 8 when they let me venture off on my own, walking down the river or the creek by myself fishing, no adult in sight.
Got older and graduated to the lakes, and tournament bass fishing. A couple years of tourney fishing kinda burnt me out and wasn't fun, even though i had decent success. My son came along and it was back to the rivers and creeks. Now with the grandson on staff, back to the rivers and creeks, and it's been great. He's 11 now, but we still don't let him venture off by himself.
Times have sure changed in that regard, but, fishing the everchanging rivers/creeks will never change.
Got older and graduated to the lakes, and tournament bass fishing. A couple years of tourney fishing kinda burnt me out and wasn't fun, even though i had decent success. My son came along and it was back to the rivers and creeks. Now with the grandson on staff, back to the rivers and creeks, and it's been great. He's 11 now, but we still don't let him venture off by himself.
Times have sure changed in that regard, but, fishing the everchanging rivers/creeks will never change.
Telemark
5 year old buck +
One thing I have found that has helped me immensely with fishing is to be as adaptable as possible. Things change so fast and so much, that it requires a good degree of flexibility if you want to be consistently successful.
When perch populations dropped and bass populations exploded, we started targeting bass more, and learning the changes in their seasonal patterns. We also learned to prepare bass differently because bass skin has some off flavors. We also needed a novel way to filet bass, since the big ones have scales like medieval armor. We finally settled on an electric filet knife after my niece and nephew got big enough to catch fish, and the amount got to be a bit too much to handle with knives alone.
When perch populations dropped and bass populations exploded, we started targeting bass more, and learning the changes in their seasonal patterns. We also learned to prepare bass differently because bass skin has some off flavors. We also needed a novel way to filet bass, since the big ones have scales like medieval armor. We finally settled on an electric filet knife after my niece and nephew got big enough to catch fish, and the amount got to be a bit too much to handle with knives alone.
