How it all started
Dec 26, 2021 22:53:59 #
I recently posted that I met a young kid at a Christmas party and I plan to take the boy fishing next season
This fit me thinking how did my love of fishing evolve.
It asks started when i was about 5 . I somehow gained access to a zebco 202 2 hooks and small stagnant pond next door to my babysitters.
Bet I dug a million worms and caught half a million bluegill.
Occasional bigger one got me targeting them where the hung out.
Zebco casted like crap after a while so I watched a cousin fix it and then started tuning it myself.
A few years My great uncle. An avid outdoorsman that I admire to this day , gave me a hand me down Mitchell 300 and a 6 1/2 ft fiberglass rod. And a small box of tackle
I’ll never forget how magical that outfit was in my hands !
It probably had 10 years service on it when I hit it , but it was light years ahead of the old 202 !
In the months and years that followed, he taught me the improved clinch knot , slip float rigging, rot tip action . basically the basic foundation of what I have since developed
Take a kid fishing!
This fit me thinking how did my love of fishing evolve.
It asks started when i was about 5 . I somehow gained access to a zebco 202 2 hooks and small stagnant pond next door to my babysitters.
Bet I dug a million worms and caught half a million bluegill.
Occasional bigger one got me targeting them where the hung out.
Zebco casted like crap after a while so I watched a cousin fix it and then started tuning it myself.
A few years My great uncle. An avid outdoorsman that I admire to this day , gave me a hand me down Mitchell 300 and a 6 1/2 ft fiberglass rod. And a small box of tackle
I’ll never forget how magical that outfit was in my hands !
It probably had 10 years service on it when I hit it , but it was light years ahead of the old 202 !
In the months and years that followed, he taught me the improved clinch knot , slip float rigging, rot tip action . basically the basic foundation of what I have since developed
Take a kid fishing!
Dec 26, 2021 23:10:41 #
Dec 27, 2021 00:15:35 #
stuco
Loc: Northern Utah - Salt Lake City
Ben Bragg wrote:
I recently posted that I met a young kid at a Chri... (show quote)
Great story! I’m taking two of my boys ice fishing in the morning. 5:00 is going to come pretty quickly, guess I should stop reading fishing stories and go dream about some.
Dec 27, 2021 00:27:37 #
stuco wrote:
Great story! I’m taking two of my boys ice fishing in the morning. 5:00 is going to come pretty quickly, guess I should stop reading fishing stories and go dream about some.
Good luck Stuco. Be careful and take pics.
Dec 27, 2021 00:40:24 #
Ben Bragg wrote:
I recently posted that I met a young kid at a Chri... (show quote)
Yes, that is why the commercial with Roland Martin and the Kid was so good and suitable. You experience multiplied by 1,000's! All of us had to be innoculated at some point by an older person showing us either how to fish, fishing tackle and how to use it, or actually giving us some tackle to get started. I suspect your experience with a full panoply of rod,reel, and tackle was better than most and that you got to use it immediately. Good story and should be applied by all Forum members every chance they get. Just Sayin...RJS
Dec 27, 2021 06:23:16 #
Slimshady
Loc: Central Pennsylvania
Got a little neighbor girl across the street that “adopted” Dee and I. We bought her a combo for Christmas and haven’t heard the end of it yet. She’s 4,so as soon as it warms up some, I will be taking her out
Dec 27, 2021 06:44:14 #
I will have to find the photo album to put a date on it, but after “mastering” the extendable, fiberglass can pole (including the slivers that went along with it) the same Zebco 202 combo you referenced showed up in my hands, possibly as a birthday present at 4 or 5. One of my brothers got a set of inflatable tubes for Christmas which were intended as casting targets, too. We couldn’t wait for Spring so we practiced the underhand flip with the casting plug from the kitchen, down the hall toward the bedrooms. I grew up in an 800 square foot ranch style home, so the longest cast was maybe 19-20’. I was ready for those bluegills, bullheads and sunfish once the ice melted!
Take a kid fishing and build some memories!
Take a kid fishing and build some memories!
Dec 27, 2021 08:03:48 #
dbed
Loc: POMME DE TERRE LAKE MISSOURI
I seem to be the exception to the way most of you started fishing Dad didn't fish I started fishing about 6 years ago after I retired What little I know came from experience, from fishing stage and the internet probably why I don't catch many fish
Dec 27, 2021 09:09:52 #
MoJoe
Loc: Springfield, MO
dbed wrote:
I seem to be the exception to the way most of you started fishing Dad didn't fish I started fishing about 6 years ago after I retired What little I know came from experience, from fishing stage and the internet probably why I don't catch many fish
I grew up in a veteran's housing project during the 1950s in northern New Jersey. My dad grew up in coal country in western Pennsylvania and wanted to have nothing to do with fishing, hunting, or anything having to do with country.
My maternal grandfather had a small farm in Western Pennsylvania, and I picked up a copy of the May 1959 Field and Stream and realized there was a whole different world out there fishing and hunting. One of the neighbors had a small pond where we caught bluegills and an occasional small largemouth using worms dug in the manure pile.
Since then, I've owned over 25 boats mostly projects that I reconstructed myself. Now retired, I'm beginning to fish In earnest again after many years of spending too much time making a living.
Dec 27, 2021 09:23:29 #
kandydisbar
Loc: West Orange, NJ
Ben Bragg wrote:
I recently posted that I met a young kid at a Chri... (show quote)
Wish I could! None of my neighbors kids are interested.
Dec 27, 2021 10:49:55 #
bapabear
Loc: Blaine, Washington
kandydisbar wrote:
Wish I could! None of my neighbors kids are interested.
Give it time. Please don't get discouraged and give up. Teens can also have their lives changed by a single trip fishing.
Merry Christmas
Dec 27, 2021 10:49:55 #
kandydisbar wrote:
Wish I could! None of my neighbors kids are interested.
Kandy next time you keep some fish to eat
show them off to them kids ya might get a bite 🤗
Dec 27, 2021 11:33:16 #
Foodfisher
Loc: SO. Cal coast
Don't recall a "start". It seems I was born digging worms and catching sunfish. Thank you Grandpa!
Dec 27, 2021 11:50:01 #
Ben Bragg wrote:
I recently posted that I met a young kid at a Chri... (show quote)
Thx for the story Ben. Sure there are many people on here with some similare ones.
Dec 27, 2021 14:33:05 #
jeretired
Loc: Venice, FL
Wow, I thought my story was unique but its actually so very similar to many of yours: my dad spent his life providing for our family of nine with no time for himself. I left Detroit at 17 to join the Air Force and ended up on a mountain top on Oregon's west coast. Luckily for me, a grizzled old Master Sergeant took me under his wing and taught me how to fish the local rivers and streams.
Over the last 50 years I've enjoyed numerous "freshwater" boats, (moved way too many times - compliments of Uncle Sam), and taught my kids, nephews, nieces and neighbor kids the basics of fishing from bluegill to trout to bass.
Now I'm prepping myself to tackle Florida's west-central coastline for surf fishing and all that entails. My wife decided now that I'm in my late 70s, I don't need to venture out into the Gulf in my own boat and I've reluctantly agreed.
Thanks to you "pro's" on the Stage, I've been studying all your suggestions and guidance provided about fishing saltwater anywhere and everywhere. Starting in January, my new adventure begins.....☘
Over the last 50 years I've enjoyed numerous "freshwater" boats, (moved way too many times - compliments of Uncle Sam), and taught my kids, nephews, nieces and neighbor kids the basics of fishing from bluegill to trout to bass.
Now I'm prepping myself to tackle Florida's west-central coastline for surf fishing and all that entails. My wife decided now that I'm in my late 70s, I don't need to venture out into the Gulf in my own boat and I've reluctantly agreed.
Thanks to you "pro's" on the Stage, I've been studying all your suggestions and guidance provided about fishing saltwater anywhere and everywhere. Starting in January, my new adventure begins.....☘
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