Who Taught You To Fish?

[tbray]

Toddlle

[fishinfoflounder]

I guess if you asked my dad, he'd tell you he did since I typically out-fish him now. Truth is though I guess, it's a combination of reading & doing. When I fish particularly with artificials, I try to mimic the baits the fish are eating.
I spent alot of time in my late twenties & early thirties Bass fishing, strictly artificial. I have a small lake in my backyard & often take lures out & test drive them there. Watching to see what they do in the water.
Something I learned about being a better fisherman," you have to spend alot of time on the water to be really good". It's like you have to be in sync with the fish. I spent every available hour fishing & got really good. Thing is, it's not like riding a bike. If you don't stay out there you lose your edge. that's why fishing is more an art than a sport. You have to continue practicing. Just as in painting or playing a musical instrument, if you don't stay in tune you lose the rhythm & you have to find it again.

[BBabcock]

From age 6-9 I spent 2-3 weeks each summer at a summer camp (Camp Langston, TX) and would fish every free moment we had. The other kids would catch blue gills and my brother and I would send them back out as bait.

Grew up in Dallas, TX until age 13. My folks kept a boat on Lake Whitehurst, Lake Texoma and Clear Lake in Galveston. We would spend most weekends down at the marinas. My dad enjoys fishing but wasn't obsessed with the details. He got me started on the basics and soon realized that I was off the races.

My addiction quickly outpaced what my father could support and I started hounding the locals in the bait shops, at the cleaning table, ect. At 10 my brother and I talked my folks into buying an outboard for an old 14ft Monark we salvaged. We spent countless hours fishing Texoma for Black Bass, Stripers, Hybrids and Crappie.

Moved to Sarasota at 13 and was lucky enough to have the bay in our backyard. Caught a lady fish off the seawall the first day down here and thought "What the hell is this thing freaking out on the end of my line." I still remember the lure, Bagley Small Fry "Crappie". From this point on I was on my own, fishing after school daily.

In high school I had a job working in the dockmasters office at Marina Jacks and met a good friend, Wayne Manley, who had way more experience than I had and was more than willing to share.

1)Camp Langston, TX
2)Father
3)Marina Locals
4)Self Taught
5)Wayne Manley

[Todd]

Toddlle

And you have sold your kayak and gotten out of the sport. Anyone else want me to teach them?

Mine would be my father. He was always an avid fisherman and growing up in Key Biscayne the fishing opportunities were endless. I have been fishing a long time looking back on it. When my wife and I were first married my mother needlepointed us some pillows for our first home. My wife stated that "you really should not have done that as those pillows must have been very time consuming and expensive". My mother's response was "if you knew how much Todd's father spent on fishing equipment you would not worry about it" So the stage was set very early in letting my wife know that fishing ran in the family.

Rik also played a part. When he was in college he made me a rod that had my own name on it and everything! At 16 having your own fishing rod was the bomb. I used the crap out of that rod. Still have the rod today. Don't use it for fear of breaking it.

[LivelyBaits]

Great topic idea Michael. These are some great stories behind how people came to have fishing as a part of their lives.

I had a Dad and three older brothers who introduced me to fishing. We used to go fishing every weekend Dad could get away. We still all try to go fishing together whenever we get the chance.

As for more advanced "learning": When I moved to Florida I had a little basic knowledge of fishing the Gulf coast but I learned a great deal from talking to people, reading books and then just really getting out there and figuring a lot of other things out firsthand.

[plagsage]

Dad.
Well he taught me to put a worm on a hook and toss it in the water anyway. He wasn't much of a fisherman, but it sure was great sitting on the bank of a stream and talking to him. The memories are flooding back - Pymatuming, Clarion river, Emlenton, Youghiogheny Lake all in Western PA. Good times...gooood times.
I'm feeling homesick, I'm gonna go call Dad.

[Vercetti]

I learned the basics from dad and grandpa when I was a kid. Started fishing solo when I was old enough to take the john boat out by myself (13-14 yrs old). Thats probably when I really started to gain knowledge and experience. through highschool and college I fished almost every day/night and I started reading various fishing books and magazines. IMO - nothing comes close to creating a more learned fisherman than putting in hours out on the water.

[Blindmullet]

My father pays the bills with fishing. I grew up on the doc's of Mad Beach unloading boats and fishing anytime I had a chance. I learned from many different people.

[Norm]

Im pretty much self-taught. My Dad had no time for me or my recreational pursuits and even tried to discourage what I did EXCEPT for when I went fishing.
I was born in Orlando and started fishing freshwater when we moved close to a lake. Catching bream and bluegill and chasing the elusive bass I could see in the shallow water. I didnt have a reel of any sort, just a pole and whatever I could do with it. A neighbor showed me how to take one of those little foam spiders and drive the bream nuts with it. I leaned by watching others.
We moved to Ft Pierce when I was 11 and I started my saltwater fishing there. I remember many summer nights staying on the bridge fishing till the wee hours( would you let your 13 year old do that now alone?) I use to compete against my Scout Master on camping trips bass fishing and a man in my Dad's church would pick me up early on Saturday morning and we would fish the surf with Zara spooks. That is where I caught my first Snook. It was some of my few moments of pride when I was able to put dinner on the table for my family.
I have to credit many of you posters here on this website though. I have learned so much in the past couple of years from you all and have met some of the nicest people. Kayaking has definitely made me a better fisherman. I will forever be grateful. 8)

[Hooked]

My Dad got me started. He work offshore on drilling rigs so he was gone a lot when I was a kid. BUt of he was home, we fished or hunted just about every weekend. I don't remember him ever at a highschool baseball game, but I remember redfish and trout, sac-a-lait (crappie to y'all), gigging flounder, my first deer, my first wood duck. He was old school: a live baiting,eat what you catch kind of fisherman. But he made me eat a blue jay that I shot on my second ever hunting trip. (I was nervous about shooting a tin can after that!) And we quit fishing if we had more than we or the neighbors would eat or clean.

I have to toss my mother a kudo as well - she introduced me to fly fishing. I mistake my wife regrets to this day!

But I've learned more in the last few years fishing with some of you folks, reading your posts, and generally hacking around. Other than flies, I wasn't much of an artie-user in salt water until I ran into this crowd.

Many thanks - and a great thread!

[mauso1]

Grandad & Dad started me out before I can even remeber( as the stories go)..I was born on Labor Day weekend Dad and Grandpa were out on the lake fishing when Momma went into labor and it was a thirty minute drive from Grandads summer lake home where the family would gather every weekend to the hospital..Darn near didn't make it.

Anyway I can remeber at three years of age catching my first fish all by myself on one of Grandads Steel rods with a baitcaster attached along with a can of worms from the pumphouse that I sneaked out of the house when no one was looking.

I was very proud to bring the bullhead home but got my rear busted by Momma for sneaking out by my self.
Thus started the addiction....

[Snook712]

Both my mom and dad have fished since before I was born. I caught my first big snook in Stump Pass (Englewood) on a live pinfish when I was 8. My folks built a house on Little Gasparilla Island in 1964 and we spent many early mornings fishing tarpon off the beach with 8' rods and penn peerless reels. Throwing a big mirrolure on an old baitcaster would tear up your thumb something awful so dad rigged little leather patches to go on the reel to protect our thumbs.

After doing practically no fishing for six years after a change in jobs, I got a kayak and Jeff (Snookfinatic) got my fishing interest sparked again. I have learned a lot from him and watching he and Dustin reel in the reds with flyrods started me on a whole new addiction.

Advice to all - take your kids fishing when they are young and if you have grandchildren, take them as often as you can. I was on vacation last week and the highlight was individual fishing times with all three of my adult children. You cannot buy that type of pleasure.

[SteveC]

No one. Hey, maybe that's why I never catch anything.

[Paul]

My dad taught my brother and I to fish from an early age. My dad as always had boats. He use to keep a wooden chris craft in the gulfport marina, back when they were covered slips. he went fishing or boating every weekend and we went along

I got to take my dad and brother out fishing for Father's Day

That me with the silver trout and my brother with the Sailcat era 1966

[Redfisher]

I had to wait to reply to this untl I could find these pictures at my Moms house.

My Dad started teaching me at a very early age. Growing up in "the sportsman's paradise"(Louisiana)you learn to enjoy the outdoors early.
Here's my Dad giving me a couple of my first lessons.


Dad still loves to tell the stories of how I use to outfish him when I was just a little kid. It said it was almost embarassing to take me sak-a-lat fishing.

I remember one day while checking trotlines(sp?)my Dad gave me the paddle to scoop the snakes that kept falling out of the trees out of the boat. Then he pulled an alligator snapping turtle into the boat. I was about four and that dang thing was bigger than me. I was none too comfortable with our new fishing buddy.

When Dad was working I would use a stick,a string and a hotdog to catch crawfish. I can't figure what kind of string I was using here. It looks huge though.


My Pawpaw also was a big contributer to my love for the outdoors. I have some great memories of slopping around in the mud crawfishing with him. Here he is working on some nets.(long before I was born though 1960)


Thanks for starting a great thread.

[prowler13angler]

P-F.com!