Has Anyone Else Taught Them Selves How To Bass Fish? 2024
Aluma-Bass reply :
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 reply :
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 reply :
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 reply :
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 reply :
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 reply :
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 reply :
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 reply :
I want to go out to powhatan lakes again with you Aluma-bass! We need to do it again sometime.
Aluma-Bass reply :
On 5/26/2011 at 10:04 AM, Flangler said: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 reply :
Everything I know I learned on my own.
Aluma-Bass reply :
On 5/26/2011 at 10:09 AM, hookingem said: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 reply :
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 reply :
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 reply :
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 reply :
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 reply :
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 reply :
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 reply :
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 reply :
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 reply :
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 reply :
This might help:
J Francho reply :
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 reply :
On 5/26/2011 at 8:41 PM, J Francho said: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 reply :
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 reply :
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.
Locked reply :
I learned how to bass fish from this website. Wether it was from the articles that are here, or the awesome members we have. I've always felt confident in the information on here, which has turned into confidence on the water.
Vance Jones reply :
i learned how to bass fish on my own. my dad left the family when i was still very young. my mom would take me to the lake/pond/river from time to time. always used to go crappie fishing. then in high school i was fortunate enough to have a few relatives who had some killer farm ponds. bass fishing farm ponds with top water baits is what got me started and i haven't stopped since.
i'm good with top water stuff minus the floating stick type baits and walking the dog. can never tell if the rod movement is right or not. learning more all of the time on what works and what doesn't.
Jigfishn10 reply :
My wife and I got married in 1995, one month after her sister and brother in law. We did a lot together with them on weekends and such. My sister in law got cancer in 1997 and passed away shortly afterwards. We decided we needed to take a vacation and went to Colorado. I wanted to learn to fly fish and hired a guide for a day. We were fishing dries and I caught my first trout.
When we got back I decided to try bass fishing. I picked up a Zell Rowland signature Pop-R, a cheap rod and reel combo and went and caught my first bass. The next day I decided to try it again, but the water was way too choppy, so back to WalMart and I picked up a jig, some grubs and a book; Advanced Bass Fishing by Dick Steinberg. That was an experience, I had no idea how to fish a jig, but I kept trying different things, reading different techniques out that book and caught a bass on a jig.
So self-taught with the help of a fly fishing guide and a book.
I've been bass fishing ever since.
Fishmaster10 reply :
Hardly anyone in my family goes fishing, except for the occasional charter boat trip (fishing for fluke in the Atlantic ocean) that my grandparents would take me on when I was really young. That being said I am mostly self taught except for one thing that my dad showed me. He doesn't fish with me often but he bought me a #3 mepps spinner when I first got into fishing, and I remember him showing me how to catch bass with it. That was the first artificial bait that I had ever caught a bass on, and the rest is history.
Gangley reply :
I can't say that I taught myself because I have learned quite a bit from this and other websites, but I can say that I didnt have a mentor and most of what I have learned was from my desire to gather information on my own. I wish that wasn't the case though, learning by watching others is a much quicker avenue than reading and attempting wihout counsel.
Captin Obvious reply :
My Dad loves to fish but he has all ways been a hook line and sinker fisherman.
I have taught myself everything I know about bass fishing, and I have passed it on to my Dad and my younger brothers.
My dad never used lures until I finally I got him going and my younger brother thinks he is the next Dean Rojas cause he only uses frogs.
Everything I've learned I ether researched and found out for myself or I asked here.
BassResource.com really made me the fisherman I am today.
Capt.O
OHIO reply :
I grew up fishing quite a bit, but not with artificials. We always used crawlers or crickets.
I taught myself most of what I know about fishing artificials with help from you guys and friends.
When I would go fishing with my Dad we would fish for bluegill and I remember wanting to catch something bigger.
I caught a bluegill, casted it back out and reeled in my first bass, or the first one that I remember.
That's where it all began for me.
RoLo reply :
My dad was an accomplished trout angler, caught monster carp on a fly-rod and also loved saltwater angling..
He passed in 1964, so he was never exposed to the fishing knowledge and equipment we have at our disposal today.
I'm eternally grateful that he introduced me to hunting and fishing, but with respect to bass fishing I'm totally self-taught .
Roger
Fishes in trees reply :
Self taught isn't really fair, because since my early teens I've always asked lots of questions to lots of different people who I thought might know more about fishing than I did, and I learned quite a bit from those conversations. In the early 80's, I attended several of the old Bass Fishing Institute classes. These were fishing classes put together by the Murray brothers and held at various venues throughout the country. It was these classes, combined with In-Fisherman magazine that first gave me an organized approach to fishing.
My dad's idea of summertime relaxation was a combination of air conditioning and scotch, so it's safe to say I didn' receive any fishing knowledge or encouragement from him, or any other male role model in my extended family, for that matter.
TerryR reply :
I'm kind of both self taught and learned from my dad. My dad used to bass fish a lot, and learned a lot about crankbaits and topwaters from him. But other lures, like spinnerbaits, soft plastics, and jigs, I am learning from here, people I ask questions to, and random experimentation.
omthezone reply :
I didn't start bass fishing until I was 18 or 19 years old. I remember being out of high school and aching for a hobby that didn't involve athletics(which was my hs life). It started out with some cheap kmart specials and the fortune of working part time for the local parks department. I just happened to be stationed at a park with a 30 acre lake. The reel fell apart and the rod broke.....but not from maintenance, heavy use owned that setup. The next reel purchased is still used over ten years later. Made a few friends on the water and learned a lot from them.
BrianSnat reply :
My dad's fisherman but he's always preferred saltwater. Dad taught me how to tie a clinch knot and how to cast while fishing for blowfish in the bay. When I was about 10 we purchased a cabin at a lake in northwestern NJ. I remember fishing with my dad and his friend and his friend was casting his lure toward the shore. I equated deep water with big fish and shallow water with small fish and asked him why he was fishing in shallow water. He told me the big fish come in to eat the small fish.
That was about the extent of my formal instruction. I started going out every morning at sunrise alone using the old Creme worm rigs with the propeller spinner and beads, and floating Rapalas. My first catch was a 26 inch long monster of a pickerel and that was it, I was hooked. I read books and magazines, watched what other fishermen were doing. There was an old guy who had a cabin near ours. He had an old wooden boat and he caught a lot of bass. He wasn't talkative so I really couldn't pick his brain, but I would fish near enough to him to see what lures he was using, where he was throwing them and how he was retreiving them. I learned a lot that way. I'd go out with dad once in a while, but I quickly knew more about bass fishing than he did.
I fished that lake almost exclusively for nearly 40 years. I know every rock, weed, underwater spring, dropoff, submerged island and could catch bass when nobody else could (well except for old Mr. Reynolds, my unwitting tutor).
It was a few years ago when I bought my boat and trailer and started fishing other lakes that I became humbled and then I discovered these forums. I've probably learned nearly as much here in the past year as I learned the previous 40 years.
jignfule reply :
Read a lot, Watched a lot, asked a lot of questions, my Dad was an avid trout fisherman but never bass fished. Had to teach myself, with help
fishingkidPA reply :
my dads a trout fisherman, tiny streams, cold water, catching native brookies. He got me into smallmouth fishing. The only lures he really used were jerkbaits and spinners. I taugt my self how to fish for LM
kms399 reply :
My grandpa got me into fishing, I would go the 5 hour drive up to his place in the north woods for about 2 weeks at a time and spent most of our time trolling for pike. we would go out and catch limits of fish and stock up his freezer for the summer. the rest of the summer I was on my own so I would catch pan fish. none of my friends ever bass fished so I was always on my own. I never could afford magazines and we never had cable so I really had no idea what I was doing. well one day I applied for a job at gander mountain fishing department thinking I was pretty good and boy was I wrong! I almost quit 20 times just cause I never knew the answer to any questions. I am glad I stuck it out cause it was like a crash course in fishing after 5 years of working there I still didn't know everything (doubt I ever will) but I could hold my own with most bass fisherman. still always looking to learn but again none of my friends bass fish all walleye and musky fisherman.
piscicidal reply :
I can relate to your situation, kms. Growing up on the Mississippi River in Minnesota I fished Walleye ALOT and smallmouth/muskie a little. I almost never targeted largemouth...my buddies/family regarded LMB about one step higher than suckers/carp. Largemouth were not considered especially sporting...throw a spinnerbait in the weeds and catch em. How hard can that be?? (little did I know)
Anyway...I moved to South Florida about 12 years ago and started doing little bit of largemouth fishing, but mostly saltwater. It was only about 4 years ago that I really got into it. It started when I took a trip onto one of the more prominant LM lakes here in Florida (so I could brag to my northern buddies about the double digit bass I was surely going to get) I promptly got skunked! That's when I realized that maybe this bass fishing wasn't so easy. Since then, I've been borderline obsessive trying to improve all aspects of my bass fishing knowledge/equipment.
joshholmes reply :
my dad only uses live or cut bait to fish so i self taught myslef here on BR for over 2 years. anything i knew about artificials came from getting lucky or guessing before that.
NBR reply :
My Dad was a bird hunter not a fisherman when we moved to a small town. I must have been in ths fifth grade and that fishing stuff sounded good to me so I bought some lion, a few sinkers and hooks. I dug some worms and cut a willow stick on a small local stream bank and started fishing. By the next year Dad started to fish and through the years we had some great times together. While we fished bass most of the time we caught many varieties of pan fish, walleyes, pike, salmon, trout.
He's been gone for several years now but I remember fishing with him like it was just yesterday. I do miss hime a lot.
Fishing Rhino reply :
On 5/26/2011 at 9:49 AM, Aluma-Bass said: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.
I'm curious. What hobbies or activities did your dad enjoy?
stern reply :
My dad only fished saltwater, bass fishing or freshwater in general was only something to do while waiting for the right tides. So while my dad taught me alot about fishing for striped bass just about everyhing I know about freshwater bass fishing I learned through trial and error or in a magazine, tv, or online
KU_Bassmaster. reply :
Me too. While I went fishing with my dad a lot as a young kid, he was just more of a fish for whatever bites type person. He also is very thick headed and uses pretty much the same baits in the same places every time out. I have always been more experimental. What caught me on bass fishing was my first topwater strike. I was hooked on bass and pretty much bass only and its pretty much been on my own.
JDuncan reply :
I grew up in a fishing family. But they fished for what seems like everything but bass. Cat fishing in ponds and lakes wasn't my thing because it seemed like a lot of sitting and starring at water. Saltwater fishing was ok, but bass fishing seemed more technical. So when I turned 13 I got my first baitcaster and that started it all
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