How Did You Learn To Fish? 2024
Senko lover reply :
How did you learn to fish? Who taught you?
I started out fishing for all species with night crawlers, my Grandpa's form of the game. We liked catching bass the best, but bream were a necessary evil and an occasional catfish was a big bonus. He taught me the basics of the game. I then quickly switched to fake bait, and acquired a spinning reel (soon to be upgraded to a baitcaster). I am mostly self-taught, but Scott Martin, and Lake Fork Guy (not to mention the pros on bassmaster.com) taught me a lot with their YouTube channels.
Where did you start out?
BasshunterJGH reply :
Bassresource, ***, YouTube. Nobody in my family is into fishing haha.;(
A-Jay reply :
My Dad.
And I will never ever be able to thank him enough.
A-Jay
Felixone reply :
I learned to fish saltwater from my father. We used to all go as a family, and although I was very young at the time those are some of the best memories I have of my father. He wasn't really into freshwater fishing so I have had to teach myself most of what I know. I have a few local friends who helped me get started, but after that everything else has been online for the most part.
Raul reply :
Nobody taught me, I learned to fish on my own.
How ? by practicing the little information I could find in the few magazines available in my hometown, magazines like Outdoor Life and Field & Stream ocassionally had articles about bass fishing. I did in one ocassion find a bass fishing special edition F&S magazine, oh boy ! I was amazed by the ammount of bass fishing infomation I found in those pages.
gobig reply :
My grandfather got me into fishing. We fished saltwater for the most part.
whitwolf reply :
On 10/21/2014 at 11:44 PM, A-Jay said:My Dad.
And I will never ever be able to thank him enough.
A-Jay
Ditto!
Catch and Grease reply :
My grandpa started taking me... Would have never got into fishing if it wasn't for him
geo g reply :
I loved the outdoors hunting and fishing. I fished whenever I could and I watched a lot of others. You can learn a lot if you keep your mouth shut, and just watch. I have learned a bunch of techniques to use and a lot of things to just forget. Even after 40+ years I still watch what others are doing, and I'm still learning.
tomustang reply :
I'm still learning how to fish, Find out something new and exciting from anyone
BassinLou reply :
I am self taught. My parents til this day wonder who i got the fishing bug from....LOL.
bcarter261 reply :
My first memories are going out fishing with my grandpa who was a very serious bass fisherman. He wanted to do lots of fishing, I wanted to do lots of driving around the lake. He had me fishing all over the place. I even won the local casting kids competition and he took me to the state competition where we met Bill Dance, KVD, and Hank Parker Jr among others. Great memories
kickerfish1 reply :
Father
Jtrout reply :
My dad since I was really young he would have me n my twin brother up at 4-5 am going to the local streams where we would catch stocked rainbow trout on opening day.
einscodek reply :
Myself.. self-taught and unconventional at times
but read ALOT Jimmy Houston Outdoors (back in the day), Rick Clunn, KVD
then spent lotsa of time on the water thinkin this and thinkin that noticing this and that
and some plain luck sometimes doin the right thing at the right time but noticing it and learning from it
always willin to try new things.. like years ago gettin into bigger swimbaits etc
skeeter1980 reply :
Growing up In NYC,dad would take us upstate.We'd fish the reservoirs for anything that would bite night crawlers or minnows.lolWhen I moved to Delaware,I taught myself how to fish for bass,using lures.This year i'm learning to use a baitcaster.
RSM789 reply :
My Aunt & Uncle (my mom's older sister & her husband) taught me to fish & let me fish with them, but most of my bass fishing was self taught. They showed me how to catch my first bluegill while they were fishing for stripers at the California Delta and later encouraged me that I could reel in my first big fish all by myself when I was 8 years old (it was a 5 lb. catfish on a little spin cast pole). They rarely used artificial lures, kept & ate what they caught and were some of the best stewards of the environment I have ever known. The did smile & shake their heads when I told them that I catch & release bass, knowing it was a generational difference between someone born during the Depression & someone born in the 60's.
Bassmaster magazine, circa 1975, was my bible of information for bass fishing. I eventually ended up fishing a few times with guys my parents age while I was a teenager and it quickly showed me how little I really knew. These guys showed me how to flip, how to fish plastic worms and that those different looking bass were indeed spotted bass that some homeowners smuggled in from nearby Lake Perris.
atcoha reply :
When I was a wee lad, my grandpa would wake me up real early, fish the canals of south miami. Memories I hold dear to my heart.
When I got older, my step dad would take me fishing in the keys all the time. Had a blast, we still reminisce of some the the awesome dolphin days we had.
Never forget, I must have been around 11 or so, I hooked a monster snapper on a creek mouth in biscayne bay, I was yelling for him to take the rod!
He said, no, no, no, you better reel that thing in. That's pretty much what I told my boy when he hooked his first tarpon...reel it in or I am going by myself next time. He landed 2 that day. Tough love. Sometimes gives them the inspiration to do what they think they can't.
Great topic, brings back some great memories!
DogBone_384 reply :
As a kid, we just dug up worms from the garden & tried lures the bait shop owner recommended. Then came Field and Stream magazine. Fast forward 30 years or so later, Bassresource.com took over, with a lot of trial & error based on what I've read here...
Josh Smith reply :
I don't remember my first fishing trip.
I was two or three when Dad started taking me. We would go to a private pond as well as Little Flat Rock River. I wore a life jacket and held a little Zebco while Dad went wading for smallmouth.
Eventually Dad went to a Quantum 1310 and I inherited his '70s 5000. I'm actually in the process of rebuilding it right now.
Dad is still alive and well, but doesn't enjoy fishing much any more due to a bum knee and just age. I figure I'll keep bugging him until he goes again. Meantime I'm teaching my boy.
Josh
BigMoneyGrip reply :
I've been learning for about 35 years now.
Jolly Green reply :
Many years ago my grandpa taught me to drop minnows into Lake Erie and pull out perch two at a time, and shortly thereafter to love a good fish fry.
My dad taught me that bluegill aren't super picky: we once fished all weekend out of a large ziplock freezer bag full of cicadas that he had collected during a 17-year cicada summer in Cincinnati.
I've only been chasing bass for three years, and everything I know about it I learned from this site, a couple of books, and time on the water. Got a ways to go...
Ozark_Basser reply :
My dad and my brothers really laid a foundation for what I know now. Everything else has came from fishing with other people, my own creativity, and lots of research on the internet including bassresource.com.
Bluebasser86 reply :
My dad taught me the basics like knot tying and unhooking fish, the rest is self taught and learned from videos and magazines.
flipin4bass reply :
My dad taught me how to fish on the old Macoupin in Illinois in the early 60's. I started with a 8' cane pole, which I still have, although it is dry and brittle...it sits proudly next to my Shimano outfits. By the time I was in the 5th or 6th grade, I landed my first bass, 2.5 lbs, with a Zebco 202 combo and a pre-rigged Crème worm. I miss those times.
Oregon Native reply :
Pretty much self taught. Got to go with my Dad a few times but seems there was never much time...always busy. Had buddies in High School I went with and we all learned. Did go salmon fishing with Grandma when younger on a charter...was cool. Saw a bass tournament many years ago on Siltcoos Lake in Oregon....been down hill ever since.....
Bassun reply :
My learning was a mixed bag. Early on, (like 4-5) I learned on a cane pole (or long stick) how to catch bluegill from dad. Then shortly later had my first hookup with a big farm pond bass with my snoopy rod with my aunt and uncle. Cannot say that I learned a whole lot then, but I did get the bug which I think is the key for a kid.
I fished with my dad as a kid and began to learn how to sein for hellgrammites and fish creeks from him. It took me a while to figure out how we could both be fishing worms, etc. side by side, in the same creek, and he would catch more fish. He taught me the magic of structure and cover. I still remember, plain as day, my first "a ha" moment as I watched my bobber float about 3 feet further from the bank than his, and when his came up to this bush growing out over the water his bobber got yanked under while mine just kept floating. Next cast, I was in the right spot, and it was a game changer.
I went from that moment of catching redeyes under a bush with my dad to fishing J-7 Rapalas waist deep in a creek within a coupe of years on my own. Basically from there on, I learned creeks and rivers myself. And, to be honest, I still think wading a creek with a little J-7 is my absolute favorite fishing to do. 20 inch smallmouth on 4-6lb line in the current of a nice creek is hard to beat. As for lake fishing, watching Bill Dance etc. as a kid introduced me to some techniques, then reading magazines all the time helped. But, when I finally got out on "big water" I struggled.
I've since learned that part of the problem was obviosly me, the other part is that the lake I was trying to learn on is notroriously hard to catch lots of big largemouth on. And while I felt like I was doing horrible (obviously compared to TV shows) I was actually doing ok. I've continued to learn all the time, still reading magazines, and more recently reading a ton here and by watching videos on you-tube as well. If I had access to a lake as a teen, and the internet resourses we have now for learning - there's no doubt I would be a much better lake angler today.
Bankbeater reply :
I started going fishing with my Dad when I was about 7. He would cat fish and I would fish for pan fish. Sometime in the late 80's we switched over to bass fishing.
Djf3864 reply :
My dad when I was a kid, but mostly my younger brother. He was really into it growing up and only now I have started to pick it up, I lean on him for a lot of advice and to bounce ideas off of.
OroBass reply :
Self taught
Ratherbfishing reply :
My dad brought me and my 7 siblings trout fishing in a pay lake a dozen or so miles from home. Then, riding my bike, I fished for bullheads, carp, bluegill and channel cats in the river near home. A friend introduced me to wading for smallies and rock bass in a rockier stretch of the river and I decided this was much more desireable than the sit and wait approach. I was mesmerized by the Virgil Wards fishing show and I imagined myself doing similar things when I finally grew up and had the chance. I'm (much) older now but I still haven't grown up (entirely) and I still haven't fished most of the places Virgil Ward did. But the enthusiasm and imagination of youth must have sustained me into my adult years as I still pursue my finned quarrie. But to answer the question, it was a combination of lots of reading books and magazines, watching fishing shows, perusing sites like this one, learning from some friends, and LOTS of trial and error. Probably the fish have taught me the most.
buzzed bait reply :
started just fishing with my dad.... for everything he could catch
on camping trips to the lake, we would fish at night for catfish. during the day, target bluegill with bobbers. other times we would hike in and trout fish often with spinners, plugs and crickets. good times for sure.
Steveo-1969 reply :
My dad wasn't a big fisherman, but he taught me how to tie a clinch knot and cast a spincast reel. After that growing up it was watching fishing shows, reading magazines and fishing with friends. Now that I've picked it back up and become completely addicted to fishing it's still watching fishing shows, reading things on the internet (like this website!) and fishing by myself and my son.
WRB reply :
We lived on a lake about 50' back from shoreline, fishing was a family event for dinner.
I learned to bass fish from being around a boat landing where my older brother worked by 2 very competitive anglers and reading Field & Stream, Outdoor Life and Sports Afield magazines. My favorite was Jason Lucas during the 50's.
Tom
BassmanDan reply :
I went fishing once with my grandpa and uncle but it wasn't until I moved to NC that things got serious. I learned from books, the internet, TV shows and anything else I could get my hands on.
Sidebar...I remember catching my first bass on a Heddon Crazy Crawler when I was around ten years old...I'm going to throw one this weekend just for nostalgia's sake.
joefish reply :
My Dad took me river and creek fishing for cats and we fished ponds for crappie and bass. Don't remember how old I was when he started taking me but we lived on a farm so hunting and fishing was always a way of life when I grew up.
rhino reply :
Guess I'm the odd one out. My mother taught me how to fish. She would take me down to the local lake to some folk's dock that she knew and we'd worm or minnow fish with a bobber. My father never liked to fish. My father in law is who got me into it big time though.
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