How did you earn money as a kid to buy fishing stuff 2025

Junebugman reply :

hi all we all started fishing at a young age I earned my money mowing grass selling night crawlers doing odd jobs selling crab apples I got from a neighbors orchard my dad on occasion would buy me new tackle like the "holiday" spincast reel and fiberglass rod how did you earn money back in the day to get your stuff? Thanks! Junebugman

IndianaFinesse reply :

Lawn mowing, plus whatever odd jobs I could get a hold of. Refereeing sports games was and is a good way to make some good money to.

BrianinMD reply :

Worked on a family friends farm doing raspberry, strawberry, corn, fire wood, then xmas wreathes. Got me fishing gear, first car and first year of college.

scaleface reply :

I shagged balls and kept score at the ball park .

riverbasser reply :

When I was younger all I needed were ribbon tail worms and a broke back rapala. I don't remember doing any jobs specifically for fishing gear.

Russ E reply :

i grew up next to a large creek in eastern Iowa. a neighbor taught me how to trap muskrats, raccoon,and mink at a young age. the creek was loaded with them.

this was when furs were worth a lot of money. one muskrat would bring $10.00 dollars. A mink would bring $25. A large raccoon would bring $50.

That creek supported my hobbies all through my childhood.

it also had a decent population of Catfish and Smallmouth Bass.

lo n slo reply :

got a job flippin' burgers at Hardee's when i was a jr. in high school. then it was stacking boxes in a warehouse down at the cotton mill when i was a sr.

git r done.

Gundog reply :

Let me see....well, I worked on a farm, worked in a Bonanza Steakhouse, worked for a local auto mechanic, worked for my uncle's business digging up septic tanks (and no, I didn't get the easy job of sitting on the backhoe) but my favorite "job", if you can even call it that, was catching hellgrammites and crawfish and selling them to the old guys who fished the banks of the river. There was always a bunch of us kids doing that. Local kids, some I knew, some I didn't. That was the highest paying job for us kids in mid summer. We'd spend the days catching bait and selling it and the nights fishing with the lures we bought with our money. Now kids don't do that anymore. Sad to see that cause it was fun and taught me the value of a dollar.

NHBull reply :

This thread just made my day!

So glad to hear a young man looking to earn his way!

Things I did when younger

Lawn mower

Rake leafs

Caddy

Clean motel rooms

Stock shelves

Make up posters and put them in your neighborhood saying you do odd jobs

Volunteer your time, it's good KARMA

Wash and wax cars

Paint fences

Blacktop driveways

Fill cracks in driveways.....I paid a kids 250.00 last summer

Deliver news papers

Wash dishes

You get the idea

Also, eBay is your friend, sell crap you no longer need

You will appreciate your purchases so much more..

Good luck!

Quarry Man reply :

I help my neighbors with their lawn, work for a landscaping company, and shovel snow.

Making apps professionally brings the big bucks.

MIbassyaker reply :

Paper route, odd jobs, running errands for some neighborhood old-timers, and watching the neighbors' dog when they were away from home, which was pretty often.

Still, I actually didn't spend much of it on fishing stuff at all. We used live bait mostly, often that we caught ourselves -- nightcrawlers, frogs, crayfish, clams, or whatever else we could find.

islandbass reply :

I didn't fish when I was a kid (starting when I was in my mid-thirties), but I had a newspaper route that paid about $130/month. It was a job that required discipline. In addition to delivering papers, I had to collect money for the subscriptions and there were no holidays or days off. Had to wake up at 3:30am because that was when the papers arrived. If it rained, I had to put plastic bag over every paper. I also had to fold them up and band them together before starting my route. I used my BMX bike and lived on top of the hill so every trip home was an uphill hike. Had to be done before 6am so that I could get ready for school. They even made us have to buy the rubber bands and rain bags. I also worked during the summer on top of that. Where I lived, the minimum wage was $3.30/hr.

So hats off to you if you're a teen or younger. What you're doing at your age is honorable and respectable. Sadly, a good percentage of the younger generation seem to have a sense of entitlement, or no desire to work, and worship what I call the "new" god (intentionally lower case), the almighty hand-held smart phone. Take it away from them and they think it's the end of the world, lol.

.ghoti. reply :

Playing piano.

Choporoz reply :

Cut a lot of grass; and did some baby sitting....delivered newspapers every day from a few days after my 12th birthday until I was 16 and the dime store would hire me. I never spent much on fishing stuff....there was no interwebs and I didn't yet know that I needed all this crap I gots now

scbassin reply :

Paper Route

Fur Trapping

Clam Digging

Bankbeater reply :

Cut grass, washed cars, shoveling snow, and taking care of

dogs.

Jtrout reply :

My neighbor 3 houses down actually owned a bait company. From 5th grade til 8th grade we walked home from the bus stop and would stop by his house for a few hours and pack nightcrawlers. He paid us 5 cents per dozen we packaged then eventually 10 cents. We made pretty good money and he also gave us brand new spinning rod setups. He still owns the bait company and i see him once in a while and i got a newer tundra than him now lol. Man im feeling old now and im only 30!.

WRB reply :

Summers worked for my brother as a dock boy age 12 to 15, then helped run the marina 16 to 17 and managed it during my college summers.

Paper boy during the winters and any odd jobs plus collecting bottles.

16 on worked for wages.

Tom

SuperCorona reply :

Mowed yards and worked on the golf course behind our house. I'd fish in the creeks and pond on the course after the last golfers finished up. I set up my sister and one of her friends in the used golf ball business. All the balls I'd find in the woods, rough and water were cleaned up and given to them to sell. All was good until the pro shop got wind of it. All of that kept me flush with roadrunners and beetle spins.

papajoe222 reply :

I'd do odd jobs during the school year for cash. During the summer, I'd do my best to eliminate the overpopulation of squirrels in the woods by our summer cottage. Back then, a half dozen squirrel tails shipped off to Mepps would get you a bunch of free spinners. I'd end up loosing a dozen or so every season, so I needed a good, cheap supply.

N Florida Mike reply :

• mowing yards

•bonanza steakhouse bussing tables

• working on a farm.

DINK WHISPERER reply :

Picking produce on farms and mowing yard for me. Soar, sun burnt and sometimes bloody.... But so worth it when i took that trip to the local Walmart to load up!

Catt reply :

My great-grandfather, grandfather, 3 uncles, & dad were carpenters. My starting job was go-far, go for this, go far that. We dug footing for slabs by hand, graded (leveled) the area for the slab by hand.

By age 12 I was building cabinets & by age 14 I was a Journeymen carpenter.

When construction was slow I worked on my uncles charter fishing boat as a deckhand & the first mate.

badgerboyng reply :

I detailed (cleaned) cars in my driveway for $80, which ended up being more like $100 with a tip. It would take me around 4-5 hours and it was hard work, but all you need is a hose, a bucket, some high quality towels, cleaning supplies/wax, and a nice shop vac.

Doing that just a few times was enough to buy some nice equipment/lures. I didn't do it every week though, it was something I would do a few times per month during the warm months.

Turtle135 reply :

I believe my primary source of income (before getting an actual job) was the push lawn mower. Like one poster mentioned, Rapala Floating Minnows and plastic worms were the mainstays. A fishing rod or a reel usually was received as a birthday or Christmas present. Took a lot of years before I had more than one combo.

Burrito reply :

I fished! Every day in the summer I would ride my bike to a paylake in Central Illinois called Dixon's. They payed $1 per pound for the largest carp caught before 2 pm everyday. Then at the end of the year they would have a $100 tourney for the top 5. That's how I made my money for bass lures. Carp fishing. Best job I ever had!

gimruis reply :

I got a weekly allowance from my folks for doing household chores until I was 12. Then I started officiating little league baseball and doing maintenance crew at the ball fields. I continued to be a little league baseball umpire until I was 20 years old, and eventually started officiating ice hockey and football in college. I got my first part time job at the local Kmart when I was 16. I didn't have a lot of fishing gear until I had a more reliable, steady income in my 20's.

Pro Logcatcher reply :

I did lawncare work with my little brother

Goldstar225 reply :

Hauled hay (square bales), planted, pruned, and picked tomatoes, caught chickens (20,000+ chickens per house, worst job I ever had). I did have a charge account at the western auto store when I was 11. Used my allowance money to make weekly payments.

RPreeb reply :

When I was a kid in the 50's, we had a job sheet with the pay scale for each chore. My brother and I didn't get a straight allowance. We got 10¢ for washing the dinner dishes, 5¢ for drying, 25¢ for mowing each half of the lawn, etc.

If we wanted more than that (and we usually did) we had the opportunity to cruise the ditches along the roads and collect glass pop bottles to return for the deposit. Regular bottles were 3¢ and the larger (quart maybe?) were worth a nickel. If we hadn't done it for a week or so, that could be the equivalent of a gold mine for us - might make a buck or two in a couple of hours. When the soft drink companies quit refilling glass bottles, it dried up a cash source for kids and it greatly exacerbated the litter problem along the highways.

Back then most lures were $1 or less, so that, plus the willingness to go to great lengths to recover any that got hung up, was really all we needed to keep us in tackle.

david in va reply :

I was raised on a tobacco farm, I did not get an allowance , but did not go liking. Dad or Granddad would come through if I needed anything. when we were caught up on the farm, I would get a job working for other farmers. I would get paid $3.00 a barn for pulling tobacco , grown ups got $6 , handers got $2 and $4. I pulled just as much as they did , but that is how it was back then. I also picked up drink bottles 2 cent each trade or a penny cash. Oh and you could always pull a tooth, that was worth a dime to the tooth fairy Tough times but I wish they were like that now.

The country has few problems back then. And about everyone fished. Folks don't seam to have time now.

Edited August 24, 2017 by david in va
spelling fat fingered

the reel ess reply :

I cut grass. We had lots of pines around so I raked and sold the straw (needles). But my sister was the one who wanted and got clothes. She didn't even work. So my mom was usually willing to buy me something when we were in a store. I went fishing with my dad so he bought me stuff. But he certainly didn't believe in the adage "Buy the best equipment you can afford." When I turned 16 I got a real job and never looked back.

Bluebasser86 reply :

There was a guy at the semi private lake I fished that loved to eat bluegills but hated cleaning them. He'd pay me a quarter each to fillet bluegills and occasional crappie for him. Another guy paid me $10 a turtle for snapping turtles to make turtle soup. I mowed yards when I was 13, painted and did laborer work when I was 14-15. Started working at Cabela's when I was 16 until I was 21. Did construction from 18-21. Been a LEO since I was 21.

AustinHellickson reply :

i still am a kid and i mow lawns, and i am in sales for my dad's company

XpressJeff reply :

My Dad was a Chef, back when there was such a thing.

I was volunteered to bus tables very early in life.

Lawns

Leaves

Shovel snow

Etc...

J Francho reply :

I started working at my family's restaurant at 12.

geo g reply :

I didn"t need any. A jar of salmon eggs lasted a long time. Trout fishing New Jersey rivers.

bowhunter63 reply :

Paper Route and Mowing lawns,We liked to fish and hunt so much we didnt have time or money for anything else.Kept us out of trouble .

MickD reply :

Two of the best jobs I've ever had, paper route and working in a small sporting goods store. Got the discount, didn't take a lot of money home.

Brings back the memory of my boss floating a local river and cleaning up on rock bass and smallies, with photos of LOTS of fish. Used an F7 Helin flatfish, silver chrome finish. After that we sold hundreds of them over the next few weeks.

Neat post, thanks for starting it.

Mosster47 reply :

Hey dad, I want some bass gear.

jay bird1138 reply :

I'm 16 now. Cut grass and other weird jobs like watch dogs etc. I make some pretty good money, enough to support all my hobbies anyway. Buying a small boat soon too

AustinHellickson reply :

On 8/26/2017 at 9:58 AM, jay bird1138 said:

I'm 16 now. Cut grass and other weird jobs like watch dogs etc. I make some pretty good money, enough to support all my hobbies anyway. Buying a small boat soon too

Congrats man! Fish tournaments yet?

jay bird1138 reply :

On 8/26/2017 at 10:12 AM, AustinHellickson said:

Congrats man! Fish tournaments yet?

No, I'm not sure if I will. I'm invested big into dirt bike racing also so that takes care of my competitive side. Maybe down the road though

IgotWood reply :

I was very fortunate for my circumstances. One of my parents closest friends owned a tackle shop. When I got a little bit older and wanted to start buying my own gear, I began working weekends at the shop. I think I was making about $200 a weekend. It was glorious. I still lived with Mom and Dad, had no bills, no responsibility. But what I did have was $200 a week to burn on fishing gear

Today, I have a real job, a wife, two kids, house, cars, etc... And I don't have $200 a week to burn on fishing stuff....

Chowderhead reply :

For me, it was a paper route first (liked it except when chased by dogs), and then bagging groceries at Shaw's SuperMarket.

charliepff reply :

I love this thread. I have been really sick most of this week and this thread has really cheered me up and actually brought up some good memories.

I had a few tricks to getting money for fishing. First was my uncle always went to Canada every year for pike and walleye with his buddies. They would buy 500 worms off of me. So nighttime I would be busy hunting night crawlers. Especially after rains. The cops knew me and use to come watch. Especially since there were times I would be breaking curfew. We had a nosy neighbor next to the community park and pool who would report my friend and I as burglars all the time. They use to bring us a candy bar or a soda and talk to us for a little. The second was washing and waxing cars. I did it twice at my dads house and when he got his water bill I had to improvise to on site washing and waxing. So I set up a wheel barrel with the stuff I needed and went house to house. At one point I had an appointment book. It got really busy. Almost to busy. While in high school I worked for two dealerships doing the same.

I also did the standard cutting grass, shoveling coal into peoples basements, and helping friends with farm work. I think the best was working with my dad on the cars he use to work on in his garage on the side. He did a lot of motor swaps and project cars. One was replacing the motor in a Suzuki Samurai with a motor from a Geo Tracker. I learned a ton about everything including life its self.

I fished for trout and panfish mainly and these jobs gave me the money to buy new reels, rods, and even get into fly fishing. My dad never had a lot of money to spend on fishing gear so I was able to get him stuff for his birthday and such that he would never splurge on for himself. They even helped pay for a camping trip to fish for native trout in north central PA one summer.

Sword of the Lord reply :

All the money I earned as a kid came from local trading card game tournaments. I was into everything from auto racing, football, fishing, to trading card games. Magic: The Gathering was my thing. My mom would buy me some random decks and packs from Wal-Mart when she could spare it, which wasn't often and the cards you get are a crapshoot. So I would sit for hours and assemble the best deck and ideas I could, and then take that deck to local tournaments and win better cards and money, until I had the best decks in town with money to live rather freely as a kid.

bigbill reply :

Odd jobs, don't spend my lunch money. I made p&j sandwiches instead. Rake leaves, mow grass, anything to make money. Don't forget a zebco 202 reel was $5. We fished so much we wore one out per year.

there wasn't much in fishing lures during that time. Creme worms as the only one. I ordered that back page in the comic books it was 40 lures for $4.95. That included fishing hooks too. Remember? Five dollars was a lot of money back then. Today it's a KFC box lunch.

thinkingredneck reply :

Yard work, Veterinary assistant (crap shoveling, cow working, etc) for $1/hr. Bagger at grocery, flipped burgers. Momma wouldn't let me grt a paper route because she didn't want me to wake up the family.

Funny how we thought a plastic Zebco, and fiberglass rod with stren mono were BIG TIME. We seemed to always catch fish with a few jigs, spoons, Mepps spinners and worms. Used a lot of minnows. My Grandfather fished for the table out of one little tackle box and was relentless. Never talked because it might scare the fish (read: ruin his concentration and relaxation). Had to learn by watching and reprimands. He was a hoot.

scaleface reply :

On 8/23/2017 at 8:13 AM, gimruis said:

I continued to be a little league baseball umpire until I was 20 years old

I umpired one little league game and was so bad at it that they wouldnt let me umpire anymore nor did I want to . I stuck to keeping score . LOL

Junebugman reply :

I guess JeffH didnt need money when he was young probably born with a silver spoon! Hee Heee!

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How did you earn money as a kid to buy fishing stuff 2025

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