Were You A Natural, Or Start Like Me? 2024
5 Dollar Fishing Game reply :
I had my first rod, reel, ($20 Walmart special) and little tackle box for Christmas 2011. I literally went to the lake that morning here in NC and tried stuff out. I lost about 3 lures because I didn't know how to tie. I would tie a shoelace knot two or three times and that's it. Took me a few weeks before I caught my first bass. It weighed about 8oz. :-)
Took months to learn the tackle and gear.
Took years from 2011 even u til now to fine tune. I like to look back and see where I came from. Now I have countless rod and reel combos,thousands in gear and boat equipment, who knows how much in books and magazines and videos, and I still remember my first cast. The equipment doesn't make you the better angler, but I know enough now to know what to by for what price on quality. Everyday is a new learning experience.
lordpaxin reply :
Lmao great post
I started young as family fun with my dad
The shoelace knots caught more bluegill than I can remember
I quit when I discovered cars, women and computer games
Started again a year or so ago for the first time with a desire to do it right
I now have lures that cost more than all the rods and reels I started on
But I'm afraid it will never be enjoyable as much as my youth
A-Jay reply :
I started my fishing journey right after Lyndon B. Johnson was elected president in 1964.
So it's kind of hard to remember if I was a natural or not.
It sure felt natural then & even more so today, fifty years later.
A-Jay
Dwight Hottle reply :
I started my fishing adventures under Dwight D Eisenhower's watch.
It felt natural after the first bite took my bobber & red worm under attached to a cane pole. I was ten at the time.
Like most guys I got away from fishing during my late teen years & earlier adulthood but got right back into it after marriage & enjoy it always.
*Hootie reply :
Roosevelt was president when I started....Teddy, not Franklin.
Hootie
masterbass reply :
I was just thinking about starting a post like this. I've wasted soooo much money learning and I still have a ways to go. I keep thinking about if I started over knowing what I know now what I'd do differently.
flyfisher reply :
I am not sure when i started since i have been fishing as long as i can remember and my parents have pictures of me at about 3 or 4 catching sunnies. I have taken on a lot of hobbies over the years but fishing has been one that i have been pretty much done my entire life. I remember getting my first good rod which was a $40 ugly stick after saving up birthday and christmas money and have since switched to fly fishing for trout and then back to conventional tackle and now do a bit of both.
I wouldn't change anything because you only learn through actual experience and all my experiences from chasing brookies in tiny mountain streams to kayak fishing on big lakes has shaped me to be the angler i am today.
blongfishing reply :
I was a natural I started fishing at 18 months and it was on since then. My Great Grandparents own a fishing/boating store, My grandfather was a guide, and my uncle is a guide. My grandparents lived at the lake so I fished nearly every weekend. My family is all striper fishermen. Summer of 2013 my love for bass fishing started. I still love returning back to my roots of striper fishing and striper fishing will probably always be my favorite even when I am a pro bass fishermen. Fishing is all I ever want to do. I dont play basketball or football I fish! I feel like its what I was meant to do.
Thornback reply :
Back around 1948 when I was 9 I remember taking a pole, line, hook and a few slices of bread to the local pond in the city park. There was a weir between two bodies of water and I walked out on the weir and started fishing for the first time. I was by myself and have no idea how I knew what to do. I guess I must have seen some older boys doing the same thing. I have no idea how I got the line and hook because my dad didn't fish. I would catch brim on one side of the weir and toss them on the other side. When I got a tug on my line when that tiny brim took my dough ball it was like magic. Later years when us guys would camp on a river we would again fish with dough balls. As a teen my buddy took me to a lake on his scooter and we tossed a plug with no luck. Fishing was boring then but I loved the springs, lakes, rivers, and swamps. When I returned home from the Navy at 21 my buddy wanted us to go bass fishing so I went to Sears and got myself a J C Higgins rod and Zebco 202 reel along with a tackle box. Got out of the habit again when my career took off, I married, and started a family. About 30 years back a good friend asked me to go bass fishing with him. He had been fishing all his life and was good. I got one bass and he got two bass. After that I was fishing about every two weeks, then a used bass boat, then a new bass boat. About 5 years ago I signed up with a bass guide and found out how to fish with shiners, and how to fish period. Now at age 75 I try to go every week and by using shiners I get the big bass and I don't have to worry about casting too much with my worn-out shoulders. Fishing is a great pasttime and a great way to spend time with buddies. Here's a photo of how I started. It not me in the photo but it's the exact same place where I first fished at age nine . . .
Senko lover reply :
I started fishing with my grandpa, then branched out on my own. I've been seriously fishing for about a year now.
*Hootie reply :
On 12/28/2014 at 4:07 AM, Thornback said:Back around 1948 when I was 9 I remember taking a pole, line, hook and a few slices of bread to the local pond in the city park. There was a weir between two bodies of water and I walked out on the weir and started fishing for the first time. I was by myself and have no idea how I knew what to do. I guess I must have seen some older boys doing the same thing. I have no idea how I got the line and hook because my dad didn't fish. I would catch brim on one side of the weir and toss them on the other side. When I got a tug on my line when that tiny brim took my dough ball it was like magic. Later years when us guys would camp on a river we would again fish with dough balls. As a teen my buddy took me to a lake on his scooter and we tossed a plug with no luck. Fishing was boring then but I loved the springs, lakes, rivers, and swamps. When I returned home from the Navy at 21 my buddy wanted us to go bass fishing so I went to Sears and got myself a J C Higgins rod and Zebco 202 reel along with a tackle box. Got out of the habit again when my career took off, I married, and started a family. About 30 years back a good friend asked me to go bass fishing with him. He had been fishing all his life and was good. I got one bass and he got two bass. After that I was fishing about every two weeks, then a used bass boat, then a new bass boat. About 5 years ago I signed up with a bass guide and found out how to fish with shiners, and how to fish period. Now at age 75 I try to go every week and by using shiners I get the big bass and I don't have to worry about casting too much with my worn-out shoulders. Fishing is a great pasttime and a great way to spend time with buddies. Here's a photo of how I started. It not me in the photo but it's the exact same place where I first fished at age nine . . .
Very interesting story.
Hootie
Jtrout reply :
Started out as a wee lad old enough to cast a rod I been trout fishing and pond fishing with pops never really bass fished. Then i went to a pond when I was about 25 by my self and didn't bring no bait so I cauhjt little frogs off the bank put them on the hook cauhjt about 7 bass n I was hooked. Now I'm addicted to bass fishing
Sam reply :
We used live bait other than when we fly fished.
And I can't remember the knots we tied to the metal leader for saltwater fishing nor the know we used for freshwater fishing.
But what ever knots whey were they worked.
Never had a knot fail.
Had some big saltwater fish take us for rides until the line snapped and other fish cut the line with their teeth; but never had any problems with freshwater knots.
Decided to update myself and have a very good library plus do a lot of reading on bass fishing to keep up to date as best one can.
Catt reply :
deaknh03 reply :
since we're going the presidential route, it was Carter for me. Tons of sunfish using freshwater clams we dove to retrieve.
Rhino68W reply :
Went fishing with the grandfather when I was young. Stopped after I moved in with my mom and step dad. Started back up after Afghanistan. Helps a lot with stress and whatnot. But I am now starting to get serious about it.
Don't Tell The Wife reply :
My dad taught me how to fish and I have always had a pole in my hand from a very young age. We quit bass fishing as there were too many of us in the boat and starting catching crappie and catfish on jugs. Eventually I ran out of time after getting out of school and kind of gave up the bass fishing part but I had my own boat and still fished for crappie and catfish. I still like to do that but I am getting the itch to bass fish again and I am revamping all my bass tackle.....why? Because it is a lot of fun to buy all this new gear after 15-20 years of not buying much bass gear.
Also I am trying to learn more about being consistent at catching fish in different spots and lakes. My dad was always a great fisherman and he taught me a lot. I am now learning some new tricks I will hope to show him. 
thunderballs reply :
My dad taught me to fish when I was young. Stopped for my teens and early twenties, and just recently started going again. Wish I would have never stopped. I guess I'm a natural panfisherman, can catch those most days, someday I hope to be that good with bass haha.
Bluebasser86 reply :
I like to think I was a natural
Catch and Grease reply :
I was far from a natural.... I used to think that the only two lures you needed were a ribbon-tail worm and a rapala jerkbait, I was probably right haha
*Hootie reply :
On 12/28/2014 at 10:17 PM, Catch and Grease said:I was far from a natural.... I used to think that the only two lures you needed were a ribbon-tail worm and a rapala jerkbait, I was probably right haha
Reminds me of me. I used to think, if you can't catch em on a Jitterbug you might just as well go home.
Hootie
Thornback reply :
Speaking of getting started -- a buddy and me returned from a fishing trip to the boat ramp and there was a lad of 8 or 9 on the dock by himself. I could see he was holding a stick with a line in the water. We loaded the boat and I walked back to the dock to speak with the lad. He had fishing line wrapped around a stick and was letting the line out into the river hoping for a bite. Beside him on the dock was a container of worms and a cell phone. My buddy walked across the street to a bait shop and came back with a fishing rod. I retrieved a spare fishing reel from my boat and we rigged the lad up with rod and reel and then he asked me to show him how to tie on his hook. I showed him the simple Palomar knot, showed him how to make a cast, and he was now fishing like a pro. As we stood there he picked up his cell phone with one hand and made a call. I heard him say, "Mom, I don't need a rod and reel now, I have one." I walked away with a tear in my eye. I hope we made a bass fisherman out of him
roadwarrior reply :
SWEET!
John G reply :
It was Jimma Cater for me too!On 12/28/2014 at 10:08 AM, deaknh03 said:since we're going the presidential route, it was Carter for me. Tons of sunfish using freshwater clams we dove to retrieve.
I started out using a cane pole fishing for anything that would bite. It was always Blugills and Catfish.
ww2farmer reply :
I've never been a natural at anything. But I have worked hard and put a lot of time in to be good enough to be good enough. I started fishing in the mid 80's, and other than a short hiatus in the early 2000's, when I was heavily involved in WW2 living history, I have never stopped. I have only been tournament fishing for about 8 years.
South FLA reply :
I was casting baitcasters at 5, was throwing a castnet at 8.Sea trout, snook, bass, dolphin, sailfish, etc. if it had fins I pursued it. So I guess its in my blood....natural!
Dwight Hottle reply :
On 12/29/2014 at 4:56 AM, South FLA said:I was casting baitcasters at 5, was throwing a castnet at 8.Sea trout, snook, bass, dolphin, sailfish, etc. if it had fins I pursued it. So I guess its in my blood....natural!
That would be level 3, right Adam?
Thornback reply :
Another time my buddy and I returned to the boat ramp and there was a little shaver about 5 or 6 on the end of the dock keenly watching us as we motored up to the bank. He was there with his grandpa and he seemed very interested in us. I took a 2 lber from the live well and showed it to him. I put it back and a few minutes later he asked to see it again. I asked his grandpa if I could let the boy hold the bass so I could take a photo. I showed the boy how to hold the bass and his grandpa also took a photo. I hope that thrill put the boy on the path to becoming the next KVD. Here's his photo holding the bass . . .
Raul reply :
Excellent quality picture for a camera from the Flinstones age.On 12/28/2014 at 9:56 AM, Catt said:
Alonerankin2 reply :
Sorry Catt! Had to like that, too funny
Catt reply :
My wife's dad who I knew all my life was a photographer & developed his on pictures. Y'all should see the ones he took during WWII!On 12/29/2014 at 10:45 AM, Raul said:Excellent quality picture for a camera from the Flinstones age.
gulfcaptain reply :
Well I guess I had a harder road, didn't have anyone that fished but I wanted to learn. Bought my first rod and reel myself with money I saved ($25) back in like 1984. Fished bluegills with mealworms. Learned a lot from the older guys who fished where I did. I was that kid that asked a thousand questions but they were kind and showed me what I was doing wrong, how to tie the right kind of knots. Then decided to do it for a living fishing saltwater when I moved back and succeded when I was 20 to get a job on a fishing boat and worked my way up to running one. Now in the last 4 yrs have rediscoved bass fishing and hardly ever fish off the sportboats anymore and enjoy my time walking the banks or float tubing. But I do use the years of experience when I fished almost everyday when I go to assess the water, what the fish maybe doing and form patterens to be successful. And I enjoy passing these on to my son when I can get him off those stupid electronic games and out of the house....lol
Brnnoser6983 reply :
I started when I was young... real young. It was always my grandpa that taught me how to fish (being I don't know my dad). I was always in ah of his tackle box. So many lures I use to think. How, and why would a fish go after wood? So my grandparents bought me a small Plano box with some hooks and weights from my gramps box. I would put acorns in the box to and a fish scaler...
I would like to think I am always learning, Watching, and listening to others. Seeing what works for them and trying to replicate it. I think that's why I go for so much tackle. I need/want what others have to try to replicate their success.
Anyone who says they where born with the talent I think is full of it. You still need to work at it, some more than others. But work we must.
Share what you know because You never know who might be listening. You could be the next role model to some young Fisher.
Bankbeater reply :
Started fishing with my Dad when Nixon was in office. I don't think I was a natural because I remember my Dad telling me not to wander off into the woods. Stopped fishing for a while when I was in college, then for about 10 years I would only go maybe once or twice a year. Then one day something just clicked and I started going whenever I could. I think it had something to do with the BPS opening up about 10 min from my house.
00 mod reply :
I started under the Reagan Presidency. While mainly bass, that was with my dad, who never took pictures! HAHA! Here are some early pictures, but I haven't found the album with the earliest pictures yet. When I do, I will update this thread!
Jeff
FunkJishing reply :
I caught on fairly quickly but I definetly remember the shoelace knots and still lose a lure from time to time lol. I remember casting my two piece pole and sending the second half of it out with the lure i had tied on. I remember casting my lure farther than i needed to and having it smash into pieces on a bridge piller lol. good times.
corn-on-the-rob reply :
Had a rod in my hand for as long as I could remember because my dad was/is an avid fisherman. He said we would be on Erie for smallies and I would always ask him frequently "what does a bite feel like" as I drag a tube. He said he always knew when I hooked one when I would start laughing uncontrollably.
I would say I am a whiz with a spinning rod but this past season was my first with baitcasters and boy have they reset the learning curve after using a spinning rod my entire life.
OK Bass Hunter reply :
On 12/28/2014 at 10:48 PM, Thornback said:Speaking of getting started -- a buddy and me returned from a fishing trip to the boat ramp and there was a lad of 8 or 9 on the dock by himself. I could see he was holding a stick with a line in the water. We loaded the boat and I walked back to the dock to speak with the lad. He had fishing line wrapped around a stick and was letting the line out into the river hoping for a bite. Beside him on the dock was a container of worms and a cell phone. My buddy walked across the street to a bait shop and came back with a fishing rod. I retrieved a spare fishing reel from my boat and we rigged the lad up with rod and reel and then he asked me to show him how to tie on his hook. I showed him the simple Palomar knot, showed him how to make a cast, and he was now fishing like a pro. As we stood there he picked up his cell phone with one hand and made a call. I heard him say, "Mom, I don't need a rod and reel now, I have one." I walked away with a tear in my eye. I hope we made a bass fisherman out of him
Trying to make a grown man cry over here.
halfpint33 reply :
I started fishing with my dad when I was a wee Lil lad.Would've been early 70's. I was raised on a farm so we done a lot of pond fishing.As I got older we fished spring river and grand lake.Like others here I quit in my teens when I discovered girls and trucks.Started back up several years back when my youngest daughter wanted to learn the hobby.
kcdinkerz reply :
Just started bass fishing 2 years ago. But I've been fishing since I was little. I remember when we would go out and fish crappie in the spring, when you caught a bass it was like oh man another bass....
now its total joy seeing that bass at the end of your line funny how things change haha
DogBone_384 reply :
On 12/28/2014 at 2:06 AM, lordpaxin said:Lmao great post
I started young as family fun with my dad
The shoelace knots caught more bluegill than I can remember
I quit when I discovered cars, women and computer games
Started again a year or so ago for the first time with a desire to do it right
I now have lures that cost more than all the rods and reels I started on
But I'm afraid it will never be enjoyable as much as my youth
Sounds like my fishing career, less the computer games. My daughter went with me until her teens, but I kept with it and while I can't say I have lures that cost more than my 1st setup, I can say I've spent a good chunk of cash on kayaks, kayak accessories, and alike. I definitely own more medium to medium/high priced baitcast setups than I really need, for which I just blame tackle monkey....
scaleface reply :
Ive been an angler all my life. When I could barely pedal a bike Id go the Mississippi river with fishing pole in hand. I'd walk the banks with a "Doll Fly" jigging around any cover. Line between my finger and thumb to detect bites. I still hold the line that way 50 years later. Id catch all species , pedal back home and clean my catch for supper .
J Francho reply :
I don't remember not fishing, or at least tagging along with my dad or grandfather for fishing. I have very early memories of my dad catching pike in a creek, sitting by a fire at night waiting for the smelt to run or a bullhead bite, I even remember falling off the dock. Dad says I was just three when those things happened. I guess at some point I started fishing. Haven't stopped.
fisherrw reply :
That's how I started when I was 7 now im almost 15 and have tons of tackle and rods and reels. No boat yet though.
Paul Roberts reply :
I actually have a picture of my first, a rock bass, caught in ‘65 or ‘66. This trip to the Raquette River in northern NY started the whole thing for me. Those memories are forever etched in my mind.
I remember my dad cutting saplings for my brother and me with a hatchet. Dad rigged it with black nylon braid and probably a snelled hook. I remember feeling apprehensive standing in the tippy boat. I remember the smell of mothballs and must in the life preserver that had hung in the cabin over the long northern winters. And I remember that first fish -or at least its bite. I was distracted, a bit nervous about the boat moving under my feet when I did, until I received a tug on my line, from down in that mysterious water below us. I was shocked. I remember the feeling was “That wasn’t me. There’s something…alive…down there!”
Later, I remember my Dad coming in after dark with the other men, with two BIG fish. Bass (smallmouths) they were and I was in awe. Dad caught them on a Jitterbug his father had given him back in the early 1950s. That particular plug has a story all its own. I still have it and have caught many bass on it since.
Some pics from the 70s, when my fishing success took off, after getting hold of Fishing Facts, Spoonpluggin', and In-Fisherman.
Natural? Hmmm…not sure what that means. I fished a lot. I suppose starting young helps. There is no shortcut really. I’m glad of that. I wouldn’t trade that time for any other.
Ratherbfishing reply :
A natural fool, perhaps, but not a natural fisherman. Though I still have TONS to learn, where I am today took a fair amount of time and effort. Had I not had a natural affinity for fishing, the effort would've probably ended long ago. I would have simply become one of the nameless "rabble." Actually, I am still that but I'm usually too busy fishing to care.
CCfootballchamps69 reply :
I did not start bass fishing until I was 21. My family lived in Alaska and all I ever knew was Salmon, Steelhead and bottom fishing. When I met my wife her dad was huge into bass fishing and I was hooked. Mostly because of bass fishing tournaments. I found a way to fish for money. While it has not been easy to learn to bass fish I think with all of the online content you can find now days anyone can learn how to bass fish and can be competitive in a short amount of time. The biggest thing with fishing is having the money to invest in the sport. I am now 25 and have had the opportunity to become a pro staffer. Don't get me wrong a guy can learn to fish on his own but I owe most of my success to my father in law and his friends and bass clubs. Find someone who knows the sport and go fishing with them. Pay the gas bill be respectful with others stuff and you can go a long ways in earning the respect of others. Remember its all about confidence when your fishing and confidence in what your throwing.
Darren. reply :
Don't remember which president was in office
when my Dad got me into fishing. Probably
Nixon.
Bait du jour was a nightcrawler on a hook with a
bobber attached. Bluegill were the main forage,
but my Dad went for pickerel and such.
I really got into bass in the 90's (some in the 80s),
and then big time in the 2000's to where I am
today.
Oh, and I don't consider myself a natural. I had to
really dig in and learn the craft - specifically the bass
craft.
AQUA VELVA reply :
Oh, yea, I was a natural. At being clueless. It's hard to say which was more pitiful, my lack of knowledge or my equipment. This persisted through most of my early years right up into my young adult life. It wasn't until I started fishing with a co-worker who was into bass fishing that I realized how much I didn't know. I've come a long way since then but when I read some of the posts on this site by guys who know this game much more than I ever will, I see how much more there is that I have to learn.
bassr95 reply :
I'd say I picked it up without too much trouble. I have been fishing as long as I can remember, and tended to out fish my dad, cousins, and uncles on a regular basis. My first high school bass tournaments were a rude awakening, and I realized that I had a lot to learn to become a competitive fisherman. I have come a long way since then, but I still am not fishing near the level of the top college guys. Long story short, I thought I was a natural because of who I compared myself to.
SirSnookalot reply :
I started fishing around 1950 with my dad, he may have been a natural as no one taught him and he taught me everything. We started off in a rowboat with a 6.5hp Elgin outboard fishing inland lakes, Lake St Clair, Detroit River and Lake Erie. Even though he was a city boy and never fished saltwater he knew how to catch them there too, my parents were snowbirds form the mid 70's till my dad passed away in 92. I had friend that was a fly guide, learned a bunch from him. Down here in Florida I met a fellow named Wayne, maybe the greatest fisherman I ever met. Wayne is a commercial fisherman using only rod and reel as he does this for fun and not income. He taught me to snook fish, never saw any better than him. He lives on a freshwater canal, incredible bass fisherman too. I'm not a natural, just learned from some great fishermen.
geo g reply :
I don't know what a natural is at fishing. I started trout fishing with the boy scouts 55 years ago. That led to buying a Mitchell 300 and bass fishing a couple of times a year. Now 55 years later, its 6 days a week, either from the bank, or in the boat. I learn something new almost every trip, so I would not consider myself a natural, but rather a journeyman, surviving to fish another day. It has progressed into a passion, and a way to relax and unwind from the hustle of daily life. It has become a form of therapy, and since therapy is outrageously expensive, fishing has saved me, and my family a lot of money!!!! LOL
Do you think the wife will buy that argument? 
senile1 reply :
I caught my first fish in the summer of 1969 during the first year of Nixon's presidency. We were visiting my uncle in Memphis, TN and he and my Dad decided to go fishing. I was only 8 at the time and I don't remember where we were. It was a creek and they set me up with a worm on a hook with a rod and spincast reel. I remember the creek was lined with lots of brush and trees and I could not see them from where I was standing. It didn't take long before I felt the tug that changed me forever. The fish was a bluegill and I was quite excited to walk down the creek with it dangling from the end of the rod to show to my Dad. I fished into my college years and then strayed to other adventures until I returned to the fold in my early thirties.
As for being a natural, I wasn't. There are so many things to learn such as fish behavior and movements in relation to structure and conditions, techniques, knots, boat handling, etc. that I don't think anyone is truly a natural. Some people seem to have a natural ability for whatever reason that allows them to catch fish when others can't, and there are anglers, professional and otherwise, that are better sticks than others. I think it has more to do with starting early, having good teachers, and having good water to learn on than innate ability.
DILLY07 reply :
I started when I was 4 years old during Bill Clinton's presidency during the year of 1995.
I kind of started natural. I fished a lot cause my grandpa owned a mansion in Lake of the Ozarks. Fishing on the dock, catching crappie, bluegill. Left and right, just catching them for fun and some for food.
Then I gradually quit cause of the trend was going on around in my town. I started skateboarding and got pretty decent and quit cause I skated around druggies and I didn't like that and one day my grandpa called his daughter ( my mom ) said, Dillon, you want go fishing? I said YES, after that, I got hooked.
Been fishing since, never looked back.
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