If you're like me, most of my fishing knowledge was self taught. Magazines, TV shows, etc. There were, however, a few people in my life that actually took the time to show me a few of the things that have made a big difference in my angling experienes.
My dad, of course, ignited the passion in me. He was a live bait fisherman and a jig and minnow was my introduction to casting not just bobber watching. A patient old man showed me how to play a fish on spinning gear after he witnessed me loose two nice walley in a row.
A good friend taught me that it's almost as much fun teaching and seeing your 'student' catch fish as it is catching them yourself.
Last, but certainly not least a friend that is no longer with us taught me that I'm never alone when fishing by myself and that's the best time I've found to talk to Him.
All of them. Whether it be from the printed or recorded media, or personal instruction, someone else taught me.
Had a friend show me how to rig a drop shot properly.
Brian
Had a very nice person teach me how to fish for steelhead and brown trout while on vacation in Michigan last year. The guy was super nice and bared with my probably stupid questions for awhile. He even let me borrow some spoons because my selection was slim.
When I was a lot younger I friend showed me how to put together a bait for catfish. It's a C-rig and you just let it sit on the bottom.
Procrafter showed me how to rig and fish the dropshot at last years Road Trip.
I have learned a lot about fishing by watching Glenn's videos.
Here in Oklahoma, My Dad sparked the fire for fishing before he passed away when I was 6. Years later, in California, our kind neighbor Mr. Swanson is the man that taught me the basics of fishing.
A couple of years ago BR member and now good friend Dwight Hottle invited me to smb fish on Lake Erie.
His style of open / big water jerk bait fishing is different from anything I'd ever seen or read.
I've been a smb addict all my life and having someone share this world class smallmouth fishery & his extremely effective technique has enriched my fishing to a level I would have never been able to realize on my own. Notching several new smb PB's has a way of doing that.
Saying Thank You just doesn't seem any where near sufficient.
A-Jay
Fishing for me started with fly fishing. I was vacationing in the Colorado Rockies and hired a guide for the day and fished a couple of gold medal rivers for trout. I got home and used that experience to catch bluegill on fly. Next came bass fishing using topwaters and cranks. A friend belonged to a club in NH and he convinced me to join as a non boater. He showed me how to fish slow with soft plastics and jigs.
Wnybassman has taught me a few things, and I have shown him a few. It works both ways.
I am mostly self taught...but a buddy of mine taught me how to jig fish and its been all down hill from there. Lol
I taught him the jerkbait and he taught me the jig. Now we both almost always have both tied on lol
A man in a bass boat caught two nice bass from the slop near our dock, back when was 12 or so. I asked him how he got his lure through the weeds. He showed me a Texas Rig, and have me a bag of Culprit worms, some hooks and sinkers. Totally blew open a whole new world of bass fishing for me.
I've never met him, but Roadwarrior taught me how to target and catch my first bass with his post 'Guaranteed to catch bass' I found that article through Google, practised setting up a weightless texas rig, and then went out and caught my first bass. After that I spent a ton of time on this website, and every technique I tried last year was taught by the members of this amazing group whether they knew it or not!
My uncle taught me the Texas rig and how to tie knots.
What a question, I'd have to say someone else taught me everything I've learned about fishing, either in person or in print. I don't think that there will ever be a magazine as focused on teaching as the late 80's thru early 90's In-fisherman was. The mid thru late 70's Fishing Facts magazines shaped much of my attitude and approach to fishing in general.
As far a people showing me stuff, back in the early 80's I thought that a jig and eel was the best bass bait there ever was. I hadn't ever caught a fish on a spinnerbait, and had only limited success with a Mepps style spinner. A professor pal of mine gave me a lesson one afternoon on spinner bait fishing to the tune of 40 or so to 2. A very simple idea - spinner baits skimming the tops of weeds in 4 to 6 feet of water.
I didn't have a clue about pitching until I fished a few BFL tournaments. I was whining about how I was getting back boated all the time and I got told to learn how to pitch, it would open up many more casting angles to me. True fact. Took me nearly a whole season to get any good at it and now10 or so years later, I'm still not a master at it, but I don't suck either.
Last summer, fishing with a buddy, I was whining about how I couldn't catch a fish in slop on a frog. And I had spend some money on decent gear. My bud proceeded to take MY rod & reel, with my black frog tied on and proceeded to catch one fish in the 4 lb range and a couple more slot fish in the next 5 minutes.
I'm still not any good at frog fishing, but I've seen it done now and I have hope for future seasons.
So there are a few anecdotes on the subject of how I've learned what I've learned
I learned most of it from other people but I still try new things time to time.
One of my best friends and mentors, is a jerkbait beast. He showed me a lot of ins and outs of using the lure efficiently. I was intimidated by them before.
He also showed how to pattern fish and quick searching methods before I refine my pattern.
I have several fishing buddy's that I helped teach to skip baits all the way under lower boat docks with a baitcastr.
I love fishing with different people, you are going to learn something...weather its what to do or what not to do
I grew up with catfish ponds so I caught catfish pretty easy..but I have to say I learned bout bass fishing from a x...the one thing I can say was useable info...lol....and the other was watching fishing shows...my favorite guy Mike Iconelli..
A long time ago I was chasing trout in my favorite river. By this point I was pretty well versed with a fly rod. There was a large rainbow tucked behind a large boulder right next to an undercut bank and I could tell she was feeding on tiny mayflies in the film. No matter how good my drift was past that boulder, she would not come out from behind it.
This older gentleman had been watching me for a while and waded over to me when I took a break. He took the time out of his day to teach me a low, side arm curve cast so I could get the fly behind the boulder and under the bank.(anybody that fly fishes knows this is one difficult cast!) After about 20 min of practicing, I was finally able to curve it while keeping the line low to the water. First cast, I curved it right behind the boulder and as soon as it landed...FISH ON!!!!
I thanked the man profusely for helping me, but the best thing for me was that I could tell he was more tickled than I was! That lesson is one of the main reasons I will always take the time to help out any angler at any time.
My dad introduced me to bass fishing by showing me the texas rig, which is all he ever did when he rarely bass fished. I was hooked after my first fish. He was a hardcore muskie/walleye guy and he taught me a lot about targeting those species. My passion was bass fishing so I have been self taught besides tossing a t-rig around pencil reeds. Now he is getting back into bass fishing so I can return the favor and teach him a thing or two. I have also taught a lot of other family members and friends how to bass fish and progress with new techniques. It's just as fun to watch them be successful as it is catching fish yourself.
I learned a lot from my dad before he passed, although it was mostly live bait fishing from the ages of 4-9 it still helped me learn a lot on how fish behaved. One day i got an itch for those crazy looking fake things at the local tackle shop where dad bought his minnows at, after begging him to buy me a couple i never looked back. I taught myself most of everything i had learned before i found this site, and since i have been reading on this site ( long before i joined) i have honed my skills more and more and am still learning every time i log on.
On 2/12/2014 at 10:07 PM, J Francho said:A man in a bass boat caught two nice bass from the slop near our dock, back when was 12 or so. I asked him how he got his lure through the weeds. He showed me a Texas Rig, and have me a bag of Culprit worms, some hooks and sinkers. Totally blew open a whole new world of bass fishing for me.
LOL
Jim Kerr, an old guide and professional bass fisherman many years ago, showed me the dead stick technique one cold day on Chickahominy Lake in Virginia six years ago.
The bite went away on our plastics and moving baits so Jim took out a Moccasin Blue finesse worm and threw it out Texas rigged. He then proceeded to light up a cigarette and just sat there, not moving.
Frankly, I thought he finally went off the deep end. He just sat there smoking his Lucky Strike and not moving.
Then, lo and behold, he reared back and nailed a bass after he almost finished his cigarette.
Seemed to be a life time but he proved to me that dead sticking has its place in our cold water presentations.
Jim passed away from lung cancer two years ago and I really miss that guy. He was old school and could still out fish the new techniques using what he learned back in the 70's and 80's when he was a pro and guided on the Chick and Historic James Rivers.
My dad taught me how to jig fish. I still to this day find myself learning from him. Jig fishing has so many different levels of skill and every time i feel like i have really gotten the skill down, i find he has more to teach. Gotta love fishing.
I've learned a bunch from this site and others on the net over the years. Also magazines,tv,youtube,ect. I do my best to pass it along to whoever I can.
Like many my dad started me off and taught me so much, his been gone 22 years but every time I catch a big one I hear his words in my mind.
My old friend Wight Cooke taught me how to fly fish for trout in Northern Michigan. I know a guy casually who suggested a drop fly rig for tarpon and snook about 10 years ago, I downsize that set up for bass sometimes, very similar to a double fluke rig. My best buddy George down here taught me cuda fishing and how to make the lures too.
I was taught to slow crank a twin tail hula grub on a Chompers standup jig head on a soft action rod by an Ozak angler on a trip years ago. The way the head moves in the rocky bottom content makes it look like a crayfish. It'll occasionally get stuck only to stand up and scoot away once the rod and line load up and pop it free.
It's a really interesting technique because the bottom content, rod and head is what gives the bait its action.
I was fortunate to be raised on a multiple specie lake and can't remember not fishing. I do remember who took me to one side and taught me how to bass fish, Red and Boots. Red was the manager of the boat landing my older brother worked at and he was one of the top bass anglers on the lake. Reds completetion was Boots and both men taught me different lure techniques when was about 10 to 11 years old.
Red taught me how to cast a baitcaster using a #3 Hawiian Wiggler and retrieve this weedless heavy spoon across weed beds into open water pockets. Boots was a top water plug man using Creek Chub Injured Miinow.
Red showed me how to tie the Indian knot back in '53, today's Palomar knot. Boots tied the fisherman clinch knot, both men used Dacron braid, no leader. Both men knew how to read water and weed beds and showed me where to find creek channels boarded by weed breaks to catch the bigger bass.
The lessons learned 60 years ago has served me well and I will be forever greatful to these men who helped a curious kid to bass fish.
Tom
The best part about this question is the heart warming answers we get to hear.
Ive been very lucky to be able to work in an environment full of experienced fisherman and captains excited to pass on their knowledge. I would say these guys could take all the credit for my fishing abilities.
I was raised by my grandparents and my grandpa was done with fishing at that point so I was all self taught but then my dad at age 21 thought he finally wanted to get to know me so I moved to Florida to work for him and start fresh and he taught me a lot of salt water techniques. Alas that's about all that was good for I'm back in ny fishing fresh again.
The one technique that helped me get into bass fishing was the good old texas rig.
About 4 years ago i went camping and they had a fishing pier so I brought my fishing poles. I did not catch anything I was using some beef jerky as bait and I tied a simple overhand knot. So as I am walking back to my camp site an old man ask if I caught anything. I said that there must not be any fish there, cause who will pass up beef jerky. He told me what I was doing wrong, Taught me the palamor knot, gave me some hooks and worms, and taught me how to fish it.
I wish I could to this man again and thank him.
My dad, hes been a die hard tournament angler since i was very young, so fishing has always been beat in my head. I would say the technique i learned from him would be jigging, shallow cranking, and tying knots. these a just a few of the many things hes taught me.
How To Pitch & Flip
http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/flip-pitch.html
I understand that many say they are self taught and i had the compulsion to write that as well. I think it is important to note that there is a difference from being self-taught and studying fishing techniques and videos. I would assume there are very few if any that are actually self-taught in fishing. We have all been blessed to have learned from somewhere. This site serves to me as one of those places that unless you have actually been a member of it and participated and discussed topics over the years, you would have a difficult time understanding how much a site like this can teach you.
I have been fishing for over 10 years in a bunch of states north of the Mason Dixon Line, and 30 years in South Florida. I take a bunch of different people out in my boat almost every weekend, and learn something new almost every trip, by watching and listening. Sometimes its good, and sometimes its forgettable. I make a conscience effort to help them if they are looking for any assistance. I hope over the years I have helped a few, God knows they have helped me in many different ways. I have gained many dear friends over the years through this sport I love. The quality of life would be far different without these interactions.