What got you into this?

[falcon]

What got you into this great sport?

Long story short for me is I grew up with my dad who was the in-infisherman and I followed suit at a very young age but pretty much strictly bass. From about 10yo on growing up in chicago i fished with my friends at the time as much as i could at the local lagoon when I wasn't playing baseball. At 16 (now 28) I won my first tournament and been hardcore addicted ever since. Three years ago bought my first boat and my addiction reached a whole new level.

I still remember being a lil one and my old man throwing lures into the utility sink showing me things. When he wasn't home I use to sneak into his man cave and play around with his different lures and read his complete collection of infisherman. The good old days for sure

Wish I could fish with my dad today.

[njbasscat]

My dad introduced me to fishing at a very young age. He was a hardcore Striper guy and when they were running in the fall we didn't see him much. He started taking me when I was five or six. We purchased a house in New York on the Susquehanna River when I was twelve. My dad bought a 14 foot aluminum boat and a 9.9 HP Honda and I really got into freshwater fishing. My passion turned into an obsession around fifteen years ago. I spend as much time as I can fishing and collecting tackle. My dream would be to fish with my grandfather again with today's tackle and gear. I think he would appreciate the lightweight rods and reels compared to the tackle of the 70's and 80's. I thank my dad and grandfather for passing along the passion of the sport.

[frogman1963]

My Dad & Step Grandpa used to do alot of speckled perch fishing. I think when I was growing up without video games and everything else kids have these days, fishing was about the funnest thing you could do. I actually cut my teeth bass fishing when I was in the FFA at school. They had some property right down the road where I lived and my friends and I would sneek down there with our zebco 33's armed with a black worm with a fire red tail and a 1/4 ounce weight. Also, Had to have the old wire type weedless hooks for the lillypads and all. Caught alot a little bass out of that 3 acre pond, very fond memories!! (:

[Katshubby]

My Dad would take me. He was a big floater, night crawler bank fisherman at mostly pay lakes for catfish. He was very patient. I wasn't and would end up with a stick some line a split shot and small hook catching bluegill near the bank. I would have a ball. I especially remember stopping at a country store and getting a hunk of boloney, loaf of bread, some sweet pickles, mustard and chips. Those sandwiches were so good. Later in life I learned bass fishing in a boat from a cousin and was hooked. This was in north eastern Kentucky.

[Backbay]

Dad again!
Fishing, hunting and the outdoors have always been important in my family.
We camped a lot, and always fished.

[KCL655321]

I used to go fishing when I was young with my dad & an uncle, but I got out of it about middle school & didn't get back into it until my late 20s. The weirdest thing is what made me take it up again was a bunch of friends were at the lake & my friend was dealing with his son & asked me to hold his little Zebco set-up while he did something. Started playing with it & the idea grew & next thing I knew, I was ordering a spinning set-up & casting set-up along with a bag & some other gear.

[Snyder Rods]

This thread just goes to show how important dads really are.

[StPaulPike]

My dad too, we lived in South Bend when i was young my mom in school and my dad with his first job out of college. They didnt have alot of money but he did have a boat, fish was food but also my dads passion. I remeber calling a info number all the time as a kid to see what Lake mich was supposed to be like the next day could we take the lil 16 foot starcraft or would we fish from the pier. In the winters we visted my grandparents in Brainerd MN home of my dad and In-fisherman and babe winkelman my idols. I was even on wiklemans show as a little kid.

When i was 9 we moved to Las Vegas my dad got a high paying job and i was lucky enough to fish all over north america with him. From canada to all over mexico.

These times and the times today with my dad and my grandfather are the greatest memories of my life they made me what I am. I now live in MN fish walleye bass and pike like a crazy man and love it more everytime. I bought that old 16ft starcraft so my dad couldnt sell it, my dad bought a farm on a river in MN to retire on next year and our fishing memories will carry on from there.

Fishing made me a man, a thoughtful person, taught me to help others, to not always take but to give back, and in return fishing saved my life when i struggled. It brought me back from a personal hell in my 20's, and because of that I will always, carry it high in my heart and share it with anyone who wants it.

[Hogsticker2]

Approx. 9 nears ago I had a co-worker that kept bringing all his bass gear into work, rods, reels, lures, etc. He was very proud of his collection and assortment. Prior to this I had a very close family friend who would take me bank fishing for for trout as a kid, my only fishing experience. I remember one time my co-worker had brought a spray bottle of scent to work and sprayed some on our supervisors chair while she was off duty, good times. At the time I lived directly across the street from the Wilamette River located in Portland, OR. Finally my curiosity got the best of me as I was told the river had a large population of smallmouth in it, but all the anglers fished for Salmon. I told Joe (co-worker) to let me have one simple effective lure I could try one morning after work. He gave me 3 Yamamoto tubes and told me to cast it out as far as I could, let it sink, and slowly reel it back along the bottom. I went to the river that morning along with my 6ft. trout pole and did what he suggested. First cast I hook into a fish that felt nothing like the ordinary 8 inch trout I was use to. Long story short, a 4 pound smallie got me hooked on bass fishing in no time. From that point the research, trips to the tackle store, and every morning after work trying every lure and technique got me into this wonderful sport. That 4 pound smallie was an expensive fish for sure, but my time on the water is the only one place I have found where I can truly escape the stresses of this world. No Dad story for me, but I sure enjoy reading the posts on this thread, and hope a lot more people contribute.

[USA-RET]

A Chicago kid too, and it was my Dad. Trips to the Dells (Wisconsin and Lemonweir rivers), Eagle River WI., Fox lake and Lake Michigan fishing the Montrose beach pier for perch.

Winters in our basement going through his old "Kennedy" tackle box, oiling up his Pflueger "Knobby" reel and giving the old Scott Atwater Bail-a-matic 7.5 HP motor a couple of tugs getting ready for the coming Spring. Great memories for sure. I think of him every-time I hit the water.

[panyafish]

For me it was my dad also. i remembered as a kid we went camping at Elfin Forrest and fished for bluegills at the lake there. It was family thing but my sisters never really cared for it. I, on the other hand, couldn't get enough of it and never wanted to leave the lake I think I was only ten or eleven at the time. This was during the late seventies. I remember waiting for dad to come home from work so we could go to a local lake in the evenings. Looking back, I realized all those evenings fishing were for me--once I got old enough to go out on my own with friends he pretty much stopped fishing. I think he took me all those times because he realized just how much I loved to do it.

[NJ Jigman]

My Dad got me into fishing when I was young 5 maybe. We lived in a small lake community loaded w/ big lmb's and privately stocked not state stocked trout. It wasn't untli I was in college that the family took up serious bass fishing. I was a wrestler in school and after my freshman year I came home w/ brain cancer. Got back to school, but the 14 yr wrestling career was brought to an abroupt end. We needed something else to fill that competitive need in us and began bass fishing hard core. It's been many yrs now, but we were never able to shake the bassin bug. It's grown into an obsession

[triple_illusion]

my dad used to take me and my 2 brothers fishin. he would rent the biggest, most expensive, loudest most ridiculous pontoon boat they had. we never caught anything. my oldest brother started watching fishing on tv. he wondered why in the world my dad did what he did. and so it began. he got a cabelas catalog and ordered a bunch of goodies. we grew up practicing our flippin/pitchin skills in the back yard. we had a huge pool to cast in. we would also set up 5 gallon buckets in the lawn and flip into them too. i grew up playing little league, and had a mild interest in fishing due to the aforementioned influece. in 7th grade i was in a car accident with my dad. jacked up my pitching arm. so my bro got me into bassin instead. been absolutely hooked ever since.

[damian_megabass]

Started as a new hobby.

PC Gaming/PC building, got bored

Cars, got bored

So I started to fish and now firearms too.....

I'm still doing my other hobbies too, but they are on the back burner.

[tt350z]

To lazy to load ammo.

The trap and skeet ranges are closed for the winter.

I can't really ride my dirt bike in the snow.

Playing hockey after work drains me, while fishing is pretty relaxing.

I actually can't fish right now. The rivers are frozen but not thick enough to ice fish. I wished it would either get really cold or warm up to melt the ice.