How did you start fishing?

I just got to thinking this weekend how did many of you get started fishing? As a kid, later in life, neighbor took you?
For me I only fished 3-5 times as a kid one time ice fishing outside and cold got 0. I summer fished 3 times on a borrowed boat my dad got. Without going into to much details I remember swimming not on my own account outside the boat after that I swore I would never fish again. Well fast forward to 1999 I was asked to take a niece of mine fishing I was the first male figure in a family of all ladies who did not fish. Well I knew nothing did the Zebco 202 combo and I went to a fishing pier and hung out watched everyone intently to pickup some ideas then a copy of In Fisherman. At first I hated it. Took the niece finally got a sunfish after that I learned quickly that if you really wanted to get out fishing a boat was a must. Yes I know many don’t have boats but do well but for me getting away from others is what helped. Well now I’m obsessed and have made up for the years I didn’t fish, so I’m 48 now and 22 years of fishing wish it were more. My biggest regret ever was my grandpa loved to fish the last time he ever went was a big family outing I refused to go and stayed with my grandma I wish I would have went if he could have seen me now but that’s the the way life goes. So how did you start? any good stories of starting up.

Been fishing as long as I can remember. Started fishing off the dock at the family’s cabin as soon as I could hold the cane pole, early 60s. Remember catching sunnies and just releasing them in the bottom of the aluminum boat and the sound of them flopping around. My family sold the cabin and moved to Lake Minnetonka area. In the summers we would play pick-up baseball, ride bikes and fish almost every day. There was a fire lane near my house and that’s how we accessed the lake and would wade the shorelines. This was way before it was as built up as it is now. Ice fishing started after we moved too. One of my best friends grew up on Minnetonka and I’d fish with him a lot. Got my first boat in 1986 and fished 4-5 times a week. Retired last December so the on the water time is going to drastically increase again.

Similar story to Mr Pike. Little Luttes didn’t get to go fishing much, not too sure why, busy schedules, dad wasn’t interested, etc etc etc. But the very few times I did get to go fishing as a kid, I sure as heck enjoyed them.

Fast forward to post college days. Had a couple of coworkers that were big into trout fishing, so I made the marginal investment into some fishing gear and started trout fishing the driftless area. About the same time met a few guys that were big into ice fishing. Went out with them a few times and was hooked.

Bought my first 12′ 5hp boat 5 years ago to put around local lakes and get a feel for what boat ownership was like. Met a guy through work that is a member here, and that’s when my addition really took off. Started fishing for BIG fish on the Mississippi, Mille Lacs, Michigan, Green Bay, etc.

Reflecting back, i knew very strongly that not having the opportunities to be on and around water as a child was something i really missed out on. We made the decision that we wanted our kids to have that opportunity and to provide that opportunity to other families that might not have the time or resources to own their own boat but still wanted to experience the beauty of Minnesota lakes. We bought our current big boat a year and a half ago and I have loved every single minute of owning it. Sometimes I just go out to the garage in the middle of winter and think about warm summer days pulling kids on the tube, or the spring spawn run on p4, or just crack a beer, put on some tunes and relax.

There are probably a million selfish reasons I love fishing and find it an enjoyable hobby, but to hear my kids see a boat on a lake or driving down the road and say, “dad, i can’t wait until we can go fishing”, that just does the heart good.

Started going with my grandpa as soon as I was out of diapers. Mom said I was the easiest to potty train cause I wanted to go fishing. Life long love.

My grandpa started me fishing on the fishing barge in Guttenberg, Iowa. Don’t know how the guy had that much patience with 3 young kids running around on the barge. From there it was red horse fishing in the Spring, being dumped off in the small river to walk down stream for probably 5-7 miles throwing Mepps spinners for small mouth. When I reached a certain corn field I would walk through the corn to a gravel road and back to the farm. This was 50+ years ago and I was probably 10 years old walking the river. Times have changed. Hitting 16 brought on a vehicle and the ability to trout fish the Driftless area. Today I am retired and fish 3-4 times per week. Doesn’t matter if I catch fish or not as long as I am in the boat or on a trout stream.

Started fishing at the ripe old age of 4 years old. Dad used to bring me down to a little neighborhood pond and catch sunnies. Fished exclusively for panfish until I got my first spinning rod, when I started throwing little mepps spinners and tiny strike king spinnerbaits. Extended family was bigger into fishing than I was, and got me into bass fishing. I went up to their cabin about 3-5 times a summer and constantly bass fished. Once I learned how to use a baitcaster around 6th grade, It was game over. I was catapulted head-first into the bass fishing world, and I was hooked (pun intended). Fast forward a couple years, and bass fishing is now a part of me. It’s really all I think about anymore. I fish tournaments, and I am constantly on Navionics planning routes and marking waypoints. It’s been quite the ride, and I can’t wait to see where it takes me.

I fished a little as a kid, we spent most summers on Platte Lake trolling daredevils on cane poles for hammer handles and bobber fishing sunnies. In high school we’d river bank fish the Mississippi, and ice fish, but I wasn’t “hooked” by any means. Just something to do and get outdoors. After college a buddy invited me up to the Rainy River in the spring, and the 2nd or 3rd walleye I caught was 29 3/4″ behemoth that really got me hooked for life!

I had a few friends around the age of 12-13 who were really into it. I started hanging out with them more and got really into it too. My grandpa was a huge hunting and fishing person and i would spend a lot of time fishing with him too. Sure miss those days.

For some reason i just remembered this moment. Grandpa, myself and a few of his buddies in a fish house. I was probably 20 at the time. My grandpa was always getting his line tangled

Grandpa – “oh sh*t. i think i made a mistake.”
Me – “that’s what Darlene (grandma) said 50 years ago”

LOL that brought down the house. his friends were rolling lol.

R.I.P. Grandpa & Grandma

Used to find littered line and hooks, then tie that on a stick, dig up worms and fish from shore

Good post.

I was fishing with my Dad and Grandpa when I was old enough to walk. Primarily from our family cabin near Brainerd. Sunnies off the dock of course and bass and pike as I got older. Also my Grandpa loved fishing for crappie in the evening.

Dad also took me trout fishing a lot. We’d tie our own spinners and dabbled with the fly rod too. Some great times camping with him streamside.

My Dad’s side of the family has always been big into fishing. So I have been fishing since I was old enough to hold a stick. I did a lot of fishing with my grandpa. He only had one hand and would out fish the whole group every time. We have been doing 3-4 group fishing trips every year. Once you were 8 you were able to join the trips. At the age of 9 I started making tackle with my one uncle for my others uncle’s bait shop. The passion just kept growing from there. I have been making fishing rods for almost 10 year. I just enjoy all aspects of fishing.

I started fishing with my dad on the small lakes at the family farm. Not sure how early I started getting involved but I have personal memories by age 4. Primarily fishing panfish from shore with a cane pole and angle worms. A stringer at the time was a willow stick used to thread sunfish onto. I would also hold the rod while trolling daredevils as my dad rowed the small wooden boat. I do remember my dad showing me how to hold a northern by the gill plate and ended up raking up my hand. I may have been first or second grade by then. We also ice fished. Tactic then was to simply run with the pole.

It wasn’t just fishing either. I remember tagging along while grouse hunting too. More of a retriever back then to help find downed birds. We also did berry picking. My dad commented one time he knew where I was by watching the ferns move.

My earliest memories are on the pontoon, at our then cabin… dad would put a 4-5″ sucker minnow below a HUGE Red/White bobber and we would wait. We would catch monster pike (maybe 30″ for the biggest) and a big carp here and there. Of course also fishing off the dock with the Zebco 202’s and a can of corn. This would have been around ’72 or ’73. I was 4 or 5.

Stated fishing with my Dad on the public docks of the south metros lakes. His patience and guidance made me appreciate what fun it is. We would keep enough sunfish and crappies to eat and call it a day. My Dad had a job transfer to Southern MN and we fished trout together. When fishing with my buddies it was small streams, rivers or sneaking into gravel pit lakes. It has just grown from there. Like Rodwork I also got into making lures and occasionally building a rod and still do that today.

I didn’t start fishing regularly until I was in middle school. That was mostly slip bobber fishing for walleyes or trolling with spoons for pike.

When I could drive, then I started going on my own more in the family boat. More casting with artificial lures.

I learned many specific techniques for certain species of fish on my own to be honest. It was simply trial and error or trial and success.

When I was younger and went fishing, I was hell bent on coming home with something to eat. Those days are long gone for me now.

Earliest I can remember fishing is when I was 4. Dad or a neighbor friend would take us shore fishing under bridges. I had to wear a “life jacket” and the adults would tie a rope to me to keep only so close to the water. As I got older there were a couple of neighbor friends that we would ride bikes 5 to 8 miles to fish small rivers in SW WI. The 1st boat my Dad bought was a wooden/fiberglass with a 5 hp Sea King. I think it went about 7 mph LOL, It beat the hell out of rowing though.
I bought my 1st boat in 1981 14 ft. Sears with a 6 hp Sea King. 5 boats later and super happy with the Skeeter/Yamaha combo.

This is really fun to hear. I just wish someone would have really been there to get me into it. My dad actually is allergic to fish and breaks out with hives when he comes I take the fish off bait etc. he just does it to go now but it’s not his hobby my mom on the other hand tells me how to do it and to shut up I make to much noise

I started fishing very young probably before 3 we would go camping most weekends and would fish of the dock most times. Dad had a small boat but they guys would always go out real early. I remember fishing with dad and grandpa using cane poles for pike. If it was a big one you just threw the pole overboard and watched it. When it quit moving you oared over to it and got the fish. I also remember catching crappies back in the real early 80s first crappie got a piece of line attached to a safety pin and bobber hooked to it, that way you could follow the school when you were 1 away from limit grab said bobber pull in fish and go home. Have always loved fishing. My kids live the big boat more so tuning and watersports but sometimes I get them to fish. Still wouldn’t trade it for the world.

The ol’man.

My mom took me and my brother fishing. She taught us how to clean fish. We would go to rivers and gravel pits in SoDak. We’d catch carp, bullheads, cats, drum, suckers, turtles, used cans of Roundup, and a few bluegills and bass at the gravel pits. It was great. Dad was in to sports. Mom was the fisherman.

i started when i was about 6 years old. parents bought a cabin up in itasca county and on a lake. the lake was an all around great fishing lake. hooked ever since.

i grew up a stones throw away from the horseshoe chain of lakes in richmond. my grandparents lived 2 blocks away and along the sauk river. every chance we could we’d go there and fish for hours for the iowa state fish…..bullheads!!! man i ate alot of smoked bullheads in my younger days!!!!!!!

My Dad took me fishing at a young age. We would vacation at a lake in the summer and fish near home the rest of the time. I loved it. I was hooked for life. Dad is gone now but I made sure that I gave my two grandchildren the opportunity to take part in the outdoors. They both love it and can’t get enough of fishing and being together on the water.

All I know is that I’ve been doing it before I have memory of it. I’m trying to do the same for my sons.

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My grandparents lived on a lake. We were there virtually every weekend. Within a few minutes of us arriving Dad and I would be in a boat fishing for crappies and sunnies. I am not sure exactly when I started going with, but I am sure that I was at early. I don’t have any memory of Dad going out without me. When he was doing things like cutting the grass I was on the dock with a cane pole catching tiny perch on angle worms.

By the time I was in grade school in addition to fishing with Dad, I would be out in the boat alone or with cousins. The lake was pretty much exclusively a panfish lake. Walleye were pretty much non-existant. It was ok for LMB and had a few small northerns. So my technique pretty limited.

After college lived in New England for a few years and I don’t think I was able to fish at all during that time. When I moved back to MN, the first thing I did was buy a boat on a trailer. That changed everything. New lakes, new species meant new techniques, new equipment and a dramatically increased spend…

Now 60 years later, I have a place on Mille Lacs. So I am back to a one lake guy, and due to a variety of reasons focus on a single species, SMB. I also find myself spending a lot of time fishing off of my dock. But instead of a 5-6″ perch biting on an angleworm, it is a 15-21″ SMB on a plastic worm, swimbait or crank.

Hmmmm, as I write this I can’t help but remember and want to go back. What I would not give to be back in a 14′ cedar strip boat and a 10 HP Johnson with my Dad, catching crappies.

My Grandpa got me into fishing. They are some of my first memories in life fishing with him. I remember Ice Fishing with him and my snoopy pole he got me haha. To this day I still think of the memories fishing with him.