Caught old "Moses," my name for a big 7-pound bass, in the summer of 1953. It took me over a year to catch that wily ol' bass, and I learned a lot about bass habits watching Moses and trying to figure out how to catch her. I finally pulled it off by using a small live crappie. I was so excited. Took the bass home, and we ate her. Moses would be the last trophy bass I intentionally would kill.
I learned to bass fish while walking the shoreline and rowing a small wooden boat. My tackle was the rod and reel already mentioned, using Ashaway line and these three lures: jointed Pikie, Jitterbug and Hawaiian Wiggler No. 3. It wasn't until a family vacation to Shasta Lake in '55 that I discovered Creme rubber worms...the rigged worm with two hooks, a bead, and a small propeller. I already had learned about Doll-fly jigs and black pork rind by then.
On another vacation--to Lake Havasu in '58--I learned another lesson: Live waterdogs catch big bass, too! While waiting for my brothers to buy gas, I caught the big bass under the gas dock on a waterdog the old owner of the bait shop had given me to try. That 11-pounder was a lake record...back then, at least. Don't know if it still is today. I now was obsessed by the desire to catch the next world record.
(From a Michigan angler) I was lucky enough to be born in 1943 and raised on the banks of what, in 1957, was said (by Field & Stream) to be "the best smallmouth stream in the eastern USA (Rockcastle Creek in Martin County Kentucky).
I caught my first fish, a sunfish, with a stickweed for a rod, sewing thread for line, and a bent straightpin for a hook, and worm for bait when I was about 3 years old. I have fished ever since.
I lost many relationships with females because of my fishing and hunting...so be it. I now have fished more than 63 years and hope, when my time comes, I will meet my maker with a rod, gun or bow in my hand.
(From an Ohio angler) I was born in 1942 and lived a short walk from the Ohio River. My dad, brother and I used to go there two or three times a week.
They had metal rods, with some sort of casting reel and black line. I don't know what they were, but they had to be cheap, because we were poor. I used a branch cut from a willow, with string from the grocery store that was used to wrap meat, and a small hook.
While they fished for catfish, I fished for shiners. I can't remember how old I was the first time I went...4, 5 or maybe 6. I can remember using a Pflueger tandem spinner and a Shannon twin-spinner, as well as a Flat Fish and Lazy Ike. An old neighbor gave me a tackle box with some Pikie minnows, Go Deeper Crabs, and a Bass Oreno plug. I caught bass on all of them.
The guys with money used solid fiberglass rods and Pflueger Supremes...with everything made in the USA. Anything from Japan or elsewhere was just junk.
I went from sitting on a muddy river bank to wading creeks in my bare feet to my first johnboat, and then my first bass boat. I fished tournaments for some 20 years, including the Ohio Bass Federation state tournaments. I got so tired of the tournament crap I won't even go to a weigh-in now. Through it all, I had fun, learned a lot, made a lot of friends, and got to watch all the technological advances. It has been a sweet ride, and I ain't done yet.
(From a Colorado angler) Ahhh!...my first casting reel. Remember those exciting (to a 10 year old) ads in the back of magazines for the "100 piece fishing kit"? The picture was of a casting reel, lures, hooks, stringer, swivels, split shot (all counted individually), and probably other exciting things laid out in front of a tackle box. I think it cost $12.95.
My friend John and I each saved our lawn-mowing money for that kit. And then came the day the packages arrived, both addressed to John's house, so we could open them together. I remember the ad and that box really well. All I remember about the contents, though, was how cheap it all was. And that reel...we wanted to love it, but it obviously was not built to be loved.
It would only cast about 15 feet, and that was with all the sinkers and lures in the box tied on at the same time. We were crushed, but we learned a dear lesson about "buyer beware."
(From a Kansas angler) I started fishing with my grandfather sometime around 1958, catching bluegill and bullheads with a cane pole and worms. As I became more proficient, I moved up(?) to a Zebco 202...along with channel cats and bass.
Grandpa gave me my first casting rig, a Shakespeare model 1920 reel and a tubular steel Wonder rod. He also taught me (with infinite patience) how to cast a plug. The first bass I caught on a lure was with that rig, while throwing a Lazy Ike. That old rig has a place of honor in my shop.
After high school, I went nuts for bass fishing, spending every available hour fishing. I went through the usual assortment of tackle...Abu Garcia 5000, Mitchell 301, the original Daiwa Millionaire, Pflueger Supreme, Shakespeare 1980 President II, etc.
Circumstances almost forced me to give up fishing in the late-1980s. An industrial accident left me with some physical issues affecting my mobility and balance, and a divorce shortly afterward left me broke, but I've returned to fishing recently...restricted pretty much, though, to fishing from the bank. These days, my greatest joy is teaching my grandkids to fish.
(From a South Carolina angler) Was born in 1955. My best early memory of bass fishing was when I was about 8 years old and wading a waist-deep gravel pit. I was throwing a wooden frog-colored Creek Chub Darter (an old lure left in an old box) around some vegetation. Fished it on a state-of-the-art Mitchell 300 that my dad had traded for a case of home-brewed beer...really good stuff! I was jerking it when a nice bass hit it and came up jumping, then buried deep, pulling hard all the while before spitting the bait. When I looked at the lure, the hooks had been pulled completely out of the bait. Have been hooked on bass fishing ever since.
(From a Florida angler) I'm a November 1941 baby, who started fishing when I was about 14. As I recall, it was an uncle who had given me one of those knuckle-buster reels and a solid steel rod with 30-pound black dacron line. I also bought about 30 or 40 steel leaders, put perch hooks on them, and caught a ton of bluegill, along with a few bass. Got a red and white Daredevil and caught some northern pike. While casting that, I learned how to "thumb" a reel.
When the crappie started hitting the mayfly hatch, my brother and I got a couple of cane poles, put some of that 30-pound black dacron line on them, and used a white popper to go "fly" fishing and catch a lot of crappie.
Now I need a second boat to carry all my tackle and don't catch near as many fish. Might have something to do with no one else fishing where we did.
(From a whereabouts-unknown angler) I guess I'm really lucky. I'm 47, and my dad and his uncle were the first people in the country to have baitcasters, so I could throw one of those old Shakespeares before I could ride a two-wheeler. However, I do miss how simple and relaxing fishing was back then. All I had to do was grab my old baitcaster and my fishing hat that held all my spare lures (a Hula Popper and a spinnerbait). I kept a Lucky 13 tied on and tried it first while walking the banks of oxbows and rivers, catching fish all day.
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