How did you get your start???

My mother got me into fishing or at least she was always the one to take me. I remember one day when I was about 8yrs. old, I didn't want to go to school so I pretended to be sick. After my 3 brothers were off to school my mom told me that it was to pretty a day to be sick and asked me if I would go fishing with her. She made me promise not to tell my other brothers where we went. Every year after that, my mom would call in to school for me about twice a year and we would spend the day fishing. I'll never forget her winking at me when my brothers would ask if I felt better that night.

Onemorecast - May God Bless your mom...I'm sorry to hear the news.

Ok...where do I start? I was born in 61..anyway here goes:

To make a long story short it was my dad who molded me into this crazy fish-o-holic that I am today. Back in the day dad had a 16' jon-boat with a 33 Johnson Seahorse (pull start). I remember how hot the benches of the boat got after being beached on the bank of Waitsboro in the sun all day. I tried splashing water on them to help cool them down but the only remedy was a boat cushion or to just wait it out and find some shade somewhere, either that or just get use to it.

ALL of our family vacations were always spent at Lake Cumberland and never anywhere else. The main thing we did was fish...dad always wanted to fish, in fact he lived to fish. And to this day (he turns 80 this year) he still has on the living room wall a VERY NICE 7lb large mouth he caught near Conley Bottom in 1957. I remember fishing all night when it was cool/cold outside, so cold in fact that I could feel the warmth of having fog around us as it rolled in, the fog actually felt warm to me. I seriously remember catching lots of crappie and white bass (I "think" it was white bass, could have been hybrids...at any rate I remember being in Pitman or Beaver Creek and catching them in the jumps with white and or yellow in-line spinners called Shysters. We absolutely tore them up and this is no lie folks...we were catching them so quickly it was all we could do to get the fish off the hook as quickly as possible, throw the fish in the bottom of the boat so we could hurry up and get another one, no time for putting them on a stringer or in a basket we could do that later...The technique went like this: (cast out to the jumps...let the in-line spinner sink by counting to three and then reeling it in).

Dad had a camper that slid in the back of his truck...sometimes we had tents. I can also remember dad simply placing wooden stakes in the bed of his truck and draping old painters drop cloths over them to create a "home-made" sort of tent like structure. I also remember one time we had my uncle with us and he was camping in the spot next to our's...he didn't have a tent, a camper or anything like that, all he had was a sleeping bag layed on top of the picnic table. The park ranger stopped by and asked to see his permit, etc...the ranger thought my uncle was some sort of a dead beat or something. He was a "different breed' persay but he could flat out catch fish. I also remember just hanging out during the heat of the day and skipping rocks, waiting for the evening to arrive so we could go fishing.

While growing up there was a period if time that we DIDN'T go to the lake. My dad's brother drowned in Cumberland in the 60's and I think it took some of the wind out of my dad's sails so to speak (understandably so)...we eventully started going again though after I turned 7 or 8.

Fast forward to now...as I said, dad is 80 and he and mom will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary this weekend. Dad and I went to the Louisville Boat Show together this year and while there we hooked up with Randel Gibson. I sent the check to Randel for the deposit, after he recieved it he gave me a call asking what we'd like to fish for and where'd we like to fish, etc. I explained my dad's situation to him (dad has been on dialysis for a little over a year now and has slowed down considerably, most noticeably during the past two or three months). Anyway, I told Randel all I wanted was to put dad on some good quality fish. So, the agreement is this. Randel says wait till the week of our trip and we'll either hit Dale, Lake Cumberland or Cumberland River or a combination of the three, we have two full days scheduled during the middle of the week in late April, so hopefully I'll be able to see dad hook into a nice one.

This has been a great thread and I've enjoyed reading each and every post. While my post is a little winded I will end it by saying: "Thanks Dad!"

YOU said it brother....THANKS DAD!!!!!

I have been very fortunate. My grandparents on my father's side own a place in Springfield. It is the very last farm on the road. 2/3 of their property line is Little Beech Fork River (more like creek). They also have a small farm pond up by their house. Both of them fish and have as long as I can remember. Seems to me like Grandma would always catch the biggest fish. I spent many summers @ the farm as a kid and still love to go down there for the fishing and the scenery/wildlife. My father and his brothers also fished quite a bit and taught me a little growing up. Then there are my grandparents on my mother's side. They owned a house right on Rough River Lake, near the dam side. My grandfather loved to fish and took me quite a bit too. I also have two great uncles that have small ponds that are loaded with fish and I have caught quite a few nice ones @ both ponds. I also know several other people with ponds or access to ponds. I hope to one day be the object of this same discussion, only from the other side. Can't wait until we have little ones old enough to take with me. The wife and I just started trying for our first. Boy or girl, that kid is gonna be introduced to the world of fishing. Oh yeah can't forget about BIGCARL! That guy gave me the Tournament Fever. Looking forward to wetting a line with some of you from this board some day. Finally, I will be spending a day in May picking Mr. Stewart's brain. Can't wait. Great post folks. Hope we all get our lines stretched real soon. CJ.

My grandfather started me out when I was just around six or seven, we took several cane poles and a big can of worms, went to this little creek behind his,familys farm and my first fish was this big carp, it bent the pole double and I was not big enough to get it up the bank and he flip off, but I will never forget that one, and he was with me when I caught and landed my first bass a 5 lbr, got it using a techniquie is saw in IN Fisherman, I have been hooked ever since, been a BASS member since is was 15, I am now over 40+, but still love it, have caught many more since the early days, but never will forget those firsts, with my grandfather who passed away OCT,06. He is back fishing behind his old home place.