What got you hooked??

[roadrunner]

Great to hear from you Elnut and wow on the weight loss. I grew up on a farm and my dad owned a bulldozer and we had three ponds one was right behind the house. My dad was 47 when I was born and he had quit fishing. However there were a lot of people from town came out and fished and I would follow them around the lake and asked questions a lot of them would give me a lure I bought a rod and can still remember the first fish I caught and where I caught it. I started going on fishing trip with some guys first Canada the bull Shoals. After catching a few of those ole brown fish I was hooked on them I spent about 25 years going to Bull Shoals and now after my first FNF to Dale I went back this spring and will be going back several times I hope. Hope to see you at the Hollow Elnut.

[csparks643]

hmmm if anybody has a open boat seat this winter id like to try the f&f. never caught a smallmouth in my life, realy want to though.id help pay for gas

what go me hooked was the first time i actually went for bass...a good friend of my brother was going to a small pond one saturday morning and wanted to know if i wanted to go, and of corse i was all about that, when we got there the pond was the sive of a swimming pool if not smaller, he said it was very deep but i wasnt for sure, he put on a 7" power worm in tiqula sunrise color and hooked about a 2 or 2 1/2 pound largemouth and at that time that was the biggest bass i seen sence i was a kid. then a couple cast latter he hooked into the biggest bass ive ever seen, it had to be 6 1/2 or 7 pounds. ill remember that fish forever and thats what got me hooked... i still wanna catch one of those bronze backs on the f&f.haha

[smljaw]

My mom has a picture of me of me "fishing" when I was about 4 or 5 years old. I'm holding a stick with a rope tied to the end and I'm soaking the rope in a big puddle. She says I've loved fishing all my life and doesn't really know how or why I took to it.

I grew up in Northern California (Santa Rosa) and have fond memories of riding my bike to the local creek (at this point I was 7 or 8 yrs old). I would take my fishing pole, hooks/sinkers/bobbers and a block of cheese. I would have a ball catching bluegill. Those experiences led me to Spring Lake in Santa Rosa, CA. I cut my teeth on plastic worm fishing at Spring Lake. I learned how to texas rig and Mann's Jelly Worm and learned how to set the hook when one would pick it up.

There was a large, private pond that my step-father and I would fish often. This is where I truly got hooked! I fondly remember one morning in particular. The fog was lifting in the AM and I was casting a grass line with a Super Frog. I had a fish blow the frog plum out of the water. My heart raced as it came to rest. Again, the fish hit it and I was hooked up. My first 2 pounder came to thumb and I was pumped! Later that day I landed another 2 pounder on a spinnerbait. THAT DAY hooked me for life! I was about 12 years old.

Something I have found out in the last few years... Spring Lake is full of HAWG BASS!!! Check it out on GOOGLE. It's stocked with rainbow trout and those bass get huge. If I still lived there I'm sure you could find me out there slinging a great big swimbait trying to catch a 15+.

[fisherman0625]

I would have to credit all my fishing knowledge and fishing and hunting craze to my dad. He passed this genitic disorder call fishinitos on to me at birth..lol Anyway, he learned to fish at dale hollow too woody, from one of the greats, Fred McClintok <--- Spelling) He has passed everything on to me that he knows. One of my most memorable times is when I took him fishing in 2004 ( which im only 23). I had been reading and hearing about this fnf thing so i went to laurel and taught myself... Absolutly LOVE it. My favorite kind of fishing, besides jig and pig night time bite at the hollow. Anyway back to the story, In 2004 we loaded up and went to The Hollow. I Finally got to show him a technique that he didnt know about. I landed a 4lb 9 once smallie right off the bat, right in front of Bobby Gentry at hendricks creek boat dock ( first point on the right at the no wake markers. Bobby had two clients in the boat saying " man there bitin today...lol... Well we went up the bank a lil more and my dad caught one 3 lb 6 onces on fnf.... Needless to say he is hooked now. It was like one of those times when the dad is proud of his son. It was like a reverse role..lol Till this day we still fnf fish.. Ohh yea woody im the guy right beside the big fish picture on floatandfly.com we caught both hogs the same day... man was they bitin..lol Get better and we will drown some flys this winter... i changed jobs and got some days off now. We can use my boat. Sorry to everyone i havent been posting reports on dale that much but this year alone from jan 1 till now, my dad and brother and I have caught 127 smallmouth 2 pounds or better out of dale hollow. I have caught 24 smallmouth 4 + pounds with probably 7 or 8 of them being over 5 this year.. It has been a very great year and it has just slowed down the last 2 or 3 weeks. Man I cant wait untill Fnf, i just hope I havent used up my catches...lol Gotta leave a few for the fly... Best wishes to everyone. As soon as I get all my pics loaded up to the computer off the digital camera I will post the better ones...

[fisherman0625]

To anwser all the question---> I have been fishing since I could walk, mom said i would cry my eyes out when dad would leave to go to laurel or dale chasing smallmouth. Love my dad and mom and they have put up with alot of stuff with me a fishing, from skippin highschool to go fishin to callin into work sick to go fishin...lol good times. Its not one time that got me hooked its everytime that I have been out on the water. Just looooovvee the outdoors. Catching fish is just a plus to me.

[kygorski]

Want to give it a try, look me up in december, always room in my boat, and I've got an extra rod rigged up, fish mostly cumberland but also dale, its not a monster bass boat but will comfortably fish two, and dont worry about gas, my 40 4 strke almost makes the stuff.

[kygorski]

My mom bought us two cane poles, and we took a bus to a lake in chicago, in her later years she said that was one of the biggest mistakes she ever made!Six boats later,and a shed full of tackle, I still think of that monster gill she let us put into a jar, and bring home. Later after I got better at it, and went ape she made that comment. I've told two wives they at most could be a close second in my life, and I told them honestly, if they thought they could change me, maybe I wasn't the right choice for them.Had two wonderfull wives who at times were exasperated with me, but like i said, I warned you.Things sort of changed when the kids came, till they were old enought tofish.When my son said little league wasn't as much fun as fishing, the bat and glove were history.That first trip was almost 64 years ago.

[gocards40]

This is good reading. Thanks.

I have been fishing since I was old enough to hold a rod. I was ate up with it before I was a teenager. I remember going to the lake with my parents and driving them nuts because all I wanted to do was fish. They wanted to play, swim, ski and tube but my little but just wanted a rod and some worms. They used to drop me off at the bank as I got a little older and let me fish while they went out a little distance and played. I bet it drove them crazy.
I grew up in Louisville and would ride my bike to the "Flood wall" as we called it. Caught bait sized green sunfish and mud cats mostly but we had a ball in that creek. I fished that creek almost all the way to the river looking for better fish more times than I can count.
My grandpa loved to fish. My grandpa would go to Florida in the winter for a few months every year. We would go down there on vacation and he had a morning ritual of hunting crabs for bait and fishing on an old pier in the bay. Thinking about it now I never enjoyed that kind of fishing much but being with him made it worth every sunburn. The old fart would stay out there all day and fish straight down next to the pilings and catch Sheephead. Over the years he taught many other old farts how catch fish on that pier. It was not hard work but it was hard fishing for a little fellow. That pier i think is gone now and replaced with boat docks for some fancy boats. But I will always remember exactly where it was.
Dad I think likes fishing but never fell in love with it like I have. But it makes for easy conversation between us. I am not sure he knows it but he gave me one of the best gifts he could have by taking me fishing. I know he did not always want to go but he seldom said no. If I asked he took me and I always asked until I got a little older.
I think like alot of kids/teens I hit a spot in my life were fishing was not number 1 anymore. It gave way to girls and partys. But I always came back to it when I needed it and it always was waiting for me.
Now days fishing is a way for me to escape mentally. I am still just as ate up with it but also have learned that I don't have to catch 200 bluegill a trip for it to be a good day.
I think for some kids they just have it in them and and others need a little more time to fall in love. My son drives me crazy because he could careless right now. He has alot of medical problems that does not allow him to go as much as I would like but I can't help but think that if I can get him hooked he will always be able to come back to it.

Thanks and get well bud.

[DaveR]

What got you hooked on your favorite fish or kind of fishing?

... that I will cherish every minute on that water for the rest of my life. Smallmouth and winter time FNF fishing is my favorite as you now know. What got you hooked?

I had bass fished farm ponds and streams for bass with plastic worms, spinners and a few crankbaits, I would readevery Bassmaster Magazine cover to cover and remember everything. I also read Jim Strader's Fishing Book cover to cover (for Dad would never allow cable in our house so I couldn't watch Ray Scott, Hank, Bill or Jimmy and thats how I am raising my kids today ...)

Anyway, I wanted to catch a springtime bucketmouth. It was Spring Break from college March 1988.

Took a friend of mine to Beaver Lake I had an 4.5hp Eska we would put on the back of a john boat we rented at Jericho or Guist Cr. But today I was trying out some different waterthat I heard big bass were in.
Anyway, we fished all day without probably even a bite (you know how a day like that can be) I was determined to catch a fish after remembering the dock owner telling us that morning about all the bigbass that had already been caught that year. I had a Garcia Conolon Graphite Flipping Stick with some sort of Ambassador Reel an some 15 or 17 lb Trilene Big Game Line put on a 3/8 oz jig and uncle josh crawfish trailer, both which I had purchased at either AlliedSporting Goods or Washington Warehouse in Louisville. I fished that jig a dozen or so casts remembering reading how a pig and jig is the ultimate cold water bait

So I decide to slow itdown and visualize that bait hopping and crawling along the bottom, thinking about exactly howit looked coming thru rocks and sticks (just like I had read in an article about Larry Nixon's jig fishing techniques) when it happened, the line felt heavy, mushy as if I had hooked a water logged winter coat that had been sunk to the bottom, then it moved, to the side and I knew it was a fish down there, what seems now like 20 seconds, probably only lasted 2 seconds before I reared back and slammed the hook home, it was a fight. When it was all said and done the biggest bass I had ever seen alive was at the surface with a mouth so big that I could fit my fist in it. I was ecstatic. To make a long story short, I put it on a stringer and motored slowly back to the dock to weight it and get my picture took (Like all the others I had gleamed at that morning) I had goose bumps of excitement.

It ended up weighing 5 lbs 6 oz I believe and unfortunately their polaroid was out of film. But that fish I'll never forget. From that day on, it was hard to get me to fish for anything other than bass, and I fished tournaments from 1993 up until this spring, winning alot of money and spending alot of money as well. I can't go as much as I used to due to my children, but I still will always be "hooked".

[Chubminnow]

I'm like a lot of other guys here in that I don't remember at what time in my life that I became "hooked" on fishing. All I know is that I've been going to the lake since I was born, maybe even since before I was born actually, if that makes any sense. Growing up all we ever did for a family vacation was go to Lake Cumberland...I remember way back in the day when Kings Island first opened and all my friends in school were talking about going to Kings Island, etc...heck my dad even had family that lived in Ohio, but he wasn't having any of it. Nope, we were going to the lake for our vacation...each and every year, no matter what, no matter who wanted to go or didn't want to go, we were going to Lake Cumberland.

I also remember plenty of "guys only" fishing trips when I went with dad too. Sometimes it was just me and him while there were other times it was me, dad, my dad's uncle (who could flat out put a hurtin' on any species of fish by several different methods, trot lines, you name it), and uncles two sons (my cousins). On a few trips I remember leaving from home right after dad got off work from working second shift. He was supposed to come home and wake me up, but I never could sleep when I knew in a few hours I would be riding down the road in dad's 1960's model Dodge truck with our 16' jon-boat trailering behind. So as soon as he got home from work around 12:30 am or so, I was usually ready to go, hands in my pockets, asking him what we needed, are we forgetting anything, what do you want me to do, etc...and away we would go into the night. I didn't have a good sense of time back then it seems for it always seemed to take forever to get there. I'd usually fall asleep along the way. Sometimes waking up when the truck came to a stop at some small town red light. On these trips we would always arrive before day break and I remember parking along the side of the road, actually right in the parking lot of a bait shop called Chubminnow Farm (no lie and hence the reason behind my screen name, lol). Dad new the owner’s of the place quite well. The guy who owned the place was a commercial fisherman on Lake Cumberland and that’s who dad bought the jon-boat from. It had a Holsclaw trailer and a 33 Johnson Sea-Horse tiller style motor, I swear that thing could have pulled a skier, lol.

Other things I remember was catching crappie at Lake Cumberland…we would just find a cove with debris, motor up in the thickness of it all, drop our minnows over and catch the heck out of them. I remember “keeping score” too…I’d ask Dad if he wanted to be the Pirates or the Reds (my two favorite teams) and I’d pretend that each fish was a homerun, etc…kind of goofy I guess but what the heck.

I remember white bass and/or hybrid stripers in the jumps too…man talk about fish catching action…we caught so many fish when they were in the jumps that we didn’t even take the time to put them on the stringer, just take the fish off, throw it in the boat and cast the Shyster back out.

My own personal tackle back then consisted of a small flip open hammered aluminum tackle box with two shelves. Inside the tackle box was some of dad’s “older stuff” mixed up with some bobbers, packets of Eagle Claw snelled hooks and some sinkers, along with a few Shysters of course. My rod and reel consisted of the old Zebco 33 and the flimsiest fiberglass rod you guys have ever seen, but I learned to cast those Shysters a country mile on that rig. Eventually I moved up to a Mitchell 300 spinning outfit.

Like one other guy here mentioned, somewhere along the way fishing escaped me for awhile when I was a teen, but it came back to me before I hit twenty and I was still using the old leaky but ever faithful 16’ jon-boat with the 33 horse Johnson. My towing vehicle then was a 1970 Chevy Van, old school style with the flat front end. Then I got married and continued my love of fishing and then I got divorced and once again, fishing escaped me for a few years. Now I’m remarried for almost eleven years now and that old jon-boat is long gone now, but I just have a feeling in my bones that fishing is here to stay with me for the rest of my time on earth as long as God is willing and my health and income allows.

But to get back to Elwood’s original question about when we got hooked, my answer is I have no idea. Nice thread Elwood and nice having you back on the board!

[18'stratos]

The peacefulness of just being out away from everyone and everything. This is where I can seperate myself completely. The only thing on my mind is how I am going to catch that big large mouth bass.

[mhall]

The peacefulness of just being out away from everyone and everything. This is where I can seperate myself completely. The only thing on my mind is how I am going to catch that big large mouth bass.

Well put, as it may be the only true mental escape I have. Not even being in the woods hunting does it as much as my fishing does, so I can really relate to your post.