First off, great thread. I've really enjoyed hearing everyone's stories. I started fishing with my grandpa at about age 5 in the Licking River for drum but really just anything that would bite. My dad was always a big horseman and didn't really have the patience for fishing. That was perfectly ok though because I loved spending time with grandpa. I remember getting up long before daylight digging red worms for the day and us just talking about which stretch of river we were gonna try that day and what everybody had been catching. The patience that my papaw had was something that I look back on now with great joy as he would never get discouraged or upset if they weren't biting. Whether it be a day that we caught more than we could carry or a day when the bites were few he kept the same joyful attitude and that's something that I try to continually apply to my life. I attribute any success I've had fishing in my life to the example he set so long ago about enjoying God's artistry and just having fun with one another. As I grew older I started to develope a greater interest in bass fishing. A local friend of the family was a avid bass fisherman and he took me under his wing and taught me so much about the sport before he passed away from cancer several years ago. I will always remember at age 14 I fished my first tournament with him. That day I learned that there was more that went into fishing than just casting and reeling. At the end of a long day we had caught nothing as it was a COLD march day on Cave Run. The last stop before weigh in I was pretty down about the day and thought it was over when he pulls up at the mouth of a cove and points in a direction for me to cast and says there should be a good one laying right out there. After looking in that direction I see absolutely nothing to cast at but go ahead and cast that direction out into the lake. He says ok now just ease it over that log that you feel down there and when it falls over the other side you should get bit. Well the rest of the story is that there was one fish weighed in that tourney and it was a 15 1/2 incher that I will never forget. God Bless you all and have a great day.