how did you get started fishing

[demodan]

I was in the 6th grade...I loved looking at bass pro shops order magazines...and dreamed of bass fishing, and winning the bass masters classic. I loved reading my dad's Field and Stream mags as well. And watching Jimmy Huston on TV. I must of been a little off...becouse there were Play Boy Mags...and Field and Stream mags..I went for the Field and Stream mags first??? I lived in Shelby Co., out in the country and their were many ponds out in the middle of God's country. I would leave early in the moring and do nothing but jump from pond to pond..catching bass on a texas rigged purple worms, and when I would get home, it would be dark. One day...I was told by my father to rake all the leaves and bag them up..it was an all day job, we had over an 1.5 acers, all trees!!! My father said that when he returned from Louisville at the end of the day...he better see the job done. About 1 hour into the raking...I decided to run off and go fishing across the fields, down the rail road tracks and far away...I forgot all about the leaves that Oct day. I caught my first 5 pound bass...and a 4 pounder to go with it!!! I got back home right before dark, with my fish. My mother, so upset...she didn't know where I was all day... had me pick out a switch off one of our apple trees;...after I filled up the 50 gal bucket and laid my fish in there. My father just arrived to see the two giants in the bucket...and was amazed, he wanted to know how I caught them!!!. He also is a avid bass angler. My mom begain to wip me good for leaving all day and didn't tell her where I was going..she was pissed! She wipped my legs good with that switch. Then she asked me the question that has been passed down in my family for years, with blood coming from my wipped legs...she asked me this; "WAS IT WORTH IT SON", "WAS IT WORTH IT GETTING YOUR ASS BEAT LIKE THIS"??? and you all know what my answer was......."yyyeeeessss it was mom" So she wipped me some more and said again asked..."WAS IT WORTH IT"...and I again said...."yyyeeessss mom it was worth it". She began to beat me even more! My dad couldn't believe what I was saying...maybe he said... thinking to himself...that I didn't understand what she was asking..so he asked her to ask again ....WAS IT WORTH IT? And again I said..."yes it was worth it mom', with tears streaming from my eyes. She sent me to bed that evening very early and without dinner, she was to tired and worn out from wipping my ass.
I woke up the next day and my two fish were gone from the bucket. Three weeks later .... my father and mom felt so bad about beating my ass off...that he took those two fish and had them mounted for me on a nice stump mount! I still have them to this day! That story has been passed to my children...they know what all I'd go through to go fishing. I hope I die fishing...being on the water would be the last thing I'd like to see.

[crappie chaser]

they say my first time on the water was when i was 6 weeks old. of course i dont remember but all my life i rmember fishing with my dad and mom. crappie mostly butdadand i did some bass fishin time to time. my dad worked alot but he always took time to take me out in the boat ( which i still fish in) a 1984 mercury procraft he bought new in danville at hAWNS MERCURY. man he was always proud of that boat. we fished green river and cumberland the most and when we couldnt fish the lake i waded the creek in front of my house (hanging fork)almost every day as a kid bout 8 to 10 miles a day and hich hike back. ( dont advise that now lot of crazy people now days) I learned so much from my dad on our outtings. not just about fishing but life in general. I lost dad dec. 5th of 2008 but i never go out in our boat without him. I feel him with me on every trip and usually shed a tear! his dad loved to fish he loved to fish and i love to fish. I try to teach the 3 girls the same love and hope they take up the torch, but that their choice. Fishin is more than hookin the big one, its about learning and bonding and appricating the nature and beauty the good Lord has surrounded us with!

[Stevens]

Well first off, i really enjoyed reading everyones posts. I'd have to say I was just born into fishing. My brothers, who are much older than me, were already addicted to bass fishing by the time i came around. I dont even remember catching my first fish, but i do remember my first trip to KY Lake when i was about 3. I just loved it. When I got a little older my granny would take me down to the city park all the time, catchin bluegill and little cats. Then when i was 6 my oldest brother introduced me to bass fishing.. and topwater fishing at that. Those are some of my best memories, throwing that prop bait on those clear strip pits, watching those bass come up and look at it before the strike. I was totally hooked from that point.

[publican57]

"Now I believe it's border line mental illness."

That is funny; my wife would agree. I like to think of it as my second childhood.