How it all started

B
beaverfan
Well-known member
So the topic was brought up in another thread but I am curious how you all got hooked on fishing? When was that moment you knew that fishing was for you? Did you get your love for fish from your parents or did you stumble on it accidently?

Mine was at Krumbo Reservoir in Eastern Oregon about 8-9 years ago. I got out there it was the beginning of June. I was sitting there talking to a buddy and a fish hit my bait and took off. My pole was gone, I was so mad at myself. About ten minutes later my dad gets a bite. He sets the hook and reels it in. It was a rainbow about twenty inches that had just so happened to wrap around my line. I pulled my poll in and felt a tug. The fish was still on and I reeled it in and there was a fat 24 inch "bow". We caught many fish that trip pushing 20 inches. I'll be going back there this fall when the water cools a bit. If the rumors I've heard are true it still has some biguns waiting for me.
 
My uncle used to take us to Willamina pond when I was real little on opening day. It stuck with me.
 
I became addicted after my first trip to mossyrock park on a reservoir that i have forgotten the name of. I was two years old and my dad handed me a 4ft ultralight with a bobber and worm while I was sitting on a dock playin in the water. He showed me how to cast but I couldn't get it so I just dropped it straight down about 2 feet from the dock. I must have sat there for atleast 2 hours( an eternity for a toddler) when my bobber goes down and I see a shiny thing flashing in the water. My dad hollers reel it up so I did and it was some kind of sunfish, I have forgotten that as well. After that I was hooked. It's funny how that's the only thing I can remember from that age, but everything else until I was about 7 or 8 is a blur.
 
I really dont know... One day, I just shouted out "I like fishing!" and ive been addicted ever since, but having a family that doesn't really enjoy driving and waiting (even though they go crazy over the fish) is tough.
 
My dad took me to Gilbert River Boat Ramp
Caught a Perch.
 
Good parenting...

Good parenting...

My reason for taking up fishing was due to good parenting, my family moved up the Mackenzie river to a house very near the river. Well my oldest son (9 years old at the time) wanted to go down to the river and catch some fish for dinner...yea right I thought. Well he returned home a few hours later with a bucket of Trout...:shock: and a story of this guy under the bridge that was teaching him how to catch them. Well the dad came out in me "a guy under a bridge" well I will let your imagination run wild like mine did...I quickly became a tote along dad with my son on the river. Once I saw him catch three fish in a row I thought shoot I can do this;).
That started a life of angling for the two of us, we both started out like most others with a Bi-mart rod and reel and a bucket of garden hackle. Well it didn't take long and we both started looking for larger and larger fish...Steelhead that’s the ticket. Then a boat and then a larger boat and again a larger boat, then waders and fly rods; now after 27 years we both still fish together and both have a very deep love for the sport. My son is even a member of this site (Mokia), now he is primarily a fly angler and myself am a spinning style angler. He has a balance between his two loves, photography and fly angling; me I went over board on the angling and never looked back. I gave my golf clubs away and started putting as much money into my gear that I could get away with;), now after this much time you would think I would have every thing needed for a day on the water....NOT!!!
I can think of at least 2 or 3 thousand dollars I could put into my tackle and not even see it....how embarrassing is that:rolleyes:
I wouldn't trade any of it for a million bucks...well maybe a million - just think of the stuff one could buy from Cabelas with a million bucks..:cool:
This is my story and I am sticking to it, unless my wife reads this ;)

Chuck
 
It's a shared love

It's a shared love

Wow,talk about bringing back memories! My late husband and I were at a swap meet in San Luis Obispo,California when we both spotted some fishing gear. He had fished a little as a youngster and I had no experience at all. We bought all sorts of gear,some without a clue what to use it for,and made plans for the following weekend. It was great! We each caught a couple of respectable trout at Lake Naciemento and we were hooked. After that,we would wake each other up in the middle of the night and holler "let's go fishing!!"
We started a family a few years later and moved back to Oregon. We slowly put our rods in the back of the garage and seldom had time to get them out to the water. When he was killed in a trucking accident,I became Mom & Dad for our daughter and son,I decided fishing was going to become a family tradition. The kids and I took OFF in the truck and camper with a couple of rods and very little gear but lots of determination. We drove all over the western half of the state and had a grand time. Autofisher caught a king fish at some dam in southern Oregon and caught the fever. Neither of us has ever regretted sharing a love for nature and fishing. Now, if I could just get the lil bugger to eat fish!
 
Wow great stories guys. Can't wait to hear more!
 
Mine started with my Grandpa back around 1976 (I was six years old) out on the rocks just south of Stonefield Beach (roughly seven miles south of Yachats Oregon). He would go with a tin bucket to bring the fish home, about a nine foot medium weight spinning rod and use spark plugs as sinkers and california muscle as bait to catch perch, Kelp Greenling (sea Trout) and other specie... he even caught a crab wigh line and hook (a very large dungeoness).

Well I started following him and he set me up with a small spinning rod (reel on top push button casting type) which was about 6 or 7 foot long and I would use a knife to harvest our bait on the rocks.

I don't remember catching my first fish out there, but do know it was either a perch or Kelp greenling. I do remember being about eight and going fishing with him and his brother off of the rocks at Strawberry Hill State Park. That day I caught the only two fish (both over 20 inch long Kelp greenling) and outfished him and his brother who used to tie flies for a living somewhere around the Umpqua and Roque rivers.

When I was about 12 my grandpa set me up with a fly rod using a bait casting reel and braided line with mono leader (about four feet of leader) and a metal Band-Aid brand bandage container full of red worms or night crawlers and I would follow him on his morning walks and we would both catch trout (rainbows and fresh run cut throat) on Ten Mile Creek. We would only keep a couple fish for the days we went out usually in the 12 to 15 inch range and eat them for breakfast with our eggs. There were a couple time where I caught a fingerling (small salmon smolt about the size of your pinky finger) and a small six inch smolt and grandpa showed me how to release them and the importance of having wet hands when handling fish so that you don't remove the protective slime.

Well due to some decisions I made about which parent I wanted to live with my grandpa quit doing things with me as I chose to live with my mom, but as an early teenager I would go to Waverly Park in Albany and fish in the dammed section of Perrywinkle creek for panfish (blue gill, pumpkin seed, etc...) or to another section of Perrywinkle creek where it intersects first street and catch crawdads. Then I would fish the callipooia (only ever caught pike minow) or some farm ponds for bass.

I went into the Service and pretty much quit fishing for years, and then one day I figured heck there are lakes over here with some trout.. and bang I was going fishing at least once a year for stocked rainbows. Then I got to thinking that I already pay for a fishing license and tags with my sportman's pack and so I bought some line and a medium weight 8.5 foot ugly stick and rigged my trout reel with 10 pound Maxima Chamelion line and went out and caught my first salmon (with the help of an old guy that alwas was where I was fishing the Umatilla).

Well I have been hooked ever since and am now trying to spread the disease to my boy (well stepson really, but he might as well be mine) as I got married almost a year ago and inheritted a son in the process :)

last year I didn't get to go out due to being too busy, but I am hoping to make up for it this year (have been out a few times but have a bad skunk going.). We are planning a family trip in a couple weeks to Pendland lake in the Blue Mountains outside of Heppner for some trout fishing and I know that will remove some of the skunk.

Dave
 
Raincatcher said:
Wow,talk about bringing back memories! My late husband and I were at a swap meet in San Luis Obispo,California when we both spotted some fishing gear. He had fished a little as a youngster and I had no experience at all. We bought all sorts of gear,some without a clue what to use it for,and made plans for the following weekend. It was great! We each caught a couple of respectable trout at Lake Naciemento and we were hooked. After that,we would wake each other up in the middle of the night and holler "let's go fishing!!"
We started a family a few years later and moved back to Oregon. We slowly put our rods in the back of the garage and seldom had time to get them out to the water. When he was killed in a trucking accident,I became Mom & Dad for our daughter and son,I decided fishing was going to become a family tradition. The kids and I took OFF in the truck and camper with a couple of rods and very little gear but lots of determination. We drove all over the western half of the state and had a grand time. Autofisher caught a king fish at some dam in southern Oregon and caught the fever. Neither of us has ever regretted sharing a love for nature and fishing. Now, if I could just get the lil bugger to eat fish!



WOW, Small World Sis. Lustrums ago Lake Naciemiento & San Antonio were two of my favorite fishin' holes. Mostly c&r several species of bass, catfish, trout, kept some crappie & redear perch at times.........:D

Also fished several of the ponds at Hunter Liggett & the Salinas River going by the gorge & Arroyo Seca. One of my best buddies lived in Camp Roberts. We lived in the Monterey/Marina/Prunedale/Salinas area.



My Love fer fishin' began when my Daddy took me a few times when iwas three or four years old.

I grew up an Army brat living in several beautiful states in our Great Country (also Germany) & went fishin' every chance i got in many states.

My love fer fishin' continued when i was in the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, & Explorers when we were campin'.....................:lol::lol::lol:


I'm still lovin' fishin'..............:cool::cool::cool:.........:D:D:D
 
On a bet

On a bet

My fishing started when a friend bet me I couldn't catch a fish on this very hot afternoon, well I did and with the money I won I bought a new rod and reel. Now I am totally addicted to the sport, am looking into a boat for the added catch rate. The friend that started it all for me is now a golfer, at least that is one less person on the water and his fish are mine.
Speaking of boats, anyone reccommend a nice starter boat?

GM
 
I'm not really sure when it all started since I've been fishing my whole life. As a kid I'd typically have the choice between either the biggest fish or 1st place for the yearly cub/boy scouts fishing derbies.

Really the only time in my life when I didn't spend my weekends fishing was during undergrad and then strangely enough this year.
 
My dad used to set us up on the bank of some little muddy river near Florence with a dozen worms and we would catch bullhead and flounder all day. The rest is history....
 
Most of it......

Most of it......

Well, Raincatcher got most of the story right. I did hook my first fish on that trip. I also conned some guy into cleaning all of them. Problem was, that we were at a fish farm. You could throw a bare hook in the water and the fish would go nuts. So for a long time after that we didn't get a chance to do much fishing. We moved around a lot and between work for my mom and school activities and such for me and my sister, there wasn't a lot of time for much else.
I think it was around my Freshman year in highschool and we lived in Troutdale. I had gone out for a guys camping trip and we'd done a little fishing. I came home and after that, my mom and I were on the hunt for new fishing spots. We tried here and there to catch some fish but always seemed to strike out. Till......

One day we decided to head up to Rosalyn Lake and do some trout fishing. We had fished up there before without much success, but today was different, today we were renting a row boat. (I was so eager to go, I volunteered to row all day)It was the usual over cast day in Oregon with some chance of rain. We rowed out and started throwing some eggs out and fishing on the bottom. We couldn't figure out why every time we pulled the line in, it was covered with algae.
Now keep in mind that the majority of our gear was either newly bought or we had pilfered it from my grandfather's tacklebox. So there wasn't a large assortment of lures or really anything good.
I set about trying to figure out how to get my bait to float. I found some OLD oakie floats in our gear and decided that it would do the trick. It did. Boy did it do the trick. It worked much in the way that powerbait does. Weight sits on the bottom and the float brought the eggs out of the muck and into a better spot for the fish to get to it. About 15 minutes later, BAM! First fish on the line. About two minutes after I got it on the boat, BAM! My mom asked me to set her up too.
It didn't matter that it was raining(a lot). We were laughing and having a great time. My reel pretty much fell apart, and I pulled the fish in by hand. Didn't matter. It was a blast. We were catching so many fish and having such a good time that other people on the lake were rowing up to us and asking us what we were using.
See, what got it all started for me wasn't the actual fishing itself. It was the moment in time when my mom and I were having such a good time that the rest of the world didn't exist. There were no bills, no family problems and no jobs to be worked. It was pure and simple. Mother and son enjoying eachother's company not as parent or child, but as two best friends.
From that day on I was hooked. Hooked on the whole experience.
 
It seems to me I have always been fishing. My earliest memories of fishing are on the coastal Salmon River when I was about five. My Dad was into fishing then. As a youngster with other kids we would hit the Clackamas, Molalla, Sandy and even Johnson creek after it had been stocked. When I was old enough to drive I was hitting the local river again. Most of the youthfull fishing was for trout with salmon eggs and spinners like the red devil. Today I fish all I can, from open ocean to small stream fly Fishing. When I was 17 I shipped in the US Merchant Marine and always brought a fishing rod a board ship. I got some strange looks form the other guys but when we would hit a port, out would come the rod and over the side of the ship I'd fish. I met my wife while I was in college and found out she like to fish too. She has been my fishing partner for close to 40 years. Tonight as I write this sitting in our camper, here in Newport, she is fast a sleep after spending another wonderful day on the ocean fishing with my mother and the man who introduce me to fishing some 55 years ago my Dad. I did the same favor for my sons, both now with children of there own. I enjoy the time I am able to spend on the water with them and look forward to hooking those gradkids on fishing.
 
Last edited:
They Stocked Johnson Creek?
 
I taught myself how to fish in a couple of ponds in Eugene when I was 12 years old. I remember my first rod and reel set up was a Quick brand. I bought it at Payless with my first paycheck from my paper route. I'm 41 yrs old now and I still fish those ponds and it's where I caught my biggest bass at 8lbs 9 oz, my biggest crappie at 14 inches, my biggest bluegill at 13 inches, my biggest bullhead at 19 inches, my biggest carp at 33 inches, and my biggest warmouth caught this year. I love those ponds.
 
GEEZ!
13" Blue Gill?!
Probally felt like a Giant bass.
 
Troutier Bassier said:
GEEZ!
13" Blue Gill?!
Probally felt like a Giant bass.

It did. Caught it on a yellow and white crappie jig.
 
Troutier Bassier said:
They Stocked Johnson Creek?
Oh yes they stocked Johnson Creek and the Clack, Fish Creek, the Molalla, the Deschutes the Hood River the Salmon the Zig Zag and just about anything flowing with water. That was back in the 50s and 60s. When they would stock Johnson Creek between 82nd and 72nd they word would spread through out the neighborhood and us kids (at the time) would grab our fishing rods a jar of eggs, and jump on our bikes and head for the creek. Back then they didn't stock the lakes as much. They put the effort into filling the streams with fish. The limit was 10 fish and the minimum size was 6". It wasn't until much later that they quit stocking rivers and went to stocking the lakes. The whole theroy changed they didn't want folks fishing the rivers and catching samon and steelhead smolts as they would swim toward the ocean. The idea was to put the trout pressure on the lakes where there were no young salmon to hook into. So yes they did stock Johnson Creek.
 

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