Our Dads

[bwana]

Thanks Mike.

My dad passed at 49 and he also taught me to fish back in the day in Wisconsin.

I always drove the boat even though I was barely able to pull start it. I think I drove him nuts pestering him to go fishing.

He also introduced me to my other passion - hunting.

My main regret is he didn't get to fish with my girls.

[ful-rac]

My dad introduced me to fishing when I was about 3, and I was hooked right away...I can some how remember the moment when I caught my first fish. The excitement, the feeling of what I can only describe as electricity, moving up the line and into my body. An amazing feeling, that I have to this day, never forgotten. I have fished ever since, I can't say the same for my dad or anybody else in my family....I wish they did though..

[BottomFeederPeter]

Hit me right in the feels man...I have a photo somewhere of my father and I the first time we went fishing back home in Ontario. He and a couple of uncles were instrumental in developing my love for the natural world and instilling the importance of stewardship and responsible harvest in both fishing and hunting. I'll never forget being out on a cattle boat together, he turns to me and says "hey can you reel this in for me? gotta tie my shoe..." Low and behold, there's a toad of a bass on the line. Seven year old me raved for weeks to anyone who would listen about the huge fish I caught and how it just magically appeared on the line. It took me until I was a man in my own right to understand what he did for me that day.

Its a primal thing, a man teaching his son to feed himself. I cant wait till I'm able to share the same with my progeny. Now I just have to stop fishing long enough to find someone willing to procreate...

[Lipripper92592]

Dang Onions in here! My mom and my dad introduced me to fishing at a young age. I'd spend countless hours siting in my moms lap, holding my Zebco outfit, just waiting for that "nibble". Good read Mike. Pops is 83 and stage four at this point. I put him in the Jeep on Thanksgiving and drove him to La Jolla and parked on the beach for a few hours just letting him soak it in. It's been over a decade since he's been on a beach. It was just epic, sitting there with him, hearing the waves fall upon the shore. I closed my eyes and I was 8 years old again........

[makobob]

Mom and dad and gramp's all had me fishing by the time I was 5. Gramp was the chaparone for their first date, they went surf fishing in Ocean Beach just on the right side of where the pier is now. Lots of great memories growing up here.

[Lipripper92592]

Dad, when he was a kid, I think this is Santa Barbara. He used to tell how he dropped his fishing pole off the pier when he was a kid. He said something to the effect that it was a solid "steel" rod, square in shape, but tapers to the tip.

And the other photo is his mom, never got to meet her. But I think this shot is around La Jolla/Windansea area. I'm not very familiar with the southern CA coast, but if anyone can chime in on the possible location, it would be greatly appreciated.

[addicted2sp33d]

I've been fishing for as long as I can remember.

My uncle is actually the one who introduced me to the sport. My dad had little interest in fishing. Being a "started from the bottom" blue-collar kind of guy, he felt like sitting around waiting for fish was a waste of time.

However, once he noticed that I was hooked, he would take me fishing all the time, even though he didn't enjoy fishing himself.

My toddler is currently only interested in feeding the fish in our fish tank, but as soon as he decides to drop a line in that tank, I'm getting him out on the kayak!

[surfisher]

Awesome post ....

My dad got me hooked on two things when I was about 5yrs old; surfing & fishing. I still remember going haywire over catching big makeral off the golf ball! Since then, my dad and I still fish quite often from our skiff and constantly try and one up each other in the quality of our catch. I honestly think I annoy the hell out of him by consistently bugging him to get out there with me, but I do think he has a little pride knowing he got me hooked on the ocean. I'm only 22 and am still just as fired up on fishing as I was when I started.

I would love to get him on a yak but I know that won't ever happen, still great to fish with him on a skiff!

[FISH11]

I can remember the times that my dad took me fishing when I was young. Some of my favorite memories are of us fishing La Jolla from the rocks accross the street when we lived on South Coast Blvd 2 blocks south of the childrens pool, we used to get rockfish, some times catch lobster or even abalone in the tide pools. That was La Jolla in the early 1960's, we also would fish the north side of Scripps Pier for corvina, etc.. I too wish I could take my Dad fishing in a kayak but at 93 he has a hard time walking. Often when fishing out there I can look back at the coast line and remember all the areas we fished and how things were, man how time fly's. Like Lipripper92592 said Damn those onions. Thanks Mike for bringing some really good memories of who started me fishing.

[blitzburgh]

I have photos of me in diapers fishing at Pymatuning State Park in PA. My Dad made a conscious decision not to be like most of his family, never leaving the city. With minimal experience, he got us out of the city and into the outdoors and our family never looked back. Though he's getting up there, I'm lucky to still have him around and fish with as much as possible.

Sort of along the same lines, this is why I try to give as much as I can to friends of Rollo. Too many kids don't have that person to expose them to beauty of fishing. I love what they do!

[Zed]

I certainly learned a lot from him re fishing. I remember him telling me not to tell the other anglers (his friends) where we were prefishing bass tournaments no matter how hard they asked.

I also remember him teaching me to follow behind him in single file as we went out on the ice to fish early season so he could check the ice depth. He would take a few steps and plunge the auger down, and then take a few more steps and hit the ice again until we were at the spot. One time after catching a feed of some walleye on a frozen eddy of the Mississippi, we were headed back to shore and I was following like a baby duck, like I was told, and I watched him go through the ice in front of me. He levitated out of that hole like he had a jet pack. Definitely one of those "Don't tell mom" moments.

I just had a lot more wave experience than he, when he finally couldn't take my yak stories anymore and had to do it too.