how long have you

boater · 10-16-2001, 10:02 AM

been fishing, i have been for over 35 years.

TheRogue · 10-16-2001, 10:07 AM

I remember my first fishing trip with a family friend, my dad was always too busy working 6-7 days a week. We hit half the streams in Curry Co., using alder branches with 4-6 feet of mono tied on the end, and a hook with whatever bug we could find. A bijillion fish were caught that day, most were salmon/steelhead smolts, but I had no clue then. I think I was 6.

kyle

Slow Roll · 10-16-2001, 10:12 AM

Got me by a few, I'm at twenty years.(counting way back to when I can first remember holding a fishing pole)

Ya know, I still don't know very dang much after all that time. I feel so dumb out there on the water when those shiny pants are not cooperating. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Smily · 10-16-2001, 10:46 AM

I'm like Boater. I can recollect 35 yrs but probably longer. I remember my parents taking us in a red wagon with all the gear. Also remember getting my hair pulled out because I woudn't quit fishing and help pack up camping gear. It quite a dramatic moment for me. I still kept on fishing!!!! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Smily [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Thumper · 10-16-2001, 10:48 AM

45 out of my 60 ancient years. Argggh. Better than the alternative, I guess. Oh, and I have caught 3 fish!

CAGEY · 10-16-2001, 10:58 AM

Since i was six years old. My stepfather was a hunting and fishing guide in Platte So.Dak.
He started taking me bass fishing in the lakes and dams and i have some wonderful memories of those fishing trips. We used a lot of "Heddon Lures" in those days, red and white, black with white stripes, pork rind on silver spoons etc. He also invented and supplied about 25,000 walleye jigs to the west coast back in i beleave the 60's. So i guess i have baited a lot of hooks and cleaned a whole bunch of fish, i have 60 + years of fishing experience. Now i know there are some of you old timers out there that can beat that so fess up. BOE, now you know where i learned to eat donuts. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

BUGLEMAN · 10-16-2001, 12:45 PM

First salmon was - 6yrs old at bouy 10. I had the hot rod and caught the only ones [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

I really didn't start fishing by myself till I was 12. That was single egg fishing on the White river (Mt Hood) and was where I learned to drift fish. So lets start there. 32-12 = 20 yrs. You would think I should be able to catch a fish or two by now.

FM2 · 10-16-2001, 01:13 PM

Since I was knee high to a grasshopper [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

NAUTI-NOTIONS · 10-16-2001, 01:25 PM

Btm fishing off of point no point in a 8' sea nymph. had orcas surface about 100 yards out and thought i was gonna get eaten,,, couldn't wait to go out the next day...on a "FERRY" that was 33 years ago and i have yet to repeat that experience. love the northwest and so has everyone else i have had the pleasure of being out with.

[ 10-16-2001: Message edited by: Bumper_Chrome ]

FallRiverGuy · 10-16-2001, 01:30 PM

I think I was born ready to fish. However, it has been 35 years since my grandmother told me the secret to catching fish...ya gotta hold your mouth right! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Rauly · 10-16-2001, 01:53 PM

38 years
Chinook
Coho
Chum
Sokeye
Pinks
Steelhead
Rainbows
Cutt Throats
German Browns
Sturgeon
Pike
Walleye
Bass
Perch
Sunfish
Crappie
Blue Gill
Rock Bass
Bream
Catfish
Bullhead
Blue Fish
Croaker
Surf Perch
Sand Shark
Flounder
Dolphin
Spike Trout
Weakfish
Stripers

I think thats about all that I have caught, and have enjoyed every minute of it. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

SlapStick · 10-16-2001, 02:08 PM

Lets see....I was eight when I caught my first fish....and I'm fortyseven now....hmmm...you do the math! Fishing has become a real passion for me since my early twentys....a long time ago.

Three fish....hehe...that's a good one!

FISH4MORE · 10-16-2001, 02:12 PM

I have been fishing for 48 years. Went with my dad fishing for chinooks out of Charleston. He caught 2 and have been hooked ever since. Still learning alot from this board. Thanks Jennie. Our IFISH Goddess.

Drachir · 10-16-2001, 03:20 PM

I caught my first Salmon, a 6# Coho, at age 3, that was 46 years ago. I've been hooked ever since!! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

10-16-2001, 05:04 PM

G's Boat', yer older than me. [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] I envisioned you as ... well, much younger.

My Dad started us brothers fishing off his friend's dock on Montana's Flathead Lake when we were knee highs. Still love it over there.

corky23 · 10-16-2001, 05:08 PM

31 of my 35 years. the Mckenzie river looked alot bigger when i was four.

10-16-2001, 05:10 PM

Around 30 years or so.
Stew

[ 10-16-2001: Message edited by: STEWED ]

10-16-2001, 05:11 PM

Ahhhhh Montana....where the men are men and the sheep are scared!
Stewey (little wannabe buddy of RT)

Evan0505 · 10-16-2001, 05:22 PM

Ive been flyfishing for 16 of my 19 years. Im not sure when i learned to fish with a spin pole, all i can remember doing is flyfishing. My dad told me he used to take me along when he went flyfishing, when i was really little i would just stand there with a stick and make a fly casting motion with it, then my dad tied a string to a stick, and that made it even better. By age 3 i was casting a fly pole (i learned to roll cast first).
tight lines -evan-

smilesforu · 10-16-2001, 05:53 PM

37 365 day periods as of monday. So far back I can't remember the first one. Have pictures of me with stringers of trout still in diapers.. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] Always enjoyed when the folks showed up at school a couple times a year to take me fishing with them. Kindergarten on.... trout fishing at lake sutherland [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

wiser · 10-16-2001, 06:28 PM

Since I was five. First fished the Chinook River, located between Ilwaco and the Megler/Astroria bridge(it was a ferry back then), for whatever we could catch. A handicapped friend of the family, ralph Wilson, gave me the first lessons in patience and helped me with the thrill of my first fish. Using Rd Wigglers or night crawlers when we could get them, they don't grow well in the sandy soil on the Long Beach penninsula, we caught everything from carp and bullheads to harvest trout and steelhead. Some great memories walking the short distance across the cow pasture, cutting a forked stick to lean the pole on and dreading the time when my moms car horn honked, indicating she was back to pick us up. Thanks Ralph PS I guess that makes almost 43 years, all I can hope for is 43 more.

[ 10-17-2001: Message edited by: Wiser? ]

local_hooker · 10-16-2001, 06:38 PM

I don't remember when I started. It was 1976 when I caught my first fish, I was 4. 4 rainbows in lost lake just north of Council, ID.

Pilar · 10-16-2001, 06:54 PM

Thanks for the memories ..........

Age 8, checking lobsters for my Dad on his boat the Jimmy Joe. Islamarada, Florida Keys. He ran a dive/fish charter business and lobstered in his spare time.

Fishing in the canal behind the house with a cane pole and a coffee can full of worms. Bream and stump********. We took a break every time one eye the gator went by. He would come up on the bank and hiss at you if he thought you had something to eat.

I thought fishing was something everyone did. Just like bowling or watching movies. Doesn't everybody eat lobster and Mahi Mahi for dinner Dad?

1967, man that was a long time ago. I didn't even know where Oregon was or what a Salmon looked like.

SuperT · 10-16-2001, 07:49 PM

The earliest I can remember is going to Mineral Lake on opening day when I was about 5 or 6. That would make it 23 or 24 years. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

reelman · 10-16-2001, 07:57 PM

I caught my first trout 49 years ago. 1960 for my first Coho, Chinook, and Steelhead.

First Bite · 10-16-2001, 08:32 PM

What time is it now...

Mark

Salmonator · 10-16-2001, 09:46 PM

31 of my 34 years. Started with bluegills in So Cal, then over to Jersey for a few years as a little guy catching puffer fish off the jettys with my dad. Pre-teens was spent off of Long Beach and Catalina Island for Bonita, Barricuda and calico bass. A few years milling around puget sound, then the last 15 years in good 'ol Orygun. In a month i'll be over in Oahu hopfully catching some mahi and possibly marlin if they're in season. So far my favorite fish of all is a big Astoria keeper sturgeon in the dead of summer. Nothing quite like it... Joe

[ 10-16-2001: Message edited by: Salmonator ]

Snapset · 10-16-2001, 10:25 PM

37 Years, out of 40 possible. One of my first memories was helping my dad land a salmon on fall creek. The danged salmon kept pulling line out of his reel so I reached up and grabbed the line so he wouldn't get away. I learned pretty quickly not to do that. We have all been taken fishing by adults, are we repaying the favor?

hoochie · 10-16-2001, 11:00 PM

August of 1952, Lake San Vicente, California:
Winner of the kid's tournament with 27 bluegill caught. 4 years old at the time.

Won a Zebco rod-n-reel Combo , been hooked ever since. Gota thank my Grandpa and my Dad.

Hmmm, makes me want to take MY grandson fishing. He lives with us and is always ready and willing to get them "ishies"

Jennie@ifish · 10-16-2001, 11:01 PM

Since I was about 3, probably.
On the Willamette, on the Sandy, the Molalla, Diamond Lake,
Ohhhhhh the good ol days!
Wait a minute, these are pretty good too!
[img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Jen

4Salt · 10-16-2001, 11:08 PM

About 33 of my 39 years. Salmon and steelhead, about the last 17 or so. Of course it all seems like dog years, the way it goes by so fast. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Slow Roll · 10-16-2001, 11:08 PM

Why do I not believe that Thumper. [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

Floater · 10-16-2001, 11:20 PM

My memory will let me go back about 30yrs. Take off 8yrs for when I was stationed in the desert of S. Cali puts me about 22yrs.

With over 200yrs posted so far, we should be the best darn fish slayers there every was.

Drifty · 10-16-2001, 11:28 PM

I've been doing it since I was 5 so that makes 22 years for me and I still don't know much.

WaterDog · 10-16-2001, 11:29 PM

Been fishing since I was 6 so that makes 25 years. Been an uncontrolable obsession for the last 12 or so. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Cagey, that does explain a lot. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

bait boy · 10-16-2001, 11:47 PM

I've probably been fishing for one type of fish or another for close to 25 years. only 6 out here though.

mudsucker · 10-16-2001, 11:50 PM

My dad started taking me salmon fishing when i was 5 so that makes about 33 years for me, but the last 15 i have fished alot more.

kenaifishn · 10-17-2001, 09:06 AM

Oregon native since '58 started out on Coquille river '62 after the storm.
since then have fished Oregon from the Sixes in the south to the Columbia north, the Owyhee in the east, and a lot of rivers and lakes in between.
Aside from the salmon and steelhead, love the hike in lakes in the cascades for the big brooks and browns...

happy trails

10-17-2001, 04:39 PM

45 of 50 years. Best years of my life. Hate cartoons being posted? See the nurse. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

FishinMission · 10-17-2001, 05:10 PM

O.K...I' 46...been fishin' since I was about 6, but not seriously until about 20 years after that. So..40 years, or seriously....about 20. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

wiser · 10-17-2001, 05:29 PM

FM, What's "seriously" mean? I was just as serious at six as I am today. Today I just spend more time and money on it.

HOGTIDE · 10-17-2001, 09:48 PM

Well, my daddy took me springer fishing for my birthday when I was 12 years old. (Good ol' Coon Island. All it used to take was a brass cloverleaf blade and a treblehook with a red feather......and I was hooked!!!)

So that makes about 33 years of fishin' for anadromous critters.

Unless you count that one day drifting the lower Sandy, when the east wind kept blowing my driftboat back upstream. That one trip would increase the tally by at least another 10 years [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

THE REEL HEY_YALL · 10-18-2001, 08:20 AM

21 years to the best of my knowledge. Things start getting fuzzy when I try to remember before 3 yrs. old. Must have been all that heavy drinking as a toddler [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

willierower · 10-18-2001, 03:32 PM

I cant remember the first fish I caught. Im sure it was a trout out of either the old mill pond in Powers Oregon or Sqaw lake up in the mountains just out of Powers. I remember my dad taking my to the Illinois(sp) river to fish for 1/2 pounders when I was about 5. I got my first taste of chinook when I was 8, My grandad woud take out on his sled on the Rogue. He let me attempt to fight a fish, It was winning so he took the rod back.
I caught my first steelhead when I was 10. That was on the Sixes river. I out fished my dad and his fishing partner that day. I got that steelhead and I hooked and lost a big black chinook. Niether one of those guys got a thing. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
I guess you could say Ive been fishing 25 of my 29 years. I hope to be able to keep fishing a lot longer.

FishinMission · 10-18-2001, 11:46 PM

Wiser..."seriously" would encompass the years I persued fish on my own. Prior to "seriously" would have been with my dad in the years when I would rather have maybe been doing something else...like chasing girls, or playing army with my buddies, or riding bikes or something to that effect.

Don't get me wrong...each and every minute I spent with my dad was/is priceless...but I think you know where I'm coming from here. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

10-18-2001, 11:59 PM

You "caught" Jan, didn't you! My "fishin' buddies" Birthday today. Surprise at dinner, then up the river with my Dad. If I high center the big boy, will wake you up for a tow with the big pump. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[ 10-18-2001: Message edited by: ****** ]

kenaifishn · 10-19-2001, 09:26 AM

Thought I'd post my Grandsons first fishing trip with papa.
Dolly Varden in Alaska,
hows that for a first time fishing trip [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] http://www.ifish.net/uploads/592110291.jpg

Pitch Pocket · 10-19-2001, 09:56 AM

I've been fishing since I was a cub scout 40 years ago. Fished local ponds for catfish and crappie. Actually caught trout in Fanno Creek! My first fishing boat was a canoe. The addiction escalated to salmon, steelhead and sturgeon. Fished with the "freak fleet" [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img] out of Elfin Cove Alaska in the early 70's on a 45' troller. I remember puking alot! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] That was the time of my life. Now I'm just a recreational fisherman trying to find time to fish, golf, play poker (not necessarily in that order)and run a business while raising a family.

STRIKE ZONE · 10-19-2001, 09:56 AM

25 years out of my 33.Started when I was around eight.Did'nt get all weirded out and
addicted on fishin tell senior year of high school,so 15 years solid.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE
P.S. Thanks to the cedar river in Renton for the memories.

Ramstrong · 10-19-2001, 10:29 AM

I started when I was about 3 or 4. Trojan cooling pond with a nightcrawler on the bottom. Catfish, Bluegill, Bass I don't think they stocked trout then. My first trout was about the same Age in a pond by Junction City with my Grandpa. I didn't catch my first Salmon until I was 11 out of Windy Bay and my first Steelhead when I was 16 out of Tenmile Creek. I've got about 23 Years of fishing under my belt.

Paul, Squaw lake? No one knows about squaw lake. How about Wooden Rock Creek? Love those Cutts!