childhood fishing memories

[m17glock]

since every time sombody makes a post about taking their children fishing or sombody elses' children fishing
(you keep it up TT ! ) there are a lot of replies about the memories that are made. how about sharing your childhood memories !

i am blessed that i have quite a few but one sticks out in mind like no other and i will try my best to share it the
way i remember it.

i grew up in south texas close to Corpus Christi so we did a lot of fresh and saltwater fishing ,this time however
the family,mom,dad,little sister and myself went to visit pawpaw and nannie (my moms parents) .
i was about 6 or 7 years old at the time and pawpaw and nannie lived close to a section of the nueces river
where it splits and criss crosses itself for a couple of miles.
dad, pawpaw and i went fishing at one of these crosses . they set me up on a little snoopy rod with a red and white
bucktail jig and soon my young self was smacking and splashing the top of the water with it having a good time!
well dad and pawpaw moved upstream a little ways thinking i had done gone and scared off the fish in that area.
in fact i rememer them telling me that if i just wanted to play i should stay right were i was and have a good time
doing what i was doing .
i had been "playing" and they had been fishing for about 20 min. when i went to snatch
that jig back out of the water and it didnt come back!!!!! in fact it started to pull me in!!!!! i screamed for help and in
the middle of pawpaw saying "ah the boy is just hung" (he didnt get the hung part out) that big ol' bass come flying
up out of the water !! and that is when time stood still in my mind . i still vividly see that fish thrashing in the air,
my dad and pawpaw standing where they were eyes and mouths wide open !
it took my dad what seemed like a long time to get to where i was (the river was down some and the bank
was mostly baseball/softball size river rock) about the time i got shin deep in the water he got hold of my belt
and held on till i got that big bass in range of the net that pawpaw was holding.
now here is where it gets fuzzy it was a big fish.im just not sure how big. big enough to get dad and pawpaw all excited .
8lbs 9lbs 10lbs doesnt really matter
what i was told was that one fish fed all 6 of us 2 helpings each and no one left the table hungry.
i remember feeling so proud that I was the one who fed the family that night
30 some odd years later i still have burned in my mind the look on my dad and pawpaws face when that fish jumped

 

[TennesseeTalker]

Nice story there Glock ...

I'm hoping it's true and not just those pain killers yer taking .. talking.



I'll share one later when I got the time.

TT

 

[m17glock]

not the painkillers talking on this one TT (however upon reviewing some of my previous post ......)
and i do have a poloroid of me and the fish but my scanner died on me emoBang
i was to scared to hold it with my bare hand so they gave me a bread bag to use as a glove emoLaugh

 

[Cathooker]

LORD...my Dad was a fishing fanatic...he did not care much for hunting but he fished all year round. There is soooo many memories. The one that stands out the most???
He and some of his friends were goin to Watts Bar on a weekend catfishing trip. I begged and begged to go and finally he said yes. Probably said yes just to shut me up. I was only 8 or 9 years old. I don't remember all the fine details but I do remember that he got aggrivated at me...guess I was either talking to much or fidgeting too much in the boat....he handed me a rod that was baited up with a big gob of skipjack guts and told me to drop it straight down, shut up and fish. The bait no sooner hit the bottom and I had a catfish on. I started hollering "I got one , I got one" It was all I could do to hold onto the rod. He got behind me and held the rod loosley so I would not lose it in the water and told me when to pump and reel. It was a blue that they said would weigh between 20 and 25 lbs. It was the biggest fish of the weekend and I was really proud. It was also the only fish I caught all weekend. We sure caught a lot of fish together over the years. The last words my Dad ever spoke to me were "Hey Bud, Catchin any?"

 

[SpurHunter]

Awesome story Alan.

  I am glad your back to the water!

 

[fishing fire]

That is one sweet memory. emoSmile That will be a great story to tell your kids.

 

[craazyboutbass]

Great story, it reminds me of one time when I was 7-8 yo.
I was fishing with my dad on the lake that I started fishing on when I was 6 in Memphis.

Well before heading to the lake, my dad and I stopped at walmart to get bait. In there I saw a pack of 11inch blue worms, and I had never wormed fished before, you know how kids just want to get something for the fun of it, well thats how I was at the time when I begged my dad for those worms.


Anyway were at the lake and someone that was already fishing there taught me how to use the worms, he gave me a worm hook, and weight to try it with. (because I didn't have these things, I would've torn the worms up putting them on a small crappie hook and would have not had any luck with that)

Texas rigged and ready to go...
After about 5 casts I was starting to get bored fishing with the plastic worms, so I took one more cast and I felt something pulling hard and yanked as hard as I could, and felt nothing for a second... So I thought that I was hung on a tree, but no, my line started moving quickly and I started reeling and it was a big Largemouth bass. Pulled him up and had no problem taking him out, by thumbing him.

He was about 4 pounds, I thought at the time, but now as I look at the photo, the bass had to be at least 7-8 pounds.

I took it with me and showed my dad that was fishing on the bank about 100 yds away, we kept it, because "I had too keep it", but now I feel that I should've thrown him back.
emoBawl

I had the bass on the stringer tied off a dock, so about another 30 minutes later, I had my worm off the bottom in 20ft water, started reeling up and another "something" started to pull, so I set the hook, pulled it up, and it was another monster largemouth!
About the same size as the first biggun, he came right up without trouble but then had a burst of energy as he went under the dock and broke my line...
But now, I'm kind of happy that it broke the line, because stupid me would've kept him as well!emoLaugh

After using that pack of those magical 11 inch blue worms, I never saw them again, I searched and searched all over the place, Walmart, Kmart, and bait shops all across town, but no one seemed to sell them. emoBawl

 

[Jack]

Great Post!!!

Made me think about the many many memories of my Papaw!!

In the 1960's most folks did not have boat trailers!! They had boat racks on their trucks!! Folks would put the flat bottom boat on the boat rack, and hang the motor on a 2" x 12" that was on the side of the boat rack.

Papaw had a favorite fishing Buddy, Mr. Bill Owens, who I called Mr. Bill!!

I dont know how many days they fished together in their lives, but it was a bunch!!

Their favorite lake was Belco Lake in south Arkansas!! Back in the day, Belco was FAMOUS for crappie fishing!!

Mr. Bill and Papaw loved to crappie fish!!

There was a TV showed called Arkansas Outdoors when I was a young pup! I will never forget the excitment as Papaw bust in the door and said...

"They filmed Me and Bill at Belco today, we are gonna be on Television!!!!!!!!"

Now in the 1960's getting your mug on television was a big deal!emoLaugh

On the night the show was going to be on, Papaw was as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs!! Watching the clock, pacing the floor, waiting for his moment of fame and glory to air on television!!

He had EVERYONE sitting down, quiet as could be, a full 10 minutes before the show was to start!!! I remember thinking, why aint nobody talking?? For Fred Deweese (aka Papaw) this was a serious moment!!

Finally Arkansas Outdoors starts...George Purvis the host of the show comes on!!

He details the show, stating it will be on Belco Lake, and feature a couple of fisherman who had a good day on the lake!!

It was now so quiet in the room you could hear a pin drop!! Papaw was sitting on the edge of his chair looking at the TV!!

Then it happened!!!

There on the TV was Papaw and Mr. Bill snatching crappie in the boat, on television, for all the world to see!!!

I can still remember it like it was yesterday!!! Papaw jumps out of his chair and yells......

"Hot Damn!! There is me and Bill!!!

Mamaw hollered....."Fred, watch your language!!!

For 30 minutes we got to watch the head of the family, doing what he loved, and it was all on TV!!

Papaw and Mr. Bill smoked the crappie that day!! To say he was happy is an understatement!!

Now for MY favorite story of fishing with him!!

Papaw and I were going to spend a day fishing at Shook's pond. It was a big pond just full of big catfish!!

We had two boxes of frozen shrimp for bait, and were ready for battle. Me armed with my Zebco 202, and Papaw had his old trusty Johnson reel.

Then it happened!!!emoLaugh

I was catching fish regular, but Papaw had a problem!! It seems his old trusty Johnson was on it's last leg!! He spent more time working on the reel than fishing!!

Again I was catching fish, and he couldnt make a cast!! After working on "ole trusty" for about 30 minutes, he attempted to make another cast!!

It went about 10 feet.........

I can still see him in my mind, he took the rod/reel and with the form of an Olympic javelin thrower, he launched the entire rig many yards into the center of the pond!! He looked at me and said ....."Lets go son".....

I didnt say much on the ride back into town, did not know exactly what he had on his mind!!!emoLaugh

We didnt go home!!! We went to the Otasco Store!!! The only store in town that sold fishing reels!!

I remember walking up to the reels, and watching Papaw pick up the "Holy Grail" of fishing reels in my mind!!!

The Zebco 33!!! Unlike my ugly cheap 202, this rascal was silver, shiny, and cost a whopping $9.95!!!

He picked up the magnificent reel, and headed over to look at the new rods!!

While he is looking at the rods, I reminded him that Uncle Dan had give me a pretty good rod, and he could put his new reel on that rod!!!

I can see the cogs working in his brain, he had just dropped $9.95 on a new reel, he would try the rod from Uncle Dan, enough money had been spent at that point!!

A few days later, I am in school, Papaw decides to head back to Shook's pond!!

As he told the story.....

He did not like the rod I had gave him, and decides to try and snag his old one!!

He would take his baited hook and cast out to where he had launched his old rod, drag it real slow across the bottom in hopes of snagging his old rod!

He never snagged his old rod, but intstead caught a 29 lbs catfish!! His personal best!!

I have the picture of him sitting on my desk at work!! He is holding that big catfish, with an even bigger grin on his face!!

End of story!! My fingers are to sore to type anymore!!!emoToast

 

[craazyboutbass]

I was going through a few pictures and found the one with my first big bass caught on those 11in. blue worms... Here he is....