Hello friends and readers of Hive. Today I will elaborate a little bit about my hobby of fishing. I will take you on my first experience, along with the rest of my journey up to now. I'll have plenty to share with you including reels, rods, and of course fish. I will also tell you where I like to go, what kind of fish I like to target, and how I determine what to keep or not.
First fishing experience
It was a spring day well after winter ended (maybe April), I think I was about 8 y/o. My father and a few of his friends owned a cabin on a lake. It was a neat setup, a boat ramp was attached to the cabin porch. A few years before the cabin was a good 1/2 mile away from the lake. A few floods brought the lake to the cabin.
It was about 9:00 a.m. when I was given permission to fish. I was told to grab some waders (waterproof overalls). The water close to the shore was shallow and had a sandy bottom. I got into the water with my fishing pole. My father stood by and observed.
I don't know how many casts I made but I had my first fish pretty early. I used a two color spoon lure that had a treble hook (3 prong hook) at the end. I felt something knock on the line through the vibrations on the pole. I did my best attempt to set the hook than felt a weight at the end of the line. I was instantly excited and started to reel in the line as the pole was bending. I don't know what I said but I'm sure I wasn't all the quiet yelling back to my father. I walked to the shore line towards my father because he didn't want me to take the fish off the hook.
I had caught a 3 lb Northern Pike. That's a nice size fish to catch your first time. It's good thing my father took care of taking the fish off the hook because those fish have sharp teeth.
I don't have a picture of the first fish I caught. It was a long time ago and my father didn't take pictures. My mother took all the photos and she didn't tag along with us when we went camping and fishing. Above is my son's first fish, a small green sunfish 😊
I fished for about an hours time. After catching my first fish I had a few bites where I missed some hook-ups. I remember being a little disappointed, heck even today I still do. As a young boy, I thought this was a missed opportunity as all I wanted to do was keep catching fish. In my mind, I thought one of those could have been the lake record 😂
I did end up catching another 3 fish. All of the same species and relatively the same size. We kept and brought them back to the cabin to clean. My father and his friend made quick time cleaning the fish.
Catching those fish was a lot of fun to me. After the fish were cleaned they quickly became our lunch. I felt so proud that my efforts led to not only to feeding myself but to some grown-ups. I was a provider to the table. I don't believe many have a similar story like mine, that day I was hooked to fishing!!
The rest of my childhood
Every opportunity I got I went fishing with my father. We went a fishing a lot, especially during the spring and summer. Often it involved going to the that cabin. We also camped at various other lakes as well. Mostly during the weekends and extended ones.
My father passed away when I was 15. I did get some of my friends into fishing. I was more of a teacher to some and guess who usually got stuck cleaning the fish? Only one of the them still fishes today. A matter a fact he's a part time fishing guide now.
After high school I went into the military. I was mostly absent from fishing during this time. Hey I was in my 20's and it was a time I did what many my age did. I went out with friends and enjoyed some evening adventures.
After military and today
I got back to fishing after I got out of the military. I didn't have much equipment. I had two fishing poles and a tackle box of lures. The stuff I did have was aged and kind of dated. I slowly built up my number of poles and other stuff.
What does my basement contain? Well it's a man cave which includes a lot of my fishing equipment and sort of miniature gym. I have over 30 fishing rods and reels. I have many lures and jigs. I have really compiled a lot of things over the last 20 years. I can say I have a bait shop's worth of stuff, haha.
Some hobbies overlap others. I have built many things for my fishing hobby. You see wood working is another one of my hobbies. I have built racks to hold a majority of my rods, a spooling table, and shelves to hold vintage stuff, broken reels, and a few lure boxes.
My garage contains even more gear. There just isn't enough room to store it all in one place. I need to get some more stuff don't I, haha? I could take my neighborhood out to fish if I wanted to. I once took my son and 5 of his friends. They were amazed I was able to supply each of them with gear.
Where do I fish and what do I target?
I would basically fish anywhere. I'll fish in water puddle if I knew fish were in it, haha. Seriously I fish lakes, rivers, creeks, and ponds. I'd like to add sea fishing one day.
I probably like river fishing the most. I just love the thrill of seeing a moving current. Also around here some of the biggest fish exist in this waterway. I target catfish, drum, and sturgeon in the rivers. I sometimes target carp as well just for size and fight
As for the rest of the bodies of water I target crappie, bluegill, bass, walleye, catfish, and trout. The nice thing about these locations is you can fish year around at them. It gets very cold here but the river is never safe to fish in the winter. The river isn't frozen solid for very long due to the continuous current flowing.
What to keep
I do try to be conservative when I fish. I keep for the following reasons: I love eating fish and I fill orders for others. I don't sell my catch but I do trade with some friends that own restaurants. I have a lot of cooler photos because that is what I send to them before I deliver it to them. I have traded fish for sushi, seafood, and Chinese food. I also have a few friends I just gift to. Most are my Asian friends. They have a hard time finding fresh whole fish here.
I don't keep really big fish. It depends on species. For instance, catfish I don't keep anything bigger than 10 lbs. It can be a chore cleaning them but I let them go because they are the best breeding fish. Let me take it a step farther, big fish mate with other big fish producing future big fish. Plus there are fewer of them and I thinks it's important to give the next generation of fisherman a good sample sizes of fish.
After thoughts
I am truly a fishing junkie. Only do I find it fun/challenging it gives me an exhale of the stresses I carry. I find going out to fish gives me a feeling of me vs nature. Only do I get to do something I like I often see the beauties of nature. It calms me and gives me a great feeling of purpose.
I hope you all enjoyed my explanation and experiences of my hobby of fishing. If you have young kids get them out and let them experience fishing. I guarantee that most will find it fun. Take care and tight lines!! Until next time.