What type of fishing did you first start off with

[StarcraftBill]

I just finished reading the 50# striper thread, and I'm not going to voice my opinion on that subject but something came to mind as I was reading each posters opinion.

Judging by the different responses to that subject I was just wondering what type of fishing did you first start out doing. I have a feeling, and don't kill me for it, it's just a feeling, that many of the guys who would admire and than return the 50 may also have started or still be freshwater fly fisherman also.

In my case it started out as spinning for trout and then I jumped to the fly rod for trout and now find myself fishing 98% salt. And I don't really care what we target, I just love being out in a boat with some great friends, sucking down a few suds and waiting for the clicker to sing. I guess for me it was just a natural progression.

What started you guys out?

[Flattop]

Started out freshwater, catfish and bluegills. Then moved up to bass, trout, and pickeral then moved over to saltwater. The more I caught the larger the fish I wanted to catch, not so much in number of fish but catch big fish. I haven't read the 50# striper thread, my biggest striper to date is 48" 35#. However, if I catch a 50 pounder or larger striper I'm keeping it.

[dreadthis1]

sweetwater....sunfish, crappie, bass, trout. lived in central PA kinda landlocked for a good portion of the year. Only got to fish the salt a few times a year until I moved to NJ back in 99. Now mostly saltwater, targeting inshore fisheries, flounder, drum and striper, oh yeah bluefish too when we cross paths. Never got into fly fishing or really got excited about put and take trout fisheries, LM Bass was and still is one of my favorite FW fishes, not for eating or keeping just like catching em and leting em go.
:)

[FisherMan120]

Started off with a 10 lb bluefish when I was 3. Im serious! :cool:

[whatevermakesyouhappy]

Carp, catties and sunnies in a little lake fishing with my Dad. I too will keep a 50#, just my first.

[LOOPY64]

Started out saltwater, moved to fresh, then back to salt. :)

[hammerheadman]

started out in fresh water but when at the jersey shore caught snappers.when I got my drivers license and a car went in the suds and jetties ,deal asbury park ,sandy hook ,long branch pier, and pt. pleasant. rented skiffs in the rivers and fished for fluke . bought my first boat when 23 yr. old. lakes and sandy hook. later when stripers were down fished lake ontario for about 15 years. now in a bigger boat with no trailer so I am local in raritan bay area .still fish fresh water for trout and shad in the del. river . when running price of gas puts a damper on the travel . to upstate waters.

[chunking]

Dad had me in the boat before I can remember. Back in the city me and my friends would sneak down to the river to fish. It was so poluted then that we could only catch eels. Water constantly had a coating of oil on it. Couldn't walk on the rocks because you would slide right off from the film on them.

Every day from about ten years old I fished for carp. Made all my cornmeal and fished the hatcherys in N.E. Philly. Fishing for carp helped in a long way to give me patience at fishing. Never learned to swim because when we were on picnics I always had a fishing rod. While everyone else was swimming I would sneak over to a quiet side of the lake and fish all day.

Amazing how it gets in your blood. Couldn't get enough of it fifty years ago and it's still the same today.

[Mark Horn]

Hook and bobber fishing with worms in a local farm pond. Allways threw everything back until I caught something I'd never seen before and had to bring it home for further investigation. I remember my father freaking when he got home from work when he found me with a two foot long pike in a five gallon metal bucket. Was taught a lesson that day about releasing what your not going to eat the hard way.:rolleyes:

[RyanF]

Started off with a cane pole at Newman Grist Mill, or whatever it is, in Delco catchin trout. But most of my early experiences on the water was crabbing and not fishing. We used to rent a house for a week each summer when I was a wee little lad and my brother and I would crab on the back dock sunup to sundown every single day.

RyanF

[Bob ECT]

Both Fresh and Salt

[capt. ed]

Banks of a river with my trusty Zebco and some earthworms dug up in the yard. White Perch, catfish and the occassional carp.
The next step was Dad taking me out on the bay trout fishing with peelers on top/bottom rigs.

[sweet release1]

i started out fishin on the mullica river with my dad and uncle dave.man oh man this just bought back a lot of memories. i can still smell the low tide in the morning and feel the sleepless night before we would go. i can hear my dad and uncle dave telling me to stop pokin the fishes eyes:D . that type of feeling has long left me but i will always remember how it felt.thanks uncle dave r.i.p! bud ,matt

[fdformicola]

:) my first fishing was on Million Dollar Pier AC back in the early 50's with hand line with my father haven't let up since then went back & forth from fresh to salt use to fish League Island a lot for carp bass & cats now mostly Ocean & Bay:rolleyes:

[Marine Tom]

My Dad started me fishing when I first was able to walk. We started in the fresh water streams of Delco doing the trout thing. Then around 6 we started going on the Kingfisher IV in Fortescue for weaks and fluke.

When I was old enough I spent almost every day of the summer in FDR park in South Philly fishing for carp, cats and sunnies. My Dad was a cop down there so he kept an eye on me, I rode my bike down from the house. I then turned my best buddy, Lambo the Freako, onto fishing with me at FDR park and we still fish today, 30 years later.

I continued fishing with my Dad on party boats at Fortescue until puberty when I gave it up because I kept getting sea sick. Then I went into the USMC and didn't do much fishing. In 1993 I picked up right where I left off and have been fishing both the river, tribs and Del Bay ever since.

I now own my own boat and fish both the ocean and bays whenever possible.

[Sardine]

My first fishing experience that I can remember is trying to catch something in the Cooper River in Pennsauken back around 1970 when I was 8. I'm sure there were no fish back then but I'm glad I didn't know any better.

[BigSexy]

My dad started me out freshwater fishing for Bass and Chain Pickeral. But I watched my father and grandfather come home with loads of Bass, Drum and Weakies and couldn't wait to get out there.

[s burner]

Malvern Prep. pond, back in the early 60's. I caught about 50 sunfish in about 5 hrs. I was hooked.

[Don C]

I started out with dad at a trout lake and we NEVER caught anything. As I got older I started river fishing in the Delaware river with friend's. I lived and still do a few blocks from the ramp in Florence, so we would fish every high tide growing up. We caught a lot of catfish and stripers before we even knew what they were.

Moved to salt when I started driving because a friend had a boat. He would't leave the bay but we caught a lot of fish in that little boat. I've been hooked on saltwater fishing ever since.

But the be all to end all was a night Blue fishing trip on a headboat that my work charted when I was 17. Hooking those "big" blues was the end for me. I still love catching bluefish.

Don C

[JAT11]

bobber & worms....which I still fish in fresh.

[Joseph Lamberty]

Freshwater , Trout, Bass, Crappie, Bluegills, pickerel and Catfish,...My childhood home was on a lake,.My mom still lives there! I cut my teeth on fishing very young,..I didn t start fishing saltwater till I was about 10 yrs old with my dad..We bought a 15 Ft Starcraft aluminum center console w/ a 40 Evinrude and I never went back to freshwater fishing.

[JerseyBrian]

Started out my fishing obsession with my dad taking me to a pay lake stocked with Trout when I was about 4. Then I got the itch...afterwards I grew up fishing sunnies, crappie, yellow perch, LMB and pickerel. I used to fish the jetties of WW when my aunt had a house there in the summer for about 4 or 5 years when I was about 9-13, but never REALLY got into it as much as I would now....

In the last 4 years, I've made the change to salt. Now I fish probably 80% salt and 20% fresh :cool:

[Rick..still casting]

I started when 12 years old fishing irritgation ditches on local farms in Monmouth County when there were still dirt roads,,caught mostly sunfish, loved the colors,still do, best catch was when looking along water edge saw a cloud of baby catfish and plopped my worm into the mass and immediately had a very angry mother hooked-up that gave me one exciting fight,, thats when I learned they talked when taken outa the water,, you know that croak croak thing, I'm proud to say I released her. I read about trout being caught in the manesquan river when I was 17 and started my trout addiction,,those were great years, learning that entire river from Rt9 to the estuary. My younger brother years later started catching stripers and belonged to the Asbury Fishing Club,,, and I stopped fishing for trout when I noticed his fish had more space between their eyes then the length of the fish I caught(joke).
My brother always out fishes me to this day....

[aimless]

I started at Birch Grove Park in Northfield. Bass, pickerel, and opening day of trout. First fish was 1959.:eek:

[capnpiney]

In memory of Uncle John who always had time to take me fishin' :D

Cream Ridge golf coarse ,Snappers ,Old Gropps Lake (pizza shop / beach club)Sunnies/Bass,Crosswicks Creek flatheads,channels,hybrids....

[always fishing]

Age 6, 25th st bridge. Snappers, seabass, oyster crackers and sand shark. Was blessed with great families that lived near the bridges.:)

[Steve T]

Opening day of Trout season in good old Pa.

Scoping out your spot near Iliicks Mill on the Monocacy Creek in Bethlehem with a bag of stale bread weeks before opening day.

Boy they used to put a ton of nice Trout in that creek.

Those were the days.

Thanks Dad.

[Always fishin]

I started out with sunfish and crappie with my Grandfather. Now I look forward to starting my son off the same way. I'am not sure what I would do with a 50 but hopefully someday I will get to make that decision.

[phillyfishing]

first fishing i was about 3-4 yrs old used to fish for pan fish with my grandfather up in hills creek in tioga county.. then i moved onto trout with my uncle and it went all down hill from there.. spends thousands a yr now fishing :)

[red bear]

Started fishing with my Dad at Pennypack Creek in the 50's. Hooked to this day. Still fish the sweet water but nothing like the love for surf fishing. The salt air and the Soth Jersey Shore. Although I live in Delaware, I can't go to the Delaware Beaches, I need the JERSEY SHORE, It's a Philly thing.

[Supafly]

I started out when my Dad used to take me to the gunmount in Cape May to fish for Weakfish. I still remember vividly when I caught my first weakfish on a bucktail. I still to this day have a special affinity for those fish. Its sad to see them in such low numbers. I really hope its only a cyclical thing

[Reel Nice]

I grew up 5 blocks from the Delaware river around the Tacony bridge. We would fish for cats and eels and anything else we could catch. Almost every day in the summer and alot after school. I used to head over to the Library yard with a can and a flaslight and harvest some of the biggest nightcrawlers anyone has ever seen..I was also only a 15 min bike ride to pennypack creek and used to spend lots of time there when i was in highschool ..I would catch everything from carp to trout in Pennypack. During trout season I would keep all my gear in the car and fish as much as I could. bAlso fished in the Fish Hatchery at linden ave.when we felt like going on a longer bike ride. Started off Saltwater as a Surf fisherman and it was my passion for many years until my brothers and I bought our first boat 8 years ago..We kept it in Ventnor hieghts behind my brothers in-laws place lots of good fishing up that way..Now with my new boat I fish alot in the WW-CM areas..

[upchuck]

Cast my first line in Millers Lake, Gloucester City probably 55 years ago. Bait was worms on hook under a bobber. First fish caught was a Blue Gill.
Moved up the fishing Carp, floating a piece of bread in the lilly pads at the same location. Then moved to little Timber creek at the bridge on Rt. 130 between Gloucester & Brooklawn , catching Catfish.
At about 10yrs. I started fishing saltwater out of Shawcreast with my Grandfather. Mostly flounder and seabass. Been fishing Saltwater, Cape May area ever since. Spring Striper thru Fall Striper and everything in between.:D

[tommyc]

My Dad started me out fishing for trout along the delaware canal and at a farm pond, where my sister and I could catch sunfish/bluegills all day. What great memories.
Started saltwater in 94, haven't fished the fresh in a loong time.

[LBI striper searcher]

Started out in fresh for the usual species. Then got into sneaking around to sight cast trout. Now it's mostly salt with an occasional trip to catch some trout.

[Joseph Lamberty]

I think if I lived up in the Poconos, or in a more pristine area of N.J. I would enjoy freshwater fishing more, While I do live very near the pine barrens I always think of the movie " Deliverance" when I consider trying freshwater fishing there. I really , really like the Salt Air....


Liv 2 Fish

[Even Steven]

Started my fishing from the surf on Assateague Island years ago as a child and through my teens. Heck of an environment to learn to start surf fishing, the conditions can be more than tough down there!

Then as my parents moved down to South Jersey, I began soaking shedder crab for weakies back in the late '80s/early '90s and had much luck (South Jersey). The weakie fishing came almost easy (wish I would have known how quickly the weakie fishery would decline!). Then found a spot in the early 90s to toss a spinner with trailing squid strip and nail the flounder almost effortlessly each time out.

By the time I started taking it seriously and moved on to stripers, big blues, etc, it was not happening so easily any more and I had to really work for my catches. Anyone who has followed my posts on here for the past few years can vouch that alot of effort and time was put into landing my first keeper striper back last fall.

And here I am now, addicted to this sport of fishing and trying all new styles and techniques each time out on the sods or surf.

[JerseyBrian]

And here I am now, addicted to this sport of fishing and trying all new styles and techniques each time out on the sods or surf.
Amen brother, amen :) I'm gonna try and take a boat out the weekend of April 12th. Probably going with 1 or 2 people so far and spend the day fishing Great Bay for stripers and blues. Email me if you're interested

[Even Steven]

Amen brother, amen :) I'm gonna try and take a boat out the weekend of April 12th. Probably going with 1 or 2 people so far and spend the day fishing Great Bay for stripers and blues. Email me if you're interested

Hey Brian, if I can get off that weekend, count me in, but it is nearly impossible to get a weekend off this time of year until the summer season. I will see if I can get coverage and let you know by early next week. Thanks.

[MAKO19]

Flounder/Weakfishing behind Sea Isle and Avalon with my grandpop when I was 9 years old on the MAKO19. We fished together at least once a week every summer until I was old enough to work and wasn't available anymore to fish during the week. Pop likes to stay away from the weekend shoobie crowd if you know what I mean. When I got a little more comfortable with this game we started going out front to the "pound nets", Sea Isle Lump, lumps off the condos, Bell Buoy, etc etc. The best thing about fishing with Pop is nothing is to serious and we always seemed to put a great catch together. When I registered here I figured I would make my name MAKO19 as a tribute to Pop for getting me started. :cool:

[Ventura]

For me it started around the age of five (1960) by catching sunnies at Grover's Mill Pond with dad. I have loved watching a bobber ever since.

Probably the next year or so he took me on the Sea Pigeon with Capt. Marty Haines, Sr. in the summer. I remember being able to drink all the pop I wanted to, and cranking in the biggest kind of shad porgies. They pulled so hard I had to rest the rod on the railing, to the amusement of the other adults.
Dad was a party boater, and took me on my favorite trips: spring and fall mackerel runs! Nothing like a kid trying to lift a 5 bagger over the rail...and those macks were big Bostons, not tinkers at all.
We traveled to Maine on summer vacations where I fished the wharves and lakes, and also made summer pilgramages to camp at Stokes Forest and to LBI to rent a garvey for clamming. I spent my time at Stokes harassing the sunnies on Oquittunk Lake and caught the living devil out of the Barnegat Bay blowfish when down there.
By the late 60's dad relented from the conventional Penns and finally we moved to the world of spinning, with the purchase of a Garcia Mitchell 302/Conolon rod combo, which I still have today in very serviceable condition. Snapper fishing off the public dock in Rumson was a blast, as was the hot blowfish action off the Belmar docks. I also remember many great trips to the Long Branch Pier (catching snappers and tinker macks, and in later years, whiting) and also fishing at the Atlantic Highlands for tinker mackerel. (I often wonder if those little macks are still around....used to use an Al's Goldfish with homemade teasers for 'em).
I fished all the time I possibly could, riding my bike to local ponds, taking the public service bus, if you could imagine that, with two poles, a tackle box, bait bucket and killie trap. Would ride the bus from Edison to Highland Park, get off at the Raritan River bridge, and walk River Road with all that gear to catch crappies, bass, carp, etc in Johnson's Park.
Once I began driving in 1972, the whole world opened up, as a friend and I shared a Sears cartopper and a 1954 Evinrude. We rented craft at Franks Boats, Belmar, Clarks Landing (remember those days?) among others. The very best memories were those made on two-week-long (can you imagine?!)fishing vacations with my friends to Canada, Maine, the Adirondacks.
After college I had more spending money and proudly bought my first marina kept boat, which got traded up for larger and larger craft. Finally, I ran the Hudson Canyon in my own boat, with a couple friends, and caught tuna that outweighed me!
Never left the fishing scene, never played sports like the other kids when younger, and am still the same way. Barely watch the Super Bowl, but my bedroom, car and family room are strewn with boating/fishing publications.

Can't wait for the spring boat splash down at the marina, come to think of it...as I am on my eighth boat now, and am still looking for the perfect one.

Thanks, Dad!

[Joe R.]

Dont remember the year or my age but I was most likely 3-5 yo...my dad built a 14ft runabout and he was fishing the backbays of Sea Isle ..I just remember me tagging along.First fish maybe a seabass,sandshark ...that was over 50 years ago:eek:

Joe R.
20ft Classic SeaCraft
Susie II

[freaky One]

Fishing on my uncles dock for small sea bass, flounder and blow fish in the 60's....It was on old avalon blvd before it was old avalon blvd...at hi tide we could run to pattys hole the back way in the 14 ft aluminum...

[the hitcher]

the earliest i remember was fishing for sunnies in Wesley lake by asbury park. i think i was three, which would make it 1977-78. haven't seen the place since. shortly after i remember my grand pop taking me out in his big aluminum john in th back bays of belmar. my father's side gave my the love of freshwater, my mother's side introduced me to salt. i love salt way more but i am an opportunist, and living in Philly puts me on freshwater a lot.

[Captainbob]

My dad used to take us fishing in the Cape May Canal in the 50's. He would rent a 12' rowboat at Roseman's and put his 5HP Mercury outboard on. We would load up with minnows and flounder spreaders on our Ocean City rods and reels and always managed to fill a bushel basket or two. My father had learned all about it from his father. Of course this was while there were still swingbridges at route 109 and Seashore road as well as an opening drawbridge on 109 near the Tuna Club (before spicer creek was built/dug).

In the mid to late 50's, dad moved up to a 22 HP Mercury, and we rented runabouts at Sunset Beach so we could go out for weakfish and drumfish.

Finally in 1959, he bought his own boat (a 16' fiberglas runabout) with a 35 HP Mercury, and we got to explore a little bit of the ocean. We've been at Utsch's Marina (in 9 different boats since then). This fishing about 1 mile off the beach in front of the Admiral Hotel was always great for doormat flounders. I remember when we started fishing there, we had to get a bigger net.

Guess I have dated myself with this report. Hopefully, I'll never forget those first days fishing when I was just 5 years old. If only the flounder fishing was as good now as it was then.

[JoeyZac]

Zebco reel on a Black Max rod using 10lb test by the PSE&G power plant in Ridgefield Park catching mutated catfish and karp in Overpeck Creek.

For years I'd ride my bike there after school and fish from 3:30 till it got dark. Never kept/ate any of it, we just loved to fish.

[reeltight79]

I started out in the ponds and streams of hunterdon county. When I got my license I started to drive to the salt. I have not been back to the freshwater since!

[BlueFen]

I started out freshwater fishing in Pennypack Creek with my dad as a very young kid. I caught my first trout by hand and let it go.

I would also let any bass over 40 lbs go after a quick photo - without hesitation or reservation. I eat plenty of fish, but I do not want to eat such a noble and sought after fish.

I kept a 10 1/2 pound fluke once and the meat was so chewy that I regretted every bite. Wont do that again.

[henrybasstardo]

My first fish was either a trout with my uncle at the creek or a flounder with my old man. I was real young both times and don't know which was first.

[Predator]

First fish I remember catching was Creek chubs on a cane pole, 6 ft of line, a hook and some bread. Maybe 5 or 6 yrs old?

[CaptJohn]

Fluke fishing on the Porgy III w/ Dad!

[Never - Satisfied]

I started out saltwater fishing at the age of 6 with my father. Those are some of the most memorable times of my life as a youngster. Our first boat was a 12 ft aluminum boat with a 15hp motor. :D I also started fresh water fishing around the same time. We lived along the Susquehanna river so it was go out the back door and drop a line.

[Blynch]

Sunnies w/ my grandfather!

[StarcraftBill]

Reading some of these great memories really brought back some days I had completely forgotten about. The one Barner that mentioned blow fish...now that brought me back a long time ago. I always wondered what the hell happened to those fish. As for the guys that mentioned going out with their dads, that too brought back some fond memories. My dad wasn't much of a saltwater fisherman but god bless him he sure as hell tried. He was so bad at it that we nicknamed him the "Big Banana". That name sticks with him to this day when my friends and dad get together but he's to far along now to get out with us on the boat. Thank god for cameras and the pics I was able to get with him back in the day.

That was fun and thanks for all the great stories.