I started as an adult, when kids were invited to a party where they had a stocked pond full of trout or something. Later, on a whim, I bought an inexpensive 10 foot rod at a B & T on the road to Stone Harbor and tried soaking some bait in the salt. Don't remember exactly when I got "hooked". First striper (tiny) off a pier in Massachusetts. Have learned some from books, a lot from a couple of fellow fishermen, and just time on the water. When you start as I did, you don't have the benefit of a family tradition and accumulated knowledge handed down, but on the other hand, the process of discovery and learning brings an element of childhood to adult life.