Who introduced you to fishing?

[dfish28]

My earliest memories I have I was holding a fishing rod of some sorts at my grandparents. My early years were tough and I basically stayed with my grandparents in Neptune, went to school there till 2nd grade got dropped off by "Da" grandfather who would be heading to the beach and I was already jealous as he would fish the Washington ave jetty in Avon all beach season long and I always did it with him, but when school was still in... I was pissed then I couldn't be fishing... Lol and this memory is 1st grade! Lol ... Story goes on since , got older , Da taught me the basics, and I got better, Gam(grandmother) and Da brought me down to Long Boat Key in Florida every Easter vacation from school when I was young, Guess what we did down there,yup.. Fish more, stayed at a condo like place; think it was called Holiday Lodge owned by Wynn Cook- he and Da wound up being friends for fishing reasons to start , they went fishing a lot and I started out boating down in Florida on the reefs with them, down there is where I remember getting seasick, really young but man!... I remember fishing a reef for bottom fish and hooking up with a hammerhead before I lost my two front teeth- awesome !! - fished up here with Da at the shark river - all over all fish possible- flounder fluke blackfish eel weaks snappers ... Got my first doormat from the first ave bulkhead in Avon when they were nice enough to let you fish there! But years before that as well- I was 10...at this age every summer staying at my grandparents that go to the Avon beach every day, I'm in, go to Washington ave with Da every morning at 8:00, he will leave at 2 to get dinner ready, but Gam will come at 12 and stay till 4 or sometimes later- that basically depended on how the fishing was or bodyboarding was. God Bless my grandparents Anthony and Anita. They had a lot to do in making me who I am now .

[CaptMarc]

My Dad. I was 7 years old. I remember it pretty well, it was 40 years ago. We went out on the Reliable with Capt. Black. My rod was tied to the rail, that pole wasn't going anywhere ..lol . The fishing was great. Every weekend we would be fishing either on the Keyport pier or somewhere down there. I would always look forward to going on one of the headboats out of AH or the dolphin out of Keyport. I really miss him.

[Inishmore3]

Originally Posted by Gerry Zagorski

Inish - great story. Mine is very similar... Dad worked a lot but luckily I had an Uncle and the Grandfather of a childhood friend who would take us. Made my first trip on a party boat in my late teens. A night Bluefish trip on the Cock Robin and I was hooked. Got my first boat in my early 30s and learned a lot from the old salts down at the dock.

This reminds me that people like you and I need to do our part to pass on the love of this great sport to kids. This sport of ours is something that stays with you for life.. It helps put smiles on faces, takes your mind off of the daily grind and affords us all an opportunity to catch up with old friends and make some new ones too.

Love my time out on the water and would not trade it for anything. It's threapy for me and certainly beats spending money laying on a couch talking to a Shrink.

I also met a lot of great people here, in fact some life long friends. I learned a lot too and that my friend is what this site was intended for.

It's posts like this that make me proud to be associated with the great community of people we have here. NJ's finest!

Gerry, you are right. People like the baymen from Long Beach Island are gone now. When i was 21 I blew out my knee. My Mom took me to Beach Haven and brought me to Morrison's. There they were, a bit older but still around. They said they remembered us but it did not matter. I fished that day with a leg in a brace and cruches. They helped me take the fish off and an unfortunate sea gull who got tangled with me. I'll never for get that.

When on a boat I will help anyone who needs it. Because I remember the baymen who helped me. And once on the CAIII on a blackfish trip, I helped an older fellow who was new to blackfish. I gave him some tips and showed him how to get the crab to stay on. He caught his first keeper. I said to myself at the time, that was for the baymen........

[Anthony]

Me.....

[ReelErIn]

Same as most my Dad like most kids ya need action to keep em interested sun fish and cats on farm ponds in Blairstown/Hardwick Twp.
Then we moved up to Blair Creek every April and May. I lost him five yrs. ago
and miss him every day .
I started hunting the same way bunnies first and after a few yrs deer.

[Tiderunner]

My great uncle Bo...1977 at 5 yrs old I was brought on a half day fluke trip on Micky Vasallo's "CAPT. JOE II". The addiction was furious as in 1978 I was convincing enough for a full day trip on the SEA KING. The real step up was at age 10 a full day trip on the LENNY for "Jumbo Blues" and the skipper on that trip was making his debut.........Chris Heuth.
Mike

[Inishmore3]

Some of the folks on here said their father worked a lot and could not do it. Mine had no interest. In anything I was involved with.

On the Angler on a Ling trip I was pulling them in. Marylin was not doing so good fish wise. She wanted one of my rigs. She wanted to buy one of my rigs. I said there is no way I was going to sell you anything. The look on her face was priceless. I said what I said because I was going to and did give her one. She caught Ling. I was so happy. God rest your soul Marylin. I miss you.

Another older gent who was a WWII vet was having a so so day with the fluke fishing. I tied him one of my haphasard fluke rigs and put a gulp on it and some squid and he got a keeper. One Vet helped me. It was on the Angler and I was doing terrible. He was 85 at the time. He gave me one of his home made rigs with a skirt on it. I said ok, I will give it a shot. I caught 4 nice keepers on his rig. I begged him to let me pay for it. He said no.

Then there is Bob Gorman. He is 93 and was in the Battle of The Buldge. He is a true American Hero. I've fished with him many times on the CAIII from Barnegat Light, NJ. While in WWII when he had time he would hunt deer so the lads had something different for dinner. When on the coast he would make a fishing pole and catch fish and clean them and make it for the lads. I've seen the pictures. Gerry, I wish you could meet and fish with this guy.

Like Gerry said. The people we have met and fished with either on the beach or dock or boat. Its a amazing thing. And I am thankful.

[briansnat]

My dad used to go for blowfish with his friends back when they were thick in the bays. He'd come home with a bushel basket full and all summer long we'd be eating blowfish. I was 6ish when he allowed me to come along for the first time. I don't recall if I actually fished or just sat in the boat and watched.

He also liked to go for winter flounder in the spring and that was the first fish that I actually recall fishing for and catching. I remember him teaching me the difference between a bite and the sinker bouncing along the bottom and how to set the hook. I'm guessing I was maybe 8 or so.

Not long after that we started going to my dad's friend's cabin at a lake in Sussex County and dad taught me how to catch sunnies off the dock with a dough ball. We'd literally catch hundreds over the course of a day, but I got bored and wanted to catch big fish. Then one time we went out with his friend, who was a serious freshwater fisherman. He was casting from the boat to the shore. At this age I assumed that shallow water = small fish, deep water = big fish so I asked him why he was casting to shallow water. He explained that the big fish come in to eat the little fish. That made sense to me, it was as if a light went on in my head. By the time I was about 10 I was taking the boat out myself. Dad had bought the cabin from his friend about that time and it is still in the family.

Dad wasn't as an accomplished freshwater fisherman as he was at saltwater so other than that one lesson from his friend and the sunfish lessons from dad I pretty much learned freshwater by myself and by watching what the old timers on the lake used and where they fished. Old Mr Reynolds was my teacher, even though he probably had no clue. I'd row close enough to his boat to see what he had on his rod and watched where he casted to and emulated him.

I'm lucky in that my dad is still around, but his fishing days are pretty much over. He uses a walker and only leaves the house for Dr appts. He still calls me each Friday to tell me what the Asbury Park Press fishing report says (though I rarely fish saltwater) and listens to my fishing tales. But these days he's content with his Fox News, his iPad and his newspapers and books and driving my mom up the wall, and really has no interest in getting out and going fishing. On the positive side he's given me probably a few thousand dollars worth of fishing gear, mostly saltwater, but I'd rather have him in the boat with me than his old gear.