Where did you get started?

[Forestlaker]

My grandparents had a cabin on a small lake near Alexandria.

My brother and I would spend half the summer there fishing every minute we could. When I was 12 we got to row the boat along the shore as long as we didn't "go out over our heads".If you messed with grandpa's rules we would be weeded the garden the rest of the day. Our favorite lures were jitterbugs, floating rapalas and pre-rigged worms with a spinner in front. At home (west metro) we would ride the bikes to Minnetonka and shore fish. Back then (early 70's)Minnetonka would turn to pea soup by July. We still caught a lot of bass just had to clean the scum off your baits.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I grew up fishing tonka... My parents had a pontoon boat and we would start a piece of shorline and just keep going.. when the day was done we would take a highlighter pen and mark where we had fished... next weekend we would pick up where we left off.. So by the time I was 13 I had fished ever inch of shoreline on Lake Minnetonka.

During the week I had a float tube(belly Boat) and would fish Calhoun and Harriet.

[Daze Off]

Grew up on the East Coast so earliest experiences were with saltwater species - first fish was 3' sand shark while fishing for blowfish. Did plenty of deep sea, inlet, and surf fishing for blues, stripers, and flounder. For college I went "inland" and picked up on freshwater fishing - started with crappies and gradually moved into bass which is all I do for the most part now - couple of crappie/walleye trips each year is about it.

Daze Off

[delmuts]

i got started on bass back in high school.a freind and i would go to a county pond/lake in the evening.we would wade out in jeans and tennis shoes and toss jitter bugs.( waist deep in water ; good thing my pants were already wet the fisrt time a bass exsploded on my lure right in front of me )

[cheektowaga]

Got started real young at my granma's cabin outside of Zimmerman. The lake was small enough that my two cousins and I were pretty much given free reign with the rowboat and we would through spinners and rapalas until our arms fell off. Good times. I've been hooked since.

[Lunker]

I started fishing when I was old enough to hold a rod, but since none of my family was much of bass fisherman at that time, I really started targeting bass around the age of ten at the lake right next to my old house, Lake Nokomis, in MPLS. If you don't know about this lake, it SUCKS for bass fishing overall. I started throwing spinnerbaits and rapalas to start off, and from shore would catch lots of small bass, and I think the largest bass I ever caught out of there was 15", and that was quite an event. From there it stemmed to different baits and waters, to now, 9 or 10 years later where they are my and my brother's number one open water target. I caught my biggest bass last summer, a 21". I find it only fitting that with all the big fish places I've fished in nice bass boats, that my biggest was caught wading a minneapolis lake! Figures.

[swampbuck]

I was forced into,my Dad started fishing the first bass tournaments in MN the northstars, he fished with Ted,Babe, Ron and AL, and a host of other now famous guys.

He started me out at about 1 1/2 to 2 with a jiggle stick. I caught my firts solo bass at 5 on an old wooden mouse.

Have been at it now for 30 years!!

Hard to believe.

[HawgTide]

I started out on the Tombigbee and Black Warrior Rivers down in Alabama. Fished with my Dad all the time growing up. One summer morning, when I was 10 years old, we were out fishing a couple of hours before he had to go to work. I assumed that was the end of the day for me, but then he said "Drop me off at the house (we lived on the river)and you can take the boat out by yourself as long as you stay around here". Man, I was hooked forever. I thought I was so cool in that Bass boat by myself. I fished hard because I wanted to prove to him how I could do on my own. That was 32 years ago. We fished together until I was about 20 and moved away. Now we get together a couple of times a year. He came up to Minnesota last year and had his best day ever on a local lake with over 40 bass between 3.5 & 5 pounds, 64 total, and I got him hooked on the River Smallies too. I'm going down there next week to fish Lake Guntersville with him, so hopefully we'll make some more memories.

[river rat316]

The first time I ever remember actually targeting bass was the drought summers (late 80's I think) when the mississippi was real low my dad took me out to the landing in Elk River and we went wading for smallies, wasnt a real productive day but did manage a couple and one larger one probably a 16 incher and from that moment have been hooked on em, about 3 years ago we moved into a house only a block from the river and have spent at least 3 nights a week during the season chasing em around the river, in the last year (thanks to fm) I have learned about 6 or 7 great ways to take more fish and have also learned a ton about reading water and current, thanks to fm I feel like I am a way better fisherman than I was just a year ago and hope to improve more this year. All in all though I enjoy the time out with my son more than anything and watching him catch fish brings way more joy than me catching fish. I hope this year to get more time out on the water with my son and also I hope we have more fm gatherings this year its a blast to fish with everyone on here!

[st.crioxfishin]

I got starte on some local ponds around the cites, also up north at my granpa and grandma's cabin. The lake wasn't much of a bass lake when i first began fishing there, but now its turned into a factory. I always enjoy going there in the summer.

[Aj10]

I started at my cabin in Wisconsin when i was about 5.I was really lucky to learn to use a bait cast at like 6 years old!Im only 12 though so it wasnt that long ago i guess.But i have been fishing ever since.Also my cabin is on White Ash lake in Amery but unfortanetly we are selling it this summer=(