First Trout

[eric1978]

LOL, It kinda looks like I was pouting. If it wasn't for the ol'man smiling I'd swear the pic was taken about 10 minutes post-asswhoopin'.

Eric, The hat I DO remember. Dad was a big time quail hunter and worked exclusively with Pointers, that was his wing shootin' / dog stompin' cap.

It's a sweet hat, I wish I had one. That leather jacket is cool, too. Looks like the old man had some style.

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Sorry I cant help you wrench, but I wanted to say, laker - you are a true asset to this board.

Thanks for being here. I like reading your posts... every one of them.

Brian

[fishinwrench]

Considering the route that I think we took, it pretty much has to be the area Laker said. I can't imagine the ol'man going too far out of his way with a new boat in tow. It was Feb. of 05 the last time I was at Norfork so my memory is foggy. I remember crossing railroad tracks but I don't recall seeing a tressel across the river. Is there one ?

Those fish in the pic were some scrawny cookie-cutter little rainbows. LOL I wonder how good the fishing on the White and Norfork was back then...compared to recent days ?

[laker67]

Considering the route that I think we took, it pretty much has to be the area Laker said. I can't imagine the ol'man going too far out of his way with a new boat in tow. It was Feb. of 05 the last time I was at Norfork so my memory is foggy. I remember crossing railroad tracks but I don't recall seeing a tressel across the river. Is there one ?

Those fish in the pic were some scrawny cookie-cutter little rainbows. LOL I wonder how good the fishing on the White and Norfork was back then...compared to recent days ?

The rr tracks have me confused as well. I know they have to be there somewhere. Hopefully we get some more input.

[Buckshotdad1960]

I used to fish for trout all the time as a kid. I honestly can’t remember my first trout. I only caught a couple thousand of um! Maybe that’s a good sign though, maybe there’s still hope for me and I’ll recover and be ok someday. LOL I do however remember my first illegal trout, and my second.

As a kid I knew the creek that ran through my home town better than just about anyone. You could see it from our school building. In the eight grade, I had a science teacher who loved to fish. We talked about fishing quit a bit. When I told him of a spot where I caught Goggle eyes he insisted that I must have been mistaken and I was catching something else because by his calculations Goggle eyes couldn’t be there.

He only lived about a half mile from me so I asked him if he would like me to show him the spot. He agreed and came to my house that weekend to pick me up. I don’t know who was the kid and who was the teacher that weekend. We had a blast. He couldn’t believe the amount of fish we caught. He started calling me Harold Hensley. (A guy who had a TV fishing show back in the day) I know Wayne will remember him. Heck, as old as old Wayne is, Wayne’s probably his dad! LOL Anyway when he took me home he asked my mom and dad if he could take to Bennet Springs the next weekend and they said sure.

I loved Bennet! I thought that’s where all the rich people fished. I had a blast even though we only stayed for a couple of hours. I caught my 5 fish limit and my teacher only caught 3. On the way out he had to go to the bathroom and stopped at a porter potty they had there. It was close to the holding tanks there where you can hand feed the fish. He must have been doing the bakers man special in there, so I walked over to the holding tanks. I couldn’t believe my eyes! I’d never seen that many fish in one place before in my life! I wanted to fish it so bad I couldn’t stand it! Sure I had the sense that it would be wrong to do it but darn the torpedoes I wanted to! So I ran back over to the porter potties and grabbed my pole. I cut the line and ran the fishing line up my pants leg and tied it to my belt loop. I had a fly tied to the other end already that stuck out about two feet from my foot. I ran back over to the holding tank and kicked my leg out making that fly drop in the water.” Blam” a big one hit it and I pulled it out and unhooked it! I kicked the fly in again and “blam” a big one hit it! I pulled it out and ran over to the porter potties with my two fish. The whole thing didn’t take 60 seconds to do! I put both fish on his stringer just barely getting the second one on as he came out.

He picked up his stringer and saw the two jiggling fish on there and got a puzzled look on his face. He said where did these fish come from? I said I caught them while you were in the bathroom. He said, you went all the way over to the creek and caught these fish and came back? I said yes. He looked at me and said son your good but you ain’t that good, your lying to me, tell me where you got these fish! Did you steal them from someone? I said heck no I didn’t steal them from anyone; I caught them in the water. He said what water? I pointed to the holding tanks and he flipped out! He said you walked over there with your fishing pole and fished in there? I said heck no, I didn’t use my fishing pole and showed him how I did it. His whole life must have flashed before his eyes because he opened up to me like I was Barbra Walters! LOL He hid behind the porter potty and put his back up to it. He looked off in space and said, oh lord I’m ruined! This will make the paper, I’ll loose my job, and I’ll have to move back to Indiana! My wife will divorce me because I’ll be a disgrace, a criminal, and an out cast! I’ll be laughing stock in the teachers lounge and all because of you! Any minute now we’re going to be arrested and thrown in jail! I think now looking back on it that he was just messing with me but I got scarred! He said, maybe its not too late! Take these back and throw them in, so I did!

All the way out of there I was clicking my heels together and saying, there’s no place like home! There’s no place like home! Like in the movie Wizard Of Oz! I didn’t think we were going to get out of there without being arrested!

But we did! No road blocks! No conservation Swat Teams! “Nothin”!

I was happy! I thought it was time to celebrate but when I looked over at my teacher he was still pissed! He said, don’t you ever pull another stunt like that again! We could have been in big trouble! Don’t you know you can’t fish in a fish hatchery? I could have lost my fishing license, they would have took our fishing poles, took my car, fined us, thrown us in jail! And all over two lousy fish! Then he made me read the rule book and write a 500 word essay on what I learned and why it was wrong to steal fish from the holding tanks! I never did that again! LOL that was 36 years ago but I still remember it as though it was yesterday!

Sorry fishinwrench, I didn’t mean to get carried away here and over take you thread with my ramblings! Just wanted to share the story.

[brownieman]

Laker...you better watch this Brian guy, not even a secret admirer, after all, this is a public forum and the implication made here, well...just watch your backside buddy, lmao. You all know I'm funnin here, surely.

I don't recall my 1st fish but I still have my 1st rod and reel...after I learned a little more about fishin my dad stepped me up from a Zebco 202 to a 909. The whole lot is in this pic...my old 909 has a bent handle from me stepping on it while it was laying on the bank of a pond...don't recall the first fish but do remember how mad I was at myself when I bent that handle...it was almost brand new. I need to make some new grips for my old rod so I can use that puppy some more...that old steel rod has some backbone to it, lol.

Don't remember lots of things but I can take you right to that pond and show you right where that rod and reel was layin when I stepped on it. Funny how certain things get burnt in those memory banks that you can't forget even if you wanted to, ya know.

Back in the day, wait...what day?, when?, why?...dangit, my simple self is all confused...again, lol.

Anyway...quite ramblin you old fart and show the pic, wait..what pic? MAN, this CRS that goes along with these tarnished golden years sucks...wait, aw forget it. You younger bucks overlook me, alright...I'm sure you old farts can relate.

later on...if I can remember, lol

[laker67]

Brownieman,

I don't recall ever seeing a rod with the pistol grip handle before. Clever idea. I was going to tell you a cure for your CRS problem, but now I can't remember what it was. My first fly rod caught trout was at the high bank hole at bennett around 1962. I had an 8.5 southbend fly rod with a southbend reel. I was using a brown wolly worm with a red tail. I caught three fish that day and thought I was top dog on the creek.

[brownieman]

Brownieman,

I don't recall ever seeing a rod with the pistol grip handle before. Clever idea. I was going to tell you a cure for your CRS problem, but now I can't remember what it was. My first fly rod caught trout was at the high bank hole at bennett around 1962. I had an 8.5 southbend fly rod with a southbend reel. I was using a brown wolly worm with a red tail. I caught three fish that day and thought I was top dog on the creek.

What do you mean thought...you were the man.

That cure??...think man. My friends say I'm beyond help, think that's what they said, whatever the case I aint throwin in the towel yet...can't find my towels anyway, lol.

later on

[fishinwrench]

What do you mean thought...you were the man.

That cure??...think man. My friends say I'm beyond help, think that's what they said, whatever the case I aint throwin in the towel yet...can't find my towels anyway, lol.

later on

You don't have any. She left, remember ? darn you are gettin' bad.

[eric1978]

I don't recall my 1st fish but I still have my 1st rod and reel...after I learned a little more about fishin my dad stepped me up from a Zebco 202 to a 909. The whole lot is in this pic...my old 909 has a bent handle from me stepping on it while it was laying on the bank of a pond...don't recall the first fish but do remember how mad I was at myself when I bent that handle...it was almost brand new. I need to make some new grips for my old rod so I can use that puppy some more...that old steel rod has some backbone to it, lol.

Don't remember lots of things but I can take you right to that pond and show you right where that rod and reel was layin when I stepped on it. Funny how certain things get burnt in those memory banks that you can't forget even if you wanted to, ya know.

later on...if I can remember, lol

Your story reminds me of a day of a couple firsts for me, too. I was probably 11 or 12, and my little fishing buddy and I were fishing from a jon boat in a farm pond his family had. In those days we used T-rigged plastic worms almost exclusively, and we were pounding every inch of the banks of that pond with them. My buddy was outfishing me about 4 to 1 that day, and in all honesty he was just a better fisherman (fisherboy) than I was. He taught me a lot about fishing in the years we fished together. He was just one of those guys that had that instinct...you know the type.

Anyway, back then we were really competitive and needled each other constantly about how many we caught and how big our fish were. Well, that day he was really letting me have it. He was pulling out all the stops and giving me a really rough time. He was catching dink after dink and after every fish he'd call out the count. "Let's see, that's 28 for me, what is it? 7 for you?" And so on. Since I was clearly getting slaughtered, I figured if I switched baits, at least I could say I was outfished because we were using different lures. So I tied on this ugly, rubber-skirted chartreuse spinnerbait I think I paid a quarter for at Grandpa Pigeons, you know, one of those loose baits in that bargain bin.

I had never used a spinnerbait in my life, so I didn't expect much to happen, but I started castin' it anyway. My buddy kept catching fish after fish, and didn't let up with the insults. "Only an idiot would think that thing would catch a fish." And right around that point I felt a tap and then a HUGE pull and it was on! He gave a jump and I shot a glance at my buddy who was, for the first time all day, speechless. Got him to the boat and got my hand around his massive lower lip and heaved him out of the water. I thought he must have been 6 or 7 pounds, but looking back now, in reality he was probably closer to a heavy 4. That was my first fish on a spinnerbait, and I haven't stopped throwing one since.

I released the fish, and laid into my buddy. I really let him have it. I was sitting backward in the front of the jon boat just hurling those insults as fast as they'd come to me. As soon as I was satisfied that he was about as miserable and jealous as I could make him, I spun around to face the front of the boat, and SNAP! My rod tip had somehow made its way into one of the belt loops of my jeans, and when I turned I broke about 6 inches of the tip clean off. Of course it was the only rod I'd had with me since it was the only rod I owned. That was the first rod I broke.

Needless to say, my buddy was suddenly in good spirits again. And he was casting a spinnerbait.