I need your true fishing stories and memoirs to be put in a book I am currently writing about fishing. Your name will be put in the book!!! If you want to reply to this and then send me an email at: fishingforbass10@yahoo.com

i have a story about my oldest daughter when she was 6yrs old.

we went out 1 morning in the early spring for some trout out of the local lake. remember the ice just left the lake 2 days before. i got up 1st thing in morning to go and both my daughters wanted to go with me. we showed up at day break on a point that we shore fish from. we had been fushing for about 3hrs. and had caught a couple rainbows.
a friend of mine had showed up at the lake and we were talking about our upcoming turkey season. ya know making out who was bring what and when we will be leaving for camp-- our season was a couple weeks away. as my friend was getting ready to leave, i walk back to his car to finish our talk. we had been there for about 10 minutes and both girls came over to where we were talking.
we had been there for almost 5 minutes when i ask then who was watching the rods and then off they ran to check on them. i said good by to friend and started following my daughters. all at once i heard my oldest give a scream and i took of running to see what was going on and so did my buddy.
as i came around the corner of the building that we were fishing in front of, i saw my oldest in the water trying to get her fishing pole, it was in the lake about 4ft from shore in about the same depth of water. i went in after her and got to her as she grab her fishing pole. as i grab her, she tried to hand me her fishing pole. i could see that the fish was still on so i told her to hang on to the pole and fight the fish as i pick her up out of the water. she fought the fish for about 10 minutes before we could land it....it was a 25" rainbow.
she was a real trooper during the whole battle and didn't even complain about being cold until after it was landed and on the stringer. i took her to my folks house which was only a couple minutes away. she got out of her wet cloths and put them in the dryer and she was back in action in about an hr and she is 31 now and have 2 boys of her own.

thank you, send me an email with it with your name.

my first new pole

Hi.Wanted to tell you about getting my 1st new fishing pole.My cousin bought me a new open face rod an reel combo pack.I was so excited being only 14.That weekend we went to his brothers property where they have 3 fishing ponds.1 was just perch and catfish,1 was just bass,and the 3rd was a little of everything.We went to the catfish pond and i rigged up my new pole to fish the bottom.In this pond they new for sure there was a 28 pound cat that was caught and released earlier that week.I was trying for this fish.I rigged it up,put my bait on and cast it out.I let it settle to the bottom and put it in my pole holder.I took my smaller pole and started fishing for perch.We were catching 3/4-1 pound perch.I was about 150-200 feet around the pound from my new pole reeling in a perch when my cousin yells"Josh your pole,hurry."I look over and it is almost bent over double.Everyone new i had him on the line.My line strength was only 15 pound test line.I release the drag,the pole straightens out,and as i go to lift the pole out of the holder he starts to move a little.I left the drag open so he can run for just a minute or so.My cousin yells "o.k. now.Set that big one and pull em in."I close the drag, reel in some of the slack,and yank back to set him.As I yank back,the top of the 2 piece pole,and my reel both come off the pole and we watch it get pulled in the water.I was in shock.We all just stood in shock for about 30 seconds and then we burst out laughing.I couldn't believe it.I have never seen anything like it.We ll I went back to perch fishing an we stayed about another hour.Right before we leave I asked to give me 5 minutes to try the bass pond.I cast out and the second it went under the water I had 1 on.I set the hook and start reeling it in.This fish jumps out of the water and he has to be at least 15 pounds to my eyes.I bring him in and we weigh him and the large mouth weighs 7 pounds 8 ounces.It was an awesome catch.I look him over,enjoying my catch ,then I released him back.All in all,it was a great day with family and friends.And the one that got away.

I'll write up my story about when I was 16 and grandpa took me on a 8day tuna trip to mexico. I just found the pic of me and my 92lb yellowfin. Funny when you see yourself 28yrs earlier.

bassfisher, HOW YALL DOING. MY NAME IS RICK AND I'M FROM NEW JERSEY. I'M 58 AND BETWEEN MY FOUR KIDS, AND NOW MY ELEVEN ( 11 ) GRANDKIDS, I HAVE STORIES UP THE YENG YANG. I'LL BE HAPPY TO SEND YOU A FEW AS SOON AS I CAN TYPE THEM UP.
I ALSO WROTE A BOOK CALLED THE EVERYDAY FISHERMAN, A BOOK FOR BEGINNERS. I TRIED TO TEACH NOTHING BUT THE BASICS IN MY BOOK. RIGHT NOW I'M WAITING FOR THE EDITING TO BE FINISHED SO I CAN GET IT INTO PRINT. FROM A SHORT HISTORY ON HOW MAN STARTED FISHING TO EVASIVE SPECIES.
ANYWAY I WISH YOU GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR BOOK AND HOPE YOU SELL THOUSANDS OF COPIES.
I'M HOPING THAT MY BOOK WILL BE ON THE MARKET BY NOVEMBER OR DECEMBER OF THIS YEAR FOR X-MASS. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED, MY WEB SITE WILL BE UP AND RUNNING BY OCTOBER. THE SITE NAME IS ( theeverydayfisherman.com ) i'm almost finished building the web site now so take a look, you might like what you see and buy a copy.
also let me know what the name of your book is so i can look for it when it comes out. my e-mail is rhank123@aol.com I WILL BUY A COPY..

Just sent you an email with my story. Thanks!

I put this in the forum under the heading 'My story' so if you read it already no need to read it again. Hello to all. My name is Rick Bills (59 years young) and I just joined the club. Since the NAF wants my story I thought I would oblige. I have been fishing since my earliest memories. My parents always had some fishing leases on rivers here in Kansas. They always brought me along. We fished mostly for catfish using rods and reels, limblines and trotlines. I still remember the excitement when we would pull up to a limbline that was moving around. What was on it? Turtle? Gar? Carp? Or a great big catfish? They fished from a boat but also from what we called floaters (belly boats) back then. I got to fish from one too. I was always on one side of the seine when we went to get bait. One of the benefits of having kids I guess. I loved to turn over rocks in the riffles and try to find crawdads and hellgrammites. Great times. When I was 6 I was riding my tricycle down a steep driveway on the other side of the street from my house. I was on my way down the drive when I saw a car turn the corner. I knew I was going to get hit but there was no way I could stop. The car ran over my right leg below the knee. My parents got a small insurance settlement for that and when I was 12 they gave me $200.00 to spend on whatever I wanted. I bought an Ambassadeur 5000C baitcast reel and my own floater. What else? I continued to fish with my parents until I got married at the age of 19 and moved away from home. I lived in Alabama for two years until I got divorced but didn't do much fishing there. When I moved back to Kansas I moved in with some friends that mostly fished for bass. So I became a bass fisherman. I bought a 14' aluminum boat and a 19 horse Evenrude motor. Sweet little setup. We did occasionally go to reservoirs and fish for walleye and white bass but mostly fished local ponds for bass. I still fished from my floater on occasion. I studied bass fishing and soon learned enough that I always outfished my friends. They always blamed it on the cheese crackers I brought with me. I remember one time we were heading to one of our favorite ponds and we always stopped at a small gas station/store on the way. I wasn't driving that day and the driver drove right on by the store. He said I wasn't going get my lucky cheese crackers. I pulled two packs of cheese crackers from my pocket and told him to keep on driving. Outfished them all that day too. Soon enough I met my future wife. We dated for about a year then moved in together. A year after that we had our first child. We were too poor to let me go fishing at first. I had to sell my boat. I worked in construction and she stayed at home and took care of the house and children. Two girls and a boy. Great kids. I kept improving my construction skills (rough carpentry, sheetrocking and caulking mostly) until I became known around Wichita as a very good and skilled worker. I stared making decent money and could afford the occasional fishing trip. Unfortunately for me about 25 years ago I started slowly losing control of my muscles until I got to the point where I couldn't work anymore. I ended up in a wheelchair. My doctor and several specialists couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. They did test after test and took gallons (it seemed) of blood but never really found out what the cause was. They decided to try massive doses of Prednisone as an experiment. After about a year I started regaining muscle control. I remember the day I stood up and walked for the first time. Amazing feeling just doing something normal like that. I no longer have to take Prednisone and can still walk and do just about anything I want. I never regained full strength but that hasn't been too much of a problem. Except when fishing. One day I heard about a strip pit about 5 minutes from my house that was offering fishing leases. I bought one and fished there for several months before I found the bank that offered the best fishing. Large bass and catfish. There were large chunks of concrete and rebar submerged all along that bank. I got hung up a lot but caught a lot of fish. I got my fishing rods jerked out my hands many times due to lack of strength but always reached down into the water (it was clear enough I could see the rod) and grabbed the rod. I never lost a rod that way. I used to bring 2 or 3 worms with me and catch small perch to fish with. I found out by accident that I could put a perch on my hook (I used a stinger hook also) and set the rod across my floater under the velcro straps such that the back of the perch was slightly out of the water. I then fished with another rod that I held. Sooner or later I would see a big bass slowly rise and watch the perch for a few moments. Then it would strike. Always a big bass technique. One day the caretaker was standing on the bank talking with me. Cantankerous old fart you might say. I saw a bass slowly coming up to the perch and told him to watch. The bass took the perch and I landed it. Two weeks later he banned baitfishing. Like I said, cantankerous old fart. He did reverse his decision several months later tho. One day I called to renew my fishing lease. I heard a party going on the background. The guy I was talking to said they had just sold the pit for a million dollars. Broke my heart. I had been fishing that pit for about 15 years. I didn't fish much for several years after that. Late last year I heard about another strip pit about 10 minutes away from where I live. Lucky for me they had a lease open up and I bought it. First trip I didn't catch anything. Second trip I found a good spot and caught several nice bass. After several more trips I had found two spots that always produced numbers of bass and some large ones at that. During the summer I had many trips when I caught 30-50 bass fishing tube worms and Zoom minnows (I think that's what they are called). Shad color. I was using Trilene XL and got my line broke once or twice each trip. I asked at the local bass shop what they used and they suggested Gamma copolymer. I tried that in 12lb. test (which was supposed to be about 22lb test actually) but was still getting my line broke. I was fishing in heavy cover mostly and couldn't let the fish run. I talked with the people at the bass shop and they said use a Palomar knot instead of the improved clinch that I normally used. That helped some but I was still losing large fish. I think it was partly due to me being too lazy to retie after catching several fish and not checking the first 6-8 feet of line to see if there were any bad spots. Dumb. After realizing that I started to land some of those big bass. (9lb. bass have been caught from this pit. My biggest is about 5 1/2.) Finally I bought some Stealth braid and haven't had that break yet. Still using the Gamma and have only had it break 2 or 3 times since. Still fishing from my floater too. Nothing like having a fish turn you in several circles. Great way to fish. After the water started cooling the fishing got a lot worse. A good day was 10 bass. I decided to try my lazy way of fishing using minnow. Woohoo on that. The bass loved those minnows and I started catching 30-50 bass a trip again. I would order 3 dozen minnows at my local bait shop and they always gave me more like 5-6 dozen. If I had any left over I would freeze them. They would be good for about two weeks but after that they would get mushy when thawed. BTW don't salt them when you first freeze them or they get mushy after just a day or two and are hard to keep on the hook. A day before going fishing again I would put some salt on them. The bass loved them that way just as much as live minnows. I should mention most of the bass I am catching are smallmouth. Great fighters. Maybe that's why I was getting my line broke. Sorry for being longwinded but that's my story. BTW anyone have any line recommendations? I would like to try another braid (Power Pro seems to be the hot braid right now) or possibly fluorocarbon (which I have never tried). Darn line is getting expensive nowadays but it's worth it if I don't lose those big smallmouth. Another BTW. I use high vis yellow and the bass don't seem to mind at all. The water in this pit is pretty clear too. I am a line watcher and the high vis helps a lot. Thanks for listening and good fishing. Don't forget the lucky cheese crackers.

MR THRILLS, Good story thanks for sharring. best of luck to you........john

was ice fishing last weekend in Colorado,had a huge pike in my hole for about 20min.I was rigged up with a pike set up,with about a 8" sucker the pike would swim by and bump the sucker even taking small bites at the sucker,the last pass by the sucker the pike made he rubbed his whole body from head to tale along the sucker as if he was marking the bait,have never seen that before!