How I Acquired Fishing Knowledge

I received a comment the other day from Craig asking me where I learned about everything I write about and that gave me the idea of writing this.

Craig said I could not have learned all this from just going out and fishing. Where did I get all the information that I write about?

Fishing As A Kid...Man, I Loved It and Loved Papa

I guess it goes back to when my grandfather in Arkansas used to take me crappie fishing every summer when I was 6 years old. I would go over to Arkansas for the summer and we would go fishing three or four times a week.

I was like all other kids who wanted to play instead of fishing when they were not biting, but when Papa caught the first Large Mouth Bass that got my attention real fast. I could not believe a fish could put up that much fight and seeing how big a large mouth bass could be got me hooked.

We would fish with minnows and got me to thinking that there was more to this than just minnow fishing. Even as a kid, I would be wondering what kind of bait could I use that would last fish after fish?

Listening, Reading and Applying

Well, as I grew up I got into listening to other fishing folks, did some reading on how to catch fish and started to apply everything. Before I knew it, I was catching some respectful fish and wanted to get into it even more.

I would go to Pick Wick after my grandfather passed every summer to fish with my dad. Dad saw real quick that I was hooked and made sure that we had some kind of fishing boat so I could spend the day on the lake.

When I was all grown up I joined the Navy and still tried to fish every chance I got.

Know What of Kind of Fish You Are Catching - Learned The Hard Way

Being in the Navy and stationed everywhere I was able to fish all over. I even tried saltwater fishing and I caught a fish that I had no idea what it was so I took it off the hook threw back into the sea and that night I thought I was going to die. Went the ER and the Doctor told me that fish I took off stung me and I would be sick the rest of the night, but should be better in the morning. Needless to say that ended my saltwater fishing.

After the Navy 17 years 9 months I went back to Memphis and pick up fishing where I left off. I worked a bunch of different jobs, but was not happy.

Gaining More Fishing Knowledge

So I went to work at Walmart Sporting goods and was able to rub shoulders with the fishing items.

When I would see something new come out, I would read up on it and take it to a small pond and see if it would produce the way it said it would. Some of the items did and some did not, and I would pass that on to the customers.

Example: When they were talking about a trailor hook behind a spinnerbait, why not lip hook a big bass minnow to the trailor hook to make it look like the minnow was chasing the spinnerbait. Don't you think that would cause a Bass Hog to stop in his/her tracks and go after the spinnerbait?

I heard that Bass Pro was coming to Memphis so I applied for the Fishing Department. I was hired and helped set up the new store.

This is where I picked up a lot of information about the different lures, Rods, Reels, Lines and so forth.

Here again, I made sure that the ears were open and listened real careful to what folks were talking about as they bought tackle. 

I would take what I had heard and went to the pond to try it. Sometimes I would change up a few things that produced fish for me and would report what I did to my customers.

It did not take long for what I called my customers to see that I knew what I was talking about and they would keep coming back looking for me. They wanted more information. They would stop me in the parking lot, call me and even stop by the house for tips.

I even use to get on the demo tank and show what I had picked up and tried to show them the way the fish would react to the bait. I think back to one night I was showing a guy a Bandit Crankbait, "RootBeer", that had just come out and when I came down from the tank sold 52 of them.

In the year 2008 I retired due to health matters and I know that a lot of folks wanted to know what happened to me.

I had been sending in stories to a guy that I met on the internet and he told me to put something together to make a web site.

I thought this would be a great way to stay in touch with the friends that I have made through the years and still get the information out on how to catch fish.

So I guess to answer Craig's question is yes/no. I do not get all my information from fishing, but have to admit there is a lot that does come from practice in small ponds, listening, and reading.

Keep the Hooks Wet!

Steve McGoldrick

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