Remember your first ever rod caught fish?

bitemybanger

I was jus thinking back to when I was a wee lad and my first ever rod caught fish.
I was fortunate enough to have grown up in a place where there was a river within 5 mins walk from my house and a small mill pond that held roach, perch, Rudd, tench, a few carp and hybrids.
Anyway, from a very early age maybe 3 or 4 I had been catching minnows and pinkies(which don't count as your first fish by the way) in the river until one day my mam bought me a fishing set from Clarkes(the local toy shop at the time).
A small green two pieced rod, Mitchell if my memory serves me with a little fixed spool reel, line already attached and a small booklet on how to tie knots and basic rigs.
So I fished away with this for about a year cutting my teeth again on minnows and pinkies but this time with my rod and reel and size 18 hook with a tiny ball of bread or a sliver of chopped worm which the minnows used to be like phiranas around a kill.
So one day...thee day, as usual I wandered down to the river with my mate (who is still my fishing buddy to this day) to our usual spot alond the river. We set up and started catching minnows like we did every day but this day was to be very different.
I remember getting a tangle of some sort as I hooked a little minnow and immidealty went about untangling the nest but as I did this my little minnow had gone unnoticed down "the rapids" as we used to call them, really just a fast stretch of around 25 meters.
As I went to retrieve my minnow I felt a sharp tug... Now remember, two boys 6 maybe 7 at this stage fishing in a river for minnow, that was our world and we tought we were catching "big" minnows. Never a tought there could be anything bigger in our little river.
So after the tug I tought I was snagged so as young anglers do I kept pulling but something felt different, my snag was fighting back:eek:
After a few seconds we had our first glimpse of the strange monster.
It was a Brown Trout. A Brown Trout of probably a half a pound if I was lucky.
I think it's the pure joy and exhilaration I felt that day that Is why i can remember it so well and what kept me at it all these years.
So lucky were we to have grown up in such a place that I remember fishing all trough my childhood into my teens catching and releasing hundreds of brownies and for that I am ever grateful for Rivervalley, my hometown.
I still have the little green rod absent reel soon to be handed down to my own son maybe next summer, he's just 28 months old.

So thats the story as best I can remember of how I caught my first fish.

davidk11811

Some of us aren't as lucky to catch a trout as their first fish
Mine was a perch!
But I still remember it well, it was in the hot stretch under the bridge in Lanesborough and I caught 3 I think and I never went fishing much after until last year where I picked it up again.

kippy

I remember it semi well.
Dad used to bring myself and my brother fishing (sea - from the rocks) from when I was 10 or 11. Dad loves his fishing and fishes for Pollack, Colfish (not sure if that is the correct term), Mackeral with the spinner and Gunards with the float and ragworm. Also pulled in a few differing varieties over the years.
We were fishing a spot we went to often - not a million miles from here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoJvu6CO3BY&feature=related but on a far nicer day
I didnt have my own rod at the time, so dad let us use his. I managed to pull in a fairly sizeable Gunard on some ragworm and a float.
We had about six areas on the island we went fishing too but we caught by far the biggest gunards in that area.

Yep, not as interesting as the freshwater fishing to many but I tell ya you could pull in some big fish off the rod.

I dont fish at all any more since moving from home a good few years ago but it sure was one relaxing past time.

beer enigma

Mine was a Gudgeon from the Thames - always had an affinity with them ever since, but haven't seen one since I've lived in Ireland...........

bitemybanger

Andip wrote: »

Mine was a Gudgeon from the Thames - always had an affinity with them ever since, but haven't seen one since I've lived in Ireland...........

I know where there is an abundance of gudgeon.
Annoying little buggers when feeder fishing.

peterk19

my first fish not including summers mackeral bashing with feathers in howth when i was a teenager, was a Bass about 5 pound I've been fishing ever since mostly targetting trout on the fly, Bass on plugs and spinners along with some smooth hound fishing when they are in, planning on targetting bass and mullett on the fly this summer along with smooth hounds on a plugging rod

bayliner

i actually cant rem my 1st fish at all :rolleyes: it was 34yrs ago so i suppose that doesnt help:D it was on lough ree at the age of 4, most likely perch on the troll... on the gudgeon my son caught 2 on a youths fishing comp last summer, a number of the adults had never seen them before which was odd considering they were seasoned fishermen:D..
my 2 eldest kids now fish, my daughters 1st was a trout of about 8oz or so, my sons was a 5lb pike he was 10yrs old,and struggled with it

beer enigma

bitemybanger wrote: »

I know where there is an abundance of gudgeon.
Annoying little buggers when feeder fishing.

Where where ??? tell me now or I'll De-Mod you :eek:

bayliner wrote: »

i actually cant rem my 1st fish at all :rolleyes: it was 34yrs ago so i suppose that doesnt help:D

Mine was 39 years ago.....shame on you bayliner lol - should eat more fruit & nuts to activate the brain cells

peterk675

Had been catching weeds all day and when i felt something giving a little pull i just thought it was another one to have to sort out and get off the line , to my surprize it was a small jack pike was so proud of the thing Took the lure out, took some pictures and put him back in ! Has to be one of the best feelings in the world !

SeaFields

I was brought fishing from when I began to walk. Actualy my father told me that at the start he used to have spare nappies in the tackle bag - thats how young I was .

First fish I can remember was a stockie from Loughaderra in Cork. I was 5 years of age. There was a lovely old woman there, living in a house on the bank of the lake, who gave out the permits. I used hate going in there as she had a little jack russel that took a dislike to me! But as she was doing up the permits I used be given a biscuit and lemonade so every cloud....

This particular day I was sitting in the grass watching my rod and I vividly remember playing with a ladybird I had found in the bark of a tree. I heard my rod hopping of the electric fence around the lake (which was turned off obviously!) and called my father who came to find me hauling at the rod with a fierce bend on it. He took the rod and brought in a 5lb stockie! I was estatic. Even tho my father brought it in, i cast out the rod, I put on the worm and I was watching it so therefore I had caught this fish!

I still have a photo of it somewhere. The fish is almost as big as me!

Edit: Actually if i find that pic during the week i'll scan it in and post it.

I lost the first seatrout i hooked. I wasn't allowed use the fly rod at night but every now and again when my father wanted a smoke he'd give me the fly rod for ten minutes. Himself and his buddy were sitting down smoking when a 3-4lb seatrout grabbed the fly and took off like a train. I can remember not physically being able to do a thing about it. Sheer power was surreal compared to any other fish I'd caught before. One lad came running up with a net but it was too late and seatrout was gone. I was allowed bring the fly rod after that night and landed a 1lb fish later the same week. I was about 12 I think.

And finally my first salmon came about out of frustration. After a full day of fishing for grilse without so much as a sniff, I finally gave up and set up the seatrout gear as the light faded. 4lb leader and a size 14 teal blue and silver - third cast and BANG! a 4lb grilse.

ronaldo84

a jack pike on the mask one summers evening when i was 9 yrs old had a small 6ft spinning rod and caught him on a mepps got a great feeling from it got hooked on fishing that day

Doc Farrell

first fish was a foot long eel that wrapped itself around my wrist as i tried to get it unhooked. it fell in the grass and slipped back into the river. extraordinary creatures but i still really really don't like'em!

the only thing more disturbing was watching a fisherman catch a cuttlefish in croatia and when he left it by his feet it started making a screaming gurgling sound until it died. i'm going to have to google that now to see if anyone else has heard that sound, very creepy, poor thing.

bayliner

Mine was 39 years ago.....shame on you bayliner lol - should eat more fruit & nuts to activate the brain cells[/QUOTE]
i eat plenty of fruit and nuts!just dont have enough brain cells to activate:D:eek: i suppose......can you rem what you were doin when you were 4??? fair play to ya:rolleyes::D.... i have a pic at home from back then with a rope tied around my waist and the boat seat!!!!....i dont rem that either:D some sight:D:D

Kess73

My first fish was a 3 lb sea trout and it was caught over here in Ireland.


It was my second time fishing on the White river near Ballyhahill in county Limerick.

I was 11 years of age and felt ten foot tall afterwards.


My second fish was the same week, and was a 12 lb conger caught off at Tarbert pier in Kerry. I remember it looking massive to me and it felt like it weighed a ton to the 11 yo me.

ActionHank

My first fish was a 1/2lb crucian carp caught just off the margins on a bread flake. I was around 8 at the time fishing with my dad in a small pond hidden in the field, far from the poachers . That crucian was like a bar of gold, such a magnificent specie. I've been targeting crucians ever since, my biggest of 4.4lb Shame you can't catch them in Ireland

shamwari

My first fish was a trout caught on a hand line up near Woodenbridge in Wicklow over 30 years ago. A 5ft spinning rod thereafter from my granny and more trout were nailed in the Liffey and Poulophuca. The biggest fist I caught in my junior years was a 2lb pike on the Royal Canal behind Des Kelly's in Phibsboro. I doubt very much if the canal has anything at all left in it now, let alone good sized pike.