These were the only notable fishing stories I had prior to making regular fishing trips.
My aunt had a little creek that ran through her backyard. I fished it with my sisters and parents. Back then we were wearing lifejackets and fishing in 2ft of water. I had a spinning rod that had the trigger caster. My poor sisters had regular spinning rods and were having trouble casting them. We were warned by my aunt about snapping turtles, and my dad proceeded to tell us about how they were like alligators that would tear our arms off. I was terrified to go anywhere near the water until I knew it was safe.
Tossing little chunks of worms in I caught my first bluegill. It was the only fish I caught and I was fascinated how cool the bluegills were.
Much later my family made a trek up north to visit our relatives. I was around 11 by this time, so the memories are much clearer. We stopped to visit my uncle in Geraldton, ON. We fished for a while, but I was much more interested in finding fossils and was not really paying attention to my line. I couldn't find my bobber and my Uncle yelled to jerk my rod. This fish felt much different than the bluegills I was used to. A short little battle ensued and I caught my first Northern Pike. I couldn't believe the teeth on it. My dad caught a white sucker that was substantially larger than the little pike I caught. This sparked my desire to catch a sucker. The photo of me with this pike was destroyed in a flood.
Further north we went fishing in Red Lake. My cousin was talking about how he caught a massive pickerel and I was enthralled. I really wanted to catch a pickerel. We went fishing off a dock and no one had a bite. My cousin did manage to bring in a big ball of seaweed with a lure in it.
Years later we went camping at Algonquin park. My whole family went fishing again. There was a small shore bank with lots of weeds. I quickly started catching tons of pumpkinseeds. I didn't know the difference between them and bluegills at this time, but I do remember them being yellowish. This was the most fun I'd had fishing so far and couldn't wait for our next trip.
The beginning of the addiction started during a camping trip in 2012. Up until this point my life was consumed with football, disc golf and school. An unfortunate injury ended both of my sporting careers and I needed to find something to do for a hobby. I tried longboarding, but losing large chunks of myself most trips ended that.
It was my birthday and we went up to fish Black Lake near our campsite. After a lot of searching we finally found a spot we could all fit. My dad thought it was time for my to try out lures and I got a real spinning rod, which was a disaster. I tangled many times as I had no clue how to cast. I ended up snagging my dad's spinner. I couldn't get it free and broke the line. My dad was not happy. I could see where it was in the water. So I went in and got it, which made my mom very unhappy.
After switching to worms my brother caught a pike, and lost it on shore. My dad spent most of his time untangling myself and my sisters. I finally caught something. It turned out to be a little smallmouth bass. Then we all started catching sunfish. Tons of sunfish. My dad caught a big pike. My sisters caught tons of sunfish, and my brother lost the pike 2 more times, then caught tons of sunfish..
I didn't think fishing could get any better than this. There was no way that fishing in the Niagara Region could be this good I thought. This was the point that I wanted to start fishing all the time. My dad started telling us stories about catching 10+lb catfish on our drive home. I really wanted to catch a catfish.
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