Thread: WHO MENTORED YOU? PLEASE RESPOND. Thank you.

Daryl,

You said a mouthful when you stated "Humility is realizing you stand on the shoulders of giants!"

Keep the replies coming. We are cherishing history on this thread. We are all blessed to have had such role models in our lives.

old ship

My dad made me this way..........

From our home in SEMO he took me fishing in so many places it is hard to list them all. The furtherest from home was Half Moon Bay off the coast of San Fransico, Ca. fishing for red snapper. We went to Lake Livingston, Tx a couple of times. Fished all the oxbow lakes on both sides of the Missisippi from Cairo, Il to New Madrid, Mo. We fished farm ponds, lakes, blueholes, ditches and rivers. I spent more quality time with him fishing than doing any other activity including working on the farm. He loved to fish Ky. Lake out of Mansard Island Resort on Big Sandy and kept his camper and boat there for 15 years. My Mother passed away there on one of their many trips. He eventually sold the trailer but kept the boat until he died in May, 2000. He was 85 years old then when cancer took him but had made a devout fisherman of my mother, my brother, me and my son by that time. Thank God for his patience and persistence. I was not a good student.... Hooker

Bill Dance. I finally got to meet him and got to be good friends. I am into crappie fishing and my dream came true. I got to take him crappie fishing and he put my picture with a big crappie I caught on the front of a magizine he writes for.

Possumcop,

That is awesome. Bill Dance truly is one of a kind. I wish I could meet him too and just pick his brain for a few minutes. He is an inspiration and a teacher for so many.

old ship

This was posted by DAVID WATERS under "Looking for a hero:

both my dad and my grandfather always had time to take me fishing. While it wasn't crappie fishing, it was fishing of somekind. Also, we hunted as well. I can't remember at any time my grandfather (papa) ever saying he couldn't go. I called him usually when my father had to work weekends or whatever.

They instilled in me an absolute love for the outsdoors. I think about it so much, it is almost a charecter flaw!

I am a band director and we have student interns all the time from a local university. I always tell them if they don't have a hobby, they need to get one. I usually take them fishing at least once during the semester. We have one now named Matt and I have taken him twice so far. He has the bug bigtime. He said when he gets a job, one of the first things on his list to do is look for a decent boat to crappie fish in.
__________________
Shoals Area Crappie Association
David Waters, President
256-386-7280, watersdav@comcast.net
Pickwick, Wilson, Wheeler, Cedar, and all BCDA lakes


This was posted by GRIZZ under "Looking For A Hero.
I was a self motivated fisherman as a child. I just loved it from the get go, but my parents did get me started by taking the whole family fishing a few times a year. My dad liked to fish and he took me if I asked him once in a while, but what he did was love the outdoors in general, and though he didn't really include me in that on purpose it really rubbed of on me, and I appreciate that.

My mom loved to fish and still does. She used to get bad headaches when I was a child (I was the youngest of 5) , and she would ask me to take her out in the rowboat to fish for a while and the headache would go right away. I was also an active participant in the crappiethon tournys when they were around, and except for one year she was always my partner and I wish she was the year that she wasn't. One year out of over 200 people she won the big fish pot, and we always placed in the money. We were the only Mother/son team and she always got quite a lot of recognition for that and also being the oldest lady in the tournys. People from the tournys still ask me how she is 15 yrs later. She a great lady.

The other person who influenced my love for fishing is my neighbor and good friend Denny Brown. I still remember the first day I met him when I was 5 yrs old. He was building his house and was up straddled on the ridge pole of the roof with a hammer in his hand waving at our family as we were taking a walk down the road. Denny always found time to take me on a special fishing trip 2 or 3 times a year. He taught me fly fishing and we built rods and tied flies together, though the fly fishing thing never really rubbed of on me in the long haul. We still fish together several times a year and I count him among my most valued friends. Every kid need a friend like him while they grow up. He was always glad to see me. Hes a great man and a great friend. Take a kid fishing even if they aren't your own!
__________________
Be happy where you are



Fish today - worry tomorrow. Then again fish today and tomorrow and forget the worrying.

www.OneLastCast.net

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I am posting them here because I would like to see all responses under this one thread. Please keep the replies coming.

Thanks.

old ship

http://www.actionfishingtrips.com/LeeRoy.htm

Mr. Crappie,

Thanks again. I just responded to your PM

old ship

my step dad started me on fishin. I can't remember what age but it is some of my earliest memories. I remember cuttin saplings for a rod and catchin bream with worms and crayfish that we caught. I progressed to catchin catfish when I got my first rod and reel about age 5. My step dad loved to fish and I'm sure glad he brought me up the way he did, but he didn't hunt much at all. The huntin bug came from an old gentleman who lived next door to us. His name was Randal. He passed away when I was in the first or second grade so I didn't know him for very long, maybe a year or two.
He raised black and tan coonhounds and used to tell me huntin stories all the time. I can't remember any of the stories now but what I do remember is I couldn't get enough of those stories or his dogs. I was always back at his kennel lookin at those dogs or bangin on his front door demanding another huntin story. Man I sure loved those stories and those black and tan dogs! I must have drove him nuts but he never turned me away. No matter what he always had time for me. At age 40 I am still an avid fisherman and hunter of any and all game, and I got three black and tan coonhounds too. :D It's funny how such a minor thing like those huntin stories and dogs and catchin bream with a sapling can influence a person in such a major way.

Well , my dad stuck a pole in my hand when i was 5 and the rest is history. As far as a mentor , i never really had one - when i was able to fish my dad wasn't into exercising his visitation rights regularly which led me to figuring it out on my own. Over the years i got to know my dad a little but not much more than that. Eventually i moved out on my own from upstate NY to TN and got into bass fishing - once again on my own. That led to fishing for cats and ultimately crappie. Been fishing for 'em about 4 or 5 years now almost exclusively and to be honest - for the first time in my 36 years i can honestly say i have a mentor... it's a large group of people and they all make up the greatest online community in the world - Crappie.com. Thanx to everybody for leaving tips in pm's and the local board - it doesn't get any better than this. - Pete