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

I just went to camp one summer when i was 10,since i don't like swimming i ended up getting a fishing pole from the camp cabin and fell in love with it.Through those years of fishing off and on and many days of begging for a fishing pole from my parents,it wasn't till 3 years ago i'm into fishing hardcore now(now in my early 30's).I've been getting older teenager to go with me once in awhile,keeps them from getting in trouble on the streets.Now i have a 2 year old boy who's gonna pretty much getting raised as a fisherman/outdoor adventure kid,and just about everybody i know and meet want to go fishing with me,it's having to make the time and getting the rod/reel and licenses which i end up getting for them most of the time.

One point in my life times were hard and rough to a point where i blamed God for a few of the problems that i have with my health and things that went wrong for no reasons...just yesterday my finece's mother came to me and told me there's a reason why God lets things happen in people's lives and i guess from all the things that happened it made me the caring person i am today.She's like a mom to me as well and i took that message to heart.Come to think of it,i'm a mentor to the people around me that no matter how hard life gets you gotta make it for what it's worth.Never give up on life and live it to the fullest.

And i can bet Most people here are already mentors...they probably don't/didn't know it.

God bless

I would have to say that my grandpa and grandma Townsend for taking me out to the farm ponds in Oklahoma when I was a kid. Also, my dad for having the patients to teach me more as I was growing up. I also look up to my buddy Leon Gier. He has taught me so much about crappie, and I know that he has a lot more to show me.

I was born with this obsession. No one in my family fishes. I dont know who I recieved it from. My wife and I have slue of kids and none of them like to fish, tho they will go with me from time to time. I guess they feel sorry for me. I do hope to able to pass all I have learned down to someone. Maybe a grandchild, time will tell.

My Dad is my hero/teacher of fishing. He got me started (addicted).

shipahoy41 - THANK YOU for your past and current service as a teacher.

england - My wife and I love the outdoors and love to boat/fish. We have two boys (teenagers) who would rather play computer games. It really has us puzzled. I hope, when they get older, what little I was able to teach them about hunting/fishing will come back and they will also enjoy it.

My father took me fishing when a was a young whipper snapper and we would mainly catch bream and snakes! I loved it and it gave me chance to hang out with pops.

As I got older I started going to a farm pond that was two-three miles from the house to fish. Spent a lot of time there in the summers. As is nowthe case, most of my friends can not hang with me when I go fishing. I just have another gear that they can't seem to dig down and find. I rode my skateboard over to that pond throughout the years. "Hunted" my own camel crickets,long legs with strips, and would feed them oranges to change their color a little. Had to crawl under the house with a flashlight to find those little suckers.

My grandfather lived in Florida and it was the most exciting time of year when we went down to visit. HE HAD A BOAT! We would go to the Perdida River, near Pensacola and fish for huge bream. At night we would go to three mile bridge and set the crab baskets and fish. We also went floundering with spears in the bay. Good times!

My dad had a friend that was a serious trout fishermen. Man, I loved that guy. He tied all kinds of flys...even had his own bug collection! Took me fishing showed me how to respect mother nature.

All these men had a significant impact on instiiling in me a passion for the outdoors. They didn't just take me fishing, they guided me and showed me how to catch fish but just as importantly how to enjoy my time outdoors.

I am very competitive when it comes to being one on one with the fish. I should never lose or so that is how I feel when I'm on the water. At the end of the day though, I am just happy that I am blessed enough that I can enjoy God's great creation.

The CH...

Small world.

I caught a lot of white trout and croakers off that 3 mile bridge!

I need to get back down there and do some fishing. Maybe even pull my boat down and fish Perdida, or however you spell it, again. Couldn't fish back where me and my grandfather went, though. The chute was so small getting in there both sides of the flatbottom boat would be touching the bank.

Good Times!
CH

Unlike many of you it wasn't someone I knew that was my fishing mentor. He was a complete stranger.

I fished some as I was growing up. I got to fish 5 times a summer when we went camping. I always enjoyed fishing. Every once in a while my dad would take us fishing but it was the throw the worm in the water and wait and see what happens. It never got too technical. That's all I ever new how to do. I'd never thought about minnows as bait.

Then in the spring of 2003 my wife's grand mother passed away. My wife and I decided that we were going to fix a nice fish dinner for her grandfather. So one night when we were at the store we picked up some striped bass. I posted on a fishing board that I am a member of asking how to make the fish and what to make with it. There were many suggestions on how to cook it and what to fix with it. Then there was one guy that told me to throw the bass in the trash and he would take me out and catch some crappies for dinner. Against my wifes approval I met him one day after work and we fished for a couple hours. This was the first time I had met the guy. I really didn't know what he looked like or anything and when I got to the ramp I figured out who he was with out a word being said.

To this day him and I talk on a constant basis. Him and I have become good friends. I think of him as a father. The day that he takes his final boat ride will be one of the sadest days for me.