What rivers ,lakes, creeks or Salt water did you grow up fishing? What are your favorite memories of fishing there?

I grew up on the Snohomish system and the Stilly. We would also spend time every summer on the Icicle. I fished the small creeks between Snohomish and Monroe with my uncles in the summer. We could walk from his house. The Canary grass would grow tall along the banks and the grass hoppers where thick. We would stuff our pockets with hoppers and crawl up to the creek so we would not spook the fish. We would have no weeight and just a hopper on a hook. We ould dangle the hopper in the water under a cutbank covered in grass. Whamol cuttthroat up to 3 or 4 lbs would hammer the hopper and the fight was on. Your heart would jump at the tug of the line. I was 5 when I started fishing this way.

The cedar river in Renton,Trout and Steelhead.
I also spent lot's of time will my uncle's down on the nehalem river chasing sea-run cutt's.Those where some fun times.Thanks for helping bring up those memories.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

I grew up up in the Okanogan fishing for everything from trout to carp. But my first fish ever caught on my own was a perch when we lived a year on Lake Champlain in upstate New York.

I caught my first fish ever on Fish Lake, My family still has a cabin up there. I loved fishing up there because a full stringer was the norm at the end of each day, along with 1000 misquito bites.

My Father has worked for several large commercial seafood companies all his life here in Seattle, so as a kid he was always bringing me along to fish with his buddies in the Rivers and Puget Sound.
Growing up in Bellevue, I fished the Sammamish slough and Lake Washington alot as a kid... First Steelhead came from Sammamish slough in Redmond below the RR bridge! Our house was right next to Kelsey Creek, which used to hold alot of brooks and rainbows. Up to a couple years ago I still used to go down and fish at Enatai beach under I-90 for trout.

Once I was 16 and had wheels, we would fish the upper Tolt alot, The Sky, Snoqualmie, and camp along the banks of the Skagit for silvers and pinks in the fall. We would make a few trips out to the OP now and then for a change of scenery. I spent alot of time fishing the Green river gorge, love that place.


I used to go to Twanoh State park every summer with my cousins and family. There we would fish for Salmon on the great bend, and big sharks at night from the docks. Sometimes we would hike up Twanoh creek to Mason lake and bushwack our way in to find some cutthroat and trout spots before the area was developed.

We loved to fish Cutthroat from the beach at Mukilteo south of the point as well as in the Ferry wash.

I never fished the sound too much until my twenties. My buddy Geoff had killer moorage right inside Shilshole bay at a private residence, so we would frequently fish before work at West Point, 4 mile, "the trees" north of Carkeek. During those years I really learned the sound and alot about little spots here and there.

Now I just read about fishing on the internet.

I started out trout fishing with my dad at lake Wenas over near Yakima, made many trips over there as a kid. Next was lake Wa. sockeye back when it was open every year and they only bit U-20 Flatfish. Got my first king at 7 yrs. old at Pt. Defiance and first steelhead at 14 on the Green. Grew up just above Redondo and spent alot of summer days fishing the pier, even spent some time on the old pier with the old rundown boathouse and sling launch, damn, I'm getting old. Caught a few salmon off those piers.

Skyguy,

I fish fish lake a bunch too. We would camp on the Icicle at Johnny creek and go to the lake for the day. I remember the Mosquitos very well and the lunker german browns on a trolled Cary Special. Also fished Lake Wenatchee for Kokes and the Chiwawa for trout. Nason creek held big fish also in the 60'S

I grew up in the Bay area in California and never fished as a kid. Moved to Idaho when I was 20 but didn't fish for at least another 5 years. Then started fishing the rivers(Payette) with a clear plastic casting bobber and a fly. I was home at last.

Like Jerry, I grew up in that other country below Oregon. Southern part.

Was a fishing nut when I was a kid...constantly after my dad to take me fishing, and he did too! He loves to fish also, and every chance he had he took my older brother and I out chasing bass, trout or ?

Fished the ocean (Huntington Beach pier, Seal Beach pier) for bonito and the occasional barracuda.

Younger years we always went to Donner Lake, near Reno, for vacation, and I spent a summer there (I was 12/13) working for one place we always stayed at. Great experience, as the owner was retired from the Marines (DI) and was quick to "correct" me when needed. Damn, that guy could out-cuss my second wife.

We kept a boat in Searchlight, Nevada, for many years, leaving just the short haul from there to Cottonwood Cove, which sadly (I hear) is now some big resort spot.

We would pile all of our camping gear in the boat, head up-lake (Mead) about 6 miles and find some nice cove to set up home in for a few days at a time. Caught bass, tons of trout, the odd carp at night. My brother and I used to sleep out under the stars near the boat, and would take a hunk of liver on a big hook (about a 1/0) and then tie the line to our big toes...waiting to see who got woken up first with the carp...what a hoot that was!

Fished most all of the local lakes (Cachuma, Castaic, some of the San Diego lakes) for bass...caught some good ones. Best was a reservoir in Anaheim Hills - was supposed to be closed to fishing, but my high school buddy and I (14-15 yrs. old) would hike down a fence line and get into the place. It had been stocked with bass since the 1960's, and we hammered 4-9 lb+ bass in there till we got tired. Finally got caught one night (helicopter with spotlight...ya can't hide!) and that was the end of that...been "legal" ever since.

Ahhh...memories.

Gotta admit though...fishing now is lots more fun than it ever has been. I guess I enjoy the whole experience of being out in the wilds more than I did as a kid.

Mike

I did all my early freshwater fishing at Spencer Lake. We rented a cabin from the Weatherbys who owned a resort on the small lake. We fished with a big gold and silver pop gear and usually were done by 7:30 on opening day, with a limit of 15 fish.

Saltwater was always LaPush. Harley’s report, a wall tent, slugs, rain and rough water. We had a five-horse Sea king motor and rented the wooden boats at Harleys. Always fished for coho off the Skunk Buoy, about two miles off shore.

My dad hated anything but salmon. Once I dropped to the bottom and got 44 lb halibut. He chewed me out for that. Another time I hooked a really big halibut and after about a 1/2 hour he cut the line.

I also grew up in Cali. Caught my first steeelie at age 9 on the American River throwing white roostertails. No one in my family fishes so I have no idea how i got the bug. Cuaght my first trout at age 5 and it was all over. Fish on the brain 24/7 since. Got away as soon as I could and went to college at Humboldt State. Lived in very close proximity to the Mad river where my steelhead education really took off. Fished other great stream such as the Eel, Van Duzen, Redwood Creek, Klamath, and of course the Smith. Moved to the East coast for 3 years where I got my tutalege in aquatic entomology by a guy named Billy Kingsley who now own the Blue Ridge Angler. Fished a spring creek called Mossy Creek. Learn alot about bugs. Also fish upstate New York for the Big browns. 50+ fish a day and the little ones were 5 lbs. Moved back and worked in the casinos of Nevada and fished the Tahoe basin all summer. Moved to Corvalis and fished all the streams within a two hour reach before moving up here where I spend most of my time residing on the Kalama.

~steelymann~

Freshwater - Offut Lake outside of Olympia. I was pretty impatient, didn't want to wait for the trout, always badgered my Dad to go fish the lilypads for perch.

Saltwater - North shore of Orcas Island. Again, I was very impatient, couldn't wait for the salmon, had to drop down to the bottom and catch whatever we found.

I grew up in the Willamette Valley, fishing in Detroit Lake and crabbing in Yaquina Bay. My grandfather knew all the tricks and out-fished and out-crabbed most others on any given day. Thanks, gramps!

I'm pretty sure there is still a photo of my brother up at Kane's Landing on Detroit Lake, with a huge grin and a looooong stringer of trout taller than himself, all taken on one of my grandfather's outings. He eventually gave his boat to my brother.

I really didn't go fishing on my own until after college. My dad introduced me to the insanity that is bank fishing for sturgeon.

grew up on a island in Maine, my dad was a lobster fisherman so it was a wonderful life filled with fishing. My favorite was every summer going on a little long range adventure with pops to chase the blue fin Tuna that will always be my most precious memory forever 300 to 700# tuna on rods and reel, dad really new how to party!!! Plus the other boner fish, I guess that is why I settled in Washington in the end, best fishing in the world!!!!

I grew up in the Renton highlands and my older brother and I would walk about a mile down to May Creek to fish for trout. We had no real fishing gear to speak of. There was a little market on Sunset Hwy right by our house that sold a little bit of stuff, but we had no money to buy anything. Usually all we had was some mono, a stick and a safety pin.
We would dig some worms and off we'd go.
I still can't believe my mom would let a 5 and 7 year old go off like that, but I think it was a little safer for kids in those days.
Man, what memories that brings back!

LaCenter was home. And about 5 houses down from Lucia Falls was the fishing hole. All this when the east fork was spitting out state record steel. Somebody please fire up the way back machine and take me back!

"Home" was Michigan, where we would always spend a few weeks each year and would fly fish for everything from bluegills to grayling. Dad was an Army defense lawyer who rarely was at any post for more than a few months. Was kind of tough moving away from our new friends all the time but we got to see a lot of scenery. Dad was a fishing fanatic so we fished all over the US from the east coast to the west coast. Fished in England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Austria and Italy. Costa Rica, Venezuala, Hawaii, Japan, on and on. Dad was a great fisherman who I still greatly miss. I went to Vietnam after college and added it along with Thailand, Malasia, Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii to the roster. Came thru Seattle in the summer of 1970 and was invited to go salmon fishing at Neah Bay and Seiku. After I got out of service in 72 I moved here. Great place to fish and raise a family...

Started out fishing in Idaho with my grandpa for trout. We fished the lochsa (sp?) and sellway (sp?) rivers with the clear casting bubbles and two fly's. We would start at first light and in the afternoon when we would start for home (kamiah) grandpa would stop two or three times for a nap. We wouldn't make it back until dinner.
We moved to Wyoming, and I fished for cutthroat and brookies in mountain streams when we went camping. We went one time with my six cousins, my two brothers, two uncles, my dad and my grandpa. We lost count of how many fish we caught but we ate them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and still took home about 50 for a fish feed. I also fished the flaming gorge.
When we lived in Arizona we fished for perch in the lakes.

When we moved back to Idaho (Lewiston) I got to spend the summer with grandpa and we went fishing about 3-4 days a week. I'll never forget that summer and I even had one day where I outfished grandpa.

My parents moved over here 17 years ago. I fished once or twice for steelhead but other interests kept me from fishing. About three years ago my younger brother started fishing for steelhead. One day he was fishing up at Reiter, not doing to well, and the guy fishing downstream from him stopped and gave him a gold spoon. He said "give this a try" and left with his limit. An hour later he left with two fish and was forever hooked. He swears the it was the General that gave him the spoon.

Since my brother was hooked on fishing he needed a fishing partner and kept asking me to go with him. My wife told me to go with him so that he would quit calling the house. I remembered how addicting fishing was when I was a kid so I told her that I would go but that I might get hooked.
I've been fishing regularly ever since.

Fishbelly2 introduced me to the salt and my wife had to have a boat so that the family could fish with me. My wife let's me fish whenever I want and some times when I come home from work in a bad mood she will tell me to go fishing so that I can relax.

Now I'm making memories for my kids.

I grew up fishing for carp in a creek in southern Wisconsin. Got to be quite an expert at it and still miss those ugly things. They are great fighters. Switched to trout when I moved to Washington 25 years ago and used ot spend a lot of time on the north fork of the Sky. It was quite a surprise to walk out of the woods one day and see guys holding hands while walking back to thier cars.

Excellent post Theking!

I grew up fishing the west side of Puget Sound. Fished Dogfish Bay and Dogfish Creek here in Poulsbo quite a bit. Used to catch sea run cutts and salmon off the bulkheads and old oil docks also got bottom fish out at the docks and old oyster plant. Even a few rock cod and true cod. Had a fishing buddy and we even caught SRC, rainbow, and steelhead in the creek. Agate Pass was hot back then. My uncle took us out fishing on his boat. Dad used to take me to work with him at the ferry dock in Kingston on Sundays and I'd catch cod. We also fished the Quilcene and the Duckabush. I caught my first catfish on the Rock River upstream of the Mississippi near my uncles place on the river.

I grew up fishing freshwater at Lake Tanwax in Pierce county. We still have property on the lake,but its grown up a bit since the old days.

Saltwater was Pt-no-Pt. We lived a few houses from the PNP beach resort. My two brothers and I worked at the resort during high school. Nothing better than the warm summer nights fishing for Kings after dinner.

Im still growing up........ :p

I moved here in third grade, but remember fishing lakes in Oregon before that with Dad rowing and me trolling little hot shots.

Caught my first steelhead on May Creek (trib of the Wallace). I was 12, fishing for trout with a fly rod, Colorado spinner and worm and 4lb leader. I couldn't do much with the fish. It ran downstream to one of the larger holes and just sulked there. Old Lady Radenbush (One of the only 5 families that lived on May Creek at the time) came out and asked if I needed help.....I said, "Sure!" So she disappears around back of her place and comes back around the house with a gaff on about a 12 foot pole, hikes up her dress, kicks off her shoes, wades across the creek and stands next to me and says, "Now just raise him up a bit." I do just that and she reaches out with that long gaff and drags that ugly old buck to the beach for me. Dad's jaw dropped open when I came home with that fish.

Of course, I've turned many steelhead back that were much bigger and in much better shape, but there's something about that first one.

We used to spend a couple of weeks every year in a rented beach cabin (complete with the old block ice box for refridgeration) at Indian Beach on Camano Island (Dad still lives on the island....he's 86). We would rent a boat and motor at Madrona Beach, grab a couple dozen live herring which were handed out in a coffee can. (The herring were caught every few nights off the end of the resort dock by using a light to attract them and then netting them and dumping them in a concrete live well.) Any way, an old rental boat would be rolled over to the rail road iron launch, we'd jump in and down we'd fly into the water for a day's salmon fishing.

Spent many a nite sleeping in a mummy bag on the beach, looking at the stars and listening to the water.

If heaven is even half as good as that.......

Right here, Born in Mt Vernon.

Skagit
North Fork Stillaguamish
Sauk
Camano Island (great black mouth fishing)
Lake 32 (16 I don't want to give my lake away)
Local lakes

Started Steelhead fishing the Skagit late 60's, Family property on the Sauk was great fun!
Fishing all the creeks in the Darington area as a kid was amazing (not like SS but fun)

Sorry Plunker to many words

I grew up in Shelton and caught my first steelhead in Mill Creek in 1973, when I was 7. I was already a fishing fanatic by that age and pestered anyone to take me fishing anywhere.

I had buddies that lived scattered around Mason county, and we fished whatever we could ride our bikes to. We caught some literally monster Rainbows out of Island Lake, spanked cutthroat all over the Skok valley, and fished Goldsborogh and Mill creeks all the time. Once we got our driver's licenses, the Grays Harbor tribs became our favorite haunts. We used to camp on the Wynoochee at Charlie Wincewicz's place below the crossover bridge when he still owned it and would fish steelhead from daylight till dark.

I still go out to my old digs now and then and remember when it was cool to just walk down to the creek and dunk a worm and catch a couple trout. Now, my kid thinks it's cool to just walk down to the creek and dunk a worm and catch a couple trout. Ahhh, the cycle of life goes on..........and fishing is passed on to the next generation.

Being an Oregon Native (finclipped) My first memory of fishing was with Dad, taking that long drive from Portland to Klamath Falls....I was too small to wade around those boulders and out where the real fish were...i was stuck on the bank catching suckers...big ones i might add but...suckers. My parents have a house and own 15 acres in the Hebo area south of Tillamook...That's where i did most of my early fishing.... I hit the Wilson on the way there before it got dark....and woke very early in the morning to be the first one to a " Sure thing" hole on the upper Nestucca.

I broke my son in at the mouth of Three Rivers which dumps in to the big Nestucca casting Vibrax spinners....and drifting eggs on the North Fork Nehalem targeting Jacks (those guys wading to the middle of the river were missing out on all the tasty smaller fish) I'm on my second boat now and have graduated to the bigger rivers.. CR and Willamette, Don't think i'll go back to fishing the smaller rivers....Well..the Sandy for sure....but those smaller rivers are mostly for learning , which taught me alot....but i'm gonna leave the "meat holes" alone.

Great idea for a post.

Thanks,

Louis F.

I was born and raised in North Renton, 3 blocks from the Cedar River. My brother and I would fish the Cedar during the week after school and in the Summers. On the weekends we fished the Cowlitz, back in the 60's and 70's there were not that many sleds on the river. We were running the jet boat without our Dad in the boat when we were 11 & 12 years old. Not many kids that age are set free with a jet sled, but we were taught well and had a blast at it. That was more than 30 years ago and I can remember those weekends like they were just last Winters Steelhead season.

Grew up on Long Island, New York. Spent many many days fishing the Great South Bay for fluke, sea bass, porgies, weakfish (a sea trout) and the occasional bluefish. When I hit 15, I was allowed to run the Fire Island Inlet by myself, and spent the next few summers trolling the ocean for bigger bluefish and striped bass.

The striped bass fishery in New York is an example of a well managed fishery. When I was a little kid, they had been all but wiped out by the commercial fishers. They used to haul seine for them, a guy in a skiff would run a semi circular 2000 foot net out from the beach. Then, two 4X4s, one at each end of the net, would haul it up onto the beach. The state realized how effective these nets were, and how depleted the stock was. So, they banned all commercial harvest, and made the sport limit 36" with a 1 fish limit. The stock took a decade or so to recover, and now limited commercial fishing is allowed, but no haul seines, and the sport fishers have a 2 fish, 28" limit. The natives (only one small reservation, really) follow the same rules as everyone else. It's now a productive fishery again. I'll see how productive later this year, I'm visiting home for a week or so.

Dan

My dad did not fish so I also really don't know how I got started fishing. I know that I got serious about it in high school when I started Fly fishing. Growing up in Idaho, all we needed was a tank of gas and we were off !! Mostly float tubing and trips to the Henrys fork and Silver cr every year. In 1981, I caught a steelhead in the Salmon river with the fly rod and was hopeless after that. My idea of "nice fish" really changed... hard to be happy with a 18 inch cutt after you have steelhead on the brain. Decided that it was "big fish only" for me and started fishing all over the west. As stupid as it may sound, we spent thousands of hours fly fishing in Pyramid lake near Reno. Caught a lot of big Lahotans there ( over 10 lbs) Standing on a ladder off the beach. Picked up a drift boat in 1987, and started fishing the Clearwater.. about the same time that I figured out that you can fish without a fly rod and still have fun. Started going up to Canada every fall in the early 90's..

Funny thing is my dad still does not fish, never has.. he plays golf and has gotten me into it also. Sad to say that hitting a 5 iron stiff 185 yards pin high feels " almost" as good as a 90 ft boomer cast with a single handed fly rod....

Caught everything I ever hoped to catch.. except a 17 inch crappie... God I want one of those.. pretty sad dream for a fly fisherman

I was raised locally , Richmond Beach and fished the sound with my dad for Salmon and bottom fish. Lived in the Bay area going to school and fished the Delta for Stripers .

I used to hate fishing in the Sound because I did not like downrigger fishing, too boring, I like to hold the rods. What I miss is spending time with my dad. They were some of the best times.

I grew up only a couple blocks off one of the better fishing spots on the lower Puyallup. So cut my teeth fishing salmon and steelhead extremely young there. Then, my parents had property off the nooch, and my grandparents had property down on Copalis Beach. So also grew up fishing the Chehalis system and the Hump up into the Forks rivers as well since the mid 70's. If we weren't on the Puyallup, we were on the Nooch/Sop/Chehalis, or up at Hump, etc etc etc. LOL. Since it was my Dad's inlaws on copalis beach, we would split alot and go fish the Hoh/Duc or whatever river we opted for at the time. But the Puyallup was my home river.

I remember fishing Lake Shoecraft with my dad as a kid. I'm sure we fished other lakes around here, but I remember Shoecraft the most. I also spent a few opening days on Lake Shannon with my dad and uncle. During family camping trips we fished Diablo Lake and the upper Skagit a lot. When I started steelheading with my dad he took me to the Stilly (both forks and the main), the Sauk, and the Skagit. My uncle had a sled for a couple of years so I got to fish out of it on the Skagit a little. Hmmm...what else? We made two trips to Lake Sherridan in BC and caught rainbows to 6lbs. Then there was salmon fishing with my dad out of Everett and on the west side of Camano.
When I was still pretty small my friends and I fished Quilceda Creek, mostly catching crawdads chum fry. When I was even smaller, an older kid in my neighborhood told us he saw a fish swimming down the runoff on the side of the street, so we used to bend wire into hooks and fish worms in the street drain. It sounds gross now but I was probably about 4 at the time.

I grew up fishing right here in Federal Way, almost all freshwater. I remember fishing Steele, Angle, and 5 Mile. My earliest memory of fishing was when I was around 8 years old. It wasn't here, though. I'm sure I was fishing before this but this was the first memorable trip.

My whole family was in South Carolina visiting my grandparents, me, my brother, and my mom, and dad. One day Grandaddy decided to take us kids out fishing with my dad at a stream nearby. I remember riding through the swamp in the back of his pickup, slathered with bug repellant to keep off the mosquitoes. After awhile, we stopped and got out next to a streambed. It was in the middle of the afternoon, and all the fish were in the shade. We got out and slogged through the mud about 30 feet away under the trees. What followed was some of the fastest fishing I can ever remember. We were hauling out bluegills right and left, big ones too.

Somehow we managed to aggrivate a cottonmouth that was hidden on the opposite bank, though. I looked up and it was swimming across the water straight at us flashing its white gums. It lunged at my brother (who was about 5 at the time) when Grandaddy grabbed his fishing pole and started to beat it over the head. Then it went after him. So he commences jumping around backwards through the swamp trying to whip the reptile to death with a fishing rod with the snake lunging at him, with my dad running behind trying to hit it with a branch, and us standing on the bank gawking at the whole ordeal. Then Grandaddy starts yelling, "GRAB A GREEN STICK! GRAB A GREEN STICK!" Dad grabs one of said sticks, and makes a lucky strike at the snake, smashing its head against a rock. After that it was kind of anticlimatic.

Grandaddy decided all of us had had enough, so we started to leave, but of course the truck had to get stuck in the mud. So he walked out to call a friend to come pull his truck out of the mud. So no one was hurt, except my mom nearly had a heart attack after she heard about it when we got back.

I started fishing in California when I was three. I my dad was a fisherman and hunter so I started young. We fished for trout, bass and stripers. I then moved to Arizona and I remember travelling a long ways to get to some lakes up in the white Mountains to fish for trout and pan fish. Then we moved to Mason County and I was finally home. I caught my first Washington state fish at the age of 9 down at Twonoh State Park, a sand shark. Since we lived on a creek (Misssion Creek) I would go down after school and catch cutthroat and rainbows which now I know were actually small steelhead that hadn't made it out to the salt yet. I caught my first steelhead right behind our house when I was 12. It was a 14 lb buck. I have fished just about every known and many unnamed lakes and streams in North Mason County and many in the South end. The Union River in Belfair used to be phenominal fishing and I was there every day I could be. From Sockeye to Sturgeon to kings and Cutthroat it was a real producer. I could go on and on but I think I've said enough lol

I remember how I caught my first steelhead. I was 7 years old at the time and it really is a great story. I was with my dad out on the Nisqually where we were camping and working on his property. While he worked he would always set me up with a side planer and plug and let me work the water. Well one afternoon while he was constructing the outhouse, a nice hen slammed my lure and got my heart pounding. Being only 7 I was not yet adept at using a left hand retrieve. So to compensate I played that fish with the reel upside down reeling backwards. Of course pops didn't really think I had a fish, but after what seemed like an hour of yelling he came running down to the river to see what was happening. Once he saw I had a fish at the shore, he jumped down the cut bank grabbed it and tossed it up! This fish even came from the same hole you see in my avatar.


Other than tromping up and down the Nisqually, my uncle used to own the house where Bob and Corey currently reside on my favorite of all street names. I've been going up to the OP since before I can remember and that is where I grew up and learned(ing) steelhead fishing. Damn uncle, I should be using that place on weekends

My favorite childhood memories were camping at my grandfathers cabin on Lake Chelan. We usually had 12+ people staying there on a holiday weekend and the goal was to catch enough fish the first two days for a big fish feast on the last night. When I was about 10 I caught a 13" cutt off the dock and we marked the tail so when we had dinner we knew which one was mine. It was pretty awesome to contribute.

I owe a ton of thanks to my buddy Sno-King for introducing me to salmon fishing on the Snohomish during our college days. It's my favorite fishery.

I remember fishing the Atlantic Ocean of the coast of Maine and New Hampshire for stripers and blue fish that was good times sitting on the beach with the surfcasting rod out a twelvepack and a couple a couple of friends. Get into a school of stripers and you didnt even have time to finish a beer. Then I fished the Oguinquit river in Maine for brook and Browns big sea-run browns. Did the merrimack in new hampshire for the atlantic salmon that was fun.

I grew up on the Washougal mile marker 7 just below the big eddy.

I grew up fishing freshwater at the Potholes my grandparents had a trailer over at Mar don resort from about 77 to 91 great summers catching 5 gallon buckets full of perch.

Saltwater was with HBP and BRI 24 at PT no PT like HBP said nothing better than warm summer nights catching Kings after dinner.

I grew up in Port Angeles and our family always had a boat. Saltwater fishing was typically right out of PA harbor or maybe out to Freshwater Bay or Sekiu.

The family of my best friend in the neighborhood owned property at Blyn on Sequim Bay and we spent most of our summers there. Did some fishing there, but mostly littleneck and geoduck digging.

Freshwater fishing was always Lake Crescent or Lake Mills. Pulling a ford fender with a worm easily brought close to a limit of nice sized rainbows.

We also spent a week or more with with other families camping on Lake Ozette. Caught my first spiny ray fish there -- wasn't too sure what these fish were.

My dad wasn't really a steelhead fisherman, so I didn't do too much stream fishing while growing up. I remember a couple of trips to the Elwha under the one-way bridge and a couple times on the Boachiel. Mostly I remember losing a bunch of gear.

I rediscovered fishing just out of college and we caught many fish on flies on the upper Elwha below Lake Mills.

I did some time (13 years) in Southern California and caught many largemouth bass in the San Diego lakes and smallmouth at Lake Nacimiento. Did a couple of tuna trips out of San Diego, too.

Now it is simply me and my drift boat on the Sky.

My grandfather lived on American Lake and I caught my first trout trolling a 50/50 Canadian Wonder. There were also perch and rock bass under the dock, so I would lie there with an hand line and some worms and fish all day.

For awhile I lived on Anderson Island within walking distance of the ferry dock. I spent hours dangling pile worms in front of uninterested perch.

We also have a cabin on the water in the Campbell River area on Quadra Island (April Point). This house was built when I was ten and I used to spend the whole summer up there. Last day of school and I was packing my bags to spend the summer with my grandfather (also my best friend). I had a 13' Boston Whaler with a 25hp Evinrude tiller that I would load with extra fuel tanks for more range (By the age of 14, I could go as far as my boat would carry me). Leave the house at 5:00 am, jig or rake herring at first light and motor mooch until lunch time. Run back to the house to have lunch, fool around until the evening tide and go back out. Once, I had a $1500 fuel bill in one month of fishing. My grandfather thought it was funny. Lingcod, crab, abalone, salmon, shrimp etc. and a million stories to go with every trip.

It was a life that I can only dream about now. He is gone now. I just wish I could offer my children that same type of freedom, just once, but unfortunately the world is a different place and I still have the cabin but don't have the resources.

We go there each year for a week or so and the memories flood back. My kids get tired of hearing "once upon a time, back in he olden days stories" so I try to live in the moment and focus on making new memories for them.

My family never appreciated river fishing though. I discovered a Salmon,Trout, Steelheader somewhere when I was about 14-15. I was impressed that these fish were attainable with less emphasis on money and more on effort. I was excited by the idea that effort and ability could pay off and that there was some sort of glory associated with the achievement. Also, these fish were available in the winter!

So, with that and the dreaded copy of Fishing and Hunting News, I was on a crusade to get a steelhead. My mom would drive me to the Nisqually at 6:00am and pick me up towards dark. I would bank fish all day. This went on for a year or two during which I remember fishing one spot for nothing and working my way up stream. When I came back a guy had fished the hole I had just left and had a beautiful fish on the bank. Then I had a boater plug a hole right in front of me and get one also. A light turned on and I just started watching others and copying what they were doing. About my second year I thankfully had a kamikaze steely that struck my corky and yarn three times in three casts. I got this funny tapping at the end of a swing against these boulders. I was confused until the third time when I reared back, set the hook and had forgotten that my drag was too tight from an earlier snag. Two jumps with no drag constitutes a fire drill as I recall. I was screaming for my buddy to come help me to no avail. I landed the fish though and that was when I became addicted! At sixteen I had a truck and a wooden drift boat. The rest is history.

My kids love to fish. but they may or may not share my passion. It makes no difference to me either way. But I am still as determined as when I was young. I could "just one more cast" myself all the way into the next day.


There are some good stories here. Arklier's swamp incedent has to be the funniest and Fastwater's is the one I think I would like to try before my time is up.

Thanks

I grew up fishing the Sky and Snoqualmie. First steelhead caught at Tokul when I was seven. my dad wouldn't even fish but liked to take me there to learn because you didn't need to cast much. Summers my mom dropped me off at the old Edmonds dock and I would fish the sound all day. I'm sure she had the old timers keeping an eye on me. I also would hike the RR tracks in Mukilteo and catch lot's of piling perch and sea bass. My sisters and I grew up swimming in the sound. We were all strong swimmers. And the Sammamish Slew was loaded with Sockeye back then. I also fished hood canal out of a canoe quite a bit. My neighbor ran a Westport charter in the hey day so we fished there a lot for free. We did family outings with other families up in the Skagit flats for oysters, clam and Crab feeds. Back then you waded in the eel grass with a badmitton racket and a gunney sack and just scooped up the crab. I also hiked and fished all over the Fish lake/lake Wenatchee area. Chiwawa river, White river, Wenatchee river, Icicle river, Yakima river. When I could drive we used to fish the Skagit for Springers. Man that was a good fishery back then. And the Stilly and the Hoh and Bogey. The Kalama wasn't crowded and had huge summer runs and springers in May. Hiked in to lot's of alpine lakes. And I've been fishing Seiku for about 25 years. My parents took us car camping everywhere and I always had my fishing rod along so there are so many lakes, rivers and creeks I can't remember all the names. And not just this state...idaho, Montana the Dakota's, Minn, Wyoming, Oregon and BC.

I grew up fishing lake Michigan with my father, My first salmon and steelhead came at the age of 5 (with alittle help). I have been fishing lake michigan ever since out of the ports of Grand Haven, Port Sheldon, Saugatuck, St. Joe, Ludington, and Manistee. I started river fishing seriously about 8 years ago for steelhead and have been addicted ever since. I usually pursue river steel with a centrepin float setup and fish these rivers the most Grand, Manistee, Pere Marquette, Little Manistee, White, Betsie, and the Rogue river.
I do not have any old pics on my computer but here is a pig brown that I picked up this past fall, the fish was caught fishing float setup on 4lb flourocarbon leader and a micro roe bag. Snapped a pic and he was released to fight another day.

Got hooked fishing with my Grandpa Cooper on Lake Nahwatzel. We moved to Shelton and I fished Goldsburough Cr. and Mill Cr. mostly. Rode the bike to Island Lk. or Isabella Lk. when allowed. Fished the Satsop R., 'Nooch, Hump', and Skok' mainly after starting to drive. Had access to a cabin on the Hoh just below the Park and loved to fish that area. The last dozen or so years I've fished more in the salt, P.A. , the Sound, and out of Westport. Springers on the Columbia R. are great fun, but for me there is something primal that is stirred up by going "Coastal."

Minnesooooota

Minnesnowta

Lots lakes lots a fish eh

In da winter ya put da tip ups ouuut ----make sure ya got 2 on each end so ya can play some pond hockey while waitin for da big one. Use da tip ups as da goal dont ya know.

Lived most of my life in the redmond area. Been fishing

Snoqualmie
Sky
Snohomish
Slough

for about 42 years.

Parents have had a place on Camano Island and uncle lived his life in Conway so also fished

Lower North Fork Skagit
Rocky Point
Onamac / State Park

on a regular basis.

It all started on those classic trips up north to a lake. Its a total Wisconsin tradition, everybody did and still does it. Started with potato chip blugills then on to carp at a pond right up the street, then got my first King on a charter boat at the age of 10 at it was all over from there. Really haven't fished for anything else other than Trout and Salmon although float fishing for big Carp can be a lot of fun.

Grew up on the Nooksack. Spent one week every summer on the west beach Guemes fishing for kings. Fished Opening day trout with my grandpa every year at Pass lake we put his boat in at his buddys place on the N end, and a lot of time with my other grandfather fishing high mountain lakes of N Idaho and the Moyie R. Took trips every yr. with dad to Dry falls, Rocky Ford, Lenore, and Chopaka Lk. Now I live on the Kenai but I still miss Washington fishing especialy the steelhead.

Fished the Toughnioga, and the Oswego when i was younger, then started fishing the salmon river and parts of the Finger lakes in upstate new york.Catherine creek and lots of brookies, browns and big rainbows.Then i started fishing for Atlantics, i was hooked.Fished in Germany, that was a trip, New Mexico, Pecos and San Juan rivers, Gulf of Mexico, texas,New orleans,louisianna, and Arkansaw(sp).Then i caught my first steelie here on the snoqualmie and that is all she wrote...

My dad, an ol' Ozarks boy, taught me fishing on Lincoln Creek in Lewis County. Floated a worm in the creek after sneaking up to the hole. Later we fished Spirit Lake in the mid sixties. Old Harry Truman took some of us kids and showed us how to catch trout under a log jam in the small creek than ran near the lodge.

He was very nice to us kids.

We fished the salt at Westport and Seiku. I still do in my own boat now. We fished the bush lakes of Canada and the big ones too.

He had a lot of fishing friends but he always preffered the compnay of his boys. He's gone now and now I take my two sons.


I like to fish the Cowlitz, Kalama (when my friend takes me in his drift boat), the Queets and the Hoh.

I fish the salt at Seiku and the Canal. And once in a while I go to Alaska and do pretty well in the Soldotna area. Will be going to Yakutat next year.

I guess I'm still growing up as I'm a sophmore in high school. Fortunately I've lived in Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula and started fishing at 2. I caught my first silver at 5 years old off the mill, first halibut was at 7 that weighed 40 pounds (little help), and my first steelie being 8 years old on the Bogachiel River. Since then I've caught hundreds of fish as my dad and I try to make it out every weekend. My feats in fishing will probably not be beat as my biggest steelie is 20-21 pounds, chinook at about 50 and silver around 20. I know I take it for granted as I've read your responses and how good it used to be.

Guess I'll bite too.

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, California and fished saltwater exclusively. I don't even know where to begin as I still retain many fond memories of my childhood spent fishing with my dad. There are too many stories to tell, so I'll just talk about what I fished for.

Since my dad did not have a boat, we fished for bottomfish, going after rockfish most of the time. While I was young, my dad took me fishing close to home. Access abounded. As I grew up our destinations became farther and farther from home until eventually we made the Medocino area the limit as it was a 3.5hr drive one way. I came to love the rocky coast where the scenery was wonderful and other fishermen seen only on occassion. I don't recall my dad and I ever having consistent success, but all the fish that I did catch, I remember many of them. I even remember some of the fish caught by other fishermen. To this day, there will always be a place in my heart for any rocky shore environment. Pounding surf, salty spray, and smelly hands gave me a sense of being. Although I do not do much surf fishing as I used to, I will surely raise up my children the same way that my dad did, for I feel that growing up around the ocean has molded my love for nature in its many forms.

Grew up around the Salem, Or. area. Caught my first fish at age 12 on the willamette river(big ol carp) and I was hooked! Spent my early teen years fishing the mill pond at the end of our street for bass. Once I got my drivers license I was all over the place. trout fishing the willamette tribs., steelheading the N. fork Siletz, rockfish off the coastal rocks and the yaquina bay jetty, salmon out of Depoe Bay. Met and married a local gal(Marysville) and when she wanted to move back home I had no objections as I fell in love with the sound. Have been actively fishing the sound and straits ever since which would be the last 27yrs

I grew up in the Bay area of Calif. to but my parents are native Washingtonins.My Dad was 30 year Navy man he love fishing for Salmon out in the ocean.We use to go on chaters three or four times a year boy did I get sick on some of those trip.Also we came up to Washington to visit my Grand parent and fished the upper Chehalis. That was in the early sixtys you could catch a limit of trout in a hour there were some summer run there to that what Dad was fishing for. Today the upper Chehalis is just water running down a hill.

great topic, its amazing how diverse we are when I start reading about people who grew up with strippers and barracuda. I myself never left washington until I joined the military except for a couple of school trips but no fishing. now I fish where ever I am stationed, the highlight being cuba. anyhow, I grew up o the kettle river in eastern washington. fishing for walleye and the occasional brown. I did pretty good for rainbows and smallmouth with a flyrod to. I still try to make it back there every summer for a week or so to fish with my brothers. no real tear jerker father son experiences as he prefered to work and I think we only went fishing together once in a beaver pond. anyhow, now I have two boys of my own and my oldest goes with me at least a couple times a week mainly just catch flounder but he still gets a kick out of the boat and being on the water. I think that the water is one of the most powerful influences that anyone can bring to a child. if more people fished with thier kids, we would have a society with far more tolerant people not counting tangled lines I kinda just hate to even read the papers now, all you see is raping robbing and pilaging, and ironically alot of it happens right in the middle of salmon season, there has got to be a higher priority during the silver run than knocking over a 7-11, but then I guess not everyone can find happiness floating in a boat or wading the shallows of the thousands of rivers and streams we have in washington. I wish I could stay, but most likely I will be stationed in some god-forsaken desert with no fishing.

Hey mindfusion-
I heard the key to catching strippers is all in the presentation! Other than that they will take anything, just like barracuda.

Just kidding... I have to edit every post for spelling, but that was killing me!

I kinda have two places of growing up. Before I moved five years ago (at age 11) I lived in Duvall. I used to fish the local lakes (Margret, Flowing, Langlouis, Chain, and many small lakes). Also, in town there is a small pond full of bass, and other pan fish that I spent many sumer days at. I also used to fish Humpy Hallow with my dad.

After I moved to Puyallup, I started to fish salmon and steelhead in the rivers. The Green, Puyallup, Cowlitz, Carbon and many small chum creeks in the South Sound are my salmonfishing roots. Also Pt. Difiance.

50th State!!!

Grew up fishing the pineapple irrigation systems on my surfboard for peacock bass, largemouth, smallmouth and snakehead.

I grew up in Alamance County, North Carolina. My grandfather, who started out as a blacksmith, but evolved into an insurance agent had routes all over the county and access to many farm ponds. He loved to fish and he started taking me when I was about 5. Bream, crappie, catfish and the occsional bass, all on worms under a bobber. He continued to take me all his life because I had patience to sit where he told me and to fish where he told me and how he told me. Sometimes he would take two or three of my cousins along, but after 15 minutes or so, they would be off looking for snakes or turtles, throwing things in the water and doing everything else besides fishing.

My first step up was being old enough to fish with cricketts. The bait shop where we got our bait had this contraption with hundreds of cricketts and you'd buy them by the dozen and carry them in a wire tube with a funnel end that you could shake the cricketts down into and they would come out one at at time. A lot less messy than worms.

Then there were the catalba (catalpa ???) worms (sp.?). My grandfather had two trees on his property that he called catalba trees and at a certain time of year, they would be covered with these, I guess, caterpillars, called catalba worms. Anyway, you would take these, pinch them in half, turn a half of a worm inside out on the hook and that half a worm would catch a dozen or so fish before you needed to rebait. I've never seen any reference to these anywhere and never seen them anywhere else.

My biggest fishing adventures as a kid were trips to the outter banks of North Carolina, specifically the Cape Lookout area. We would always launch from Harker's Island, which was like a different country. I just remember a lot of ramshackle cinderblock construction, with nothing new and nothing in good repair. The locals spoke in an accent that you could hardly understand, especially when they were talking to each other.

We never spent a weekend on the outter banks when something didn't go wrong, either mechanically with the boat, or weather-related. We once had to be pulled off of Cape Lookout by the Coast Guard during a squall that turned a beautifull morning into tempast in about 45 minutes. I remember laying on the floor of our tent with my friend and we were the only thing keeping the tent from blowing away as it streamed in the wind, with us wrapped up by the flooring, while my dad and his friend fantically tried to pack up our gear and load it in the boat. The boat got swamped on bhe beach and we were stuck, but the Coast Guard rescued us and our boat and gear in one of the most well-choreographed drills I have ever seen. There were about 8 other people in the boat that they had rescued, several of them out of the water after their boats had sunk with them in it.

One of my most vivid memories of actually fishing that area was after hours of trolling in 90-something degree heat on a dead-calm day. I was holding onto the rod and drifting off to sleep, as no one was catching anything. All of a sudden, the rod was pulled like it just got caught up on a concrete wall. The drag was set tight and I was actually pulled to a standing position with the rod about to be ripped out of my hands when a hundred feet in back of the boat a king mackerel shot skyward, it seemed 10 feet out of the water. It came unhooked, which actually seemed lucky for me, because either I or the rod, or both, were headed out of the back of the boat. When I reeled in, the heavy gauge hook was actually bent straight. I was about 10 at the time.

Those outter banks are a magical place. My brother lives down there now, in Beaufort, N.C., so I still get to visit every now and then.

Rogue River. Caught my first trout, steelhead, and salmon in the Rogue.

They built a dam on the Rogue which upset me so much I moved to Lopez Island. Where I bought a gillnetter and learned how to kill fish professionally. Sold the gillnetter and now fish the Skagit.

Upstate NY, fished Lake Ontario and Lake Oneida as well as many little rivers in between them with my dad. We did the thousand islands area every summer too. Could walk to the Little Salmon river from the house. A long time ago.

Hohwaiian:

How about the quarry pond at UH Manoa fishing for tilapia... that was my hangout during med school. Best substitute for Alaska salmon that I could muster on zero income at the time.
:p

I was born in the Bay Area and moved to Washington in '69.. However, I still have vivid memories of catching trout on the Klamath and Trinity- that started it all...

My Uncle introdiced me to steelhead at the age of 11. My first came from the Toutle in 1976. Not a weekend went by without hitting the Kalama, Cow or Toutle!

My folks bought a 21' Bayliner in the mid 70's and grandpa, who was a ol' timer that hung out at the boathouse, intorduced me to meatlining with a plug.

By the time I was 13, I had my first boat earned with paper route money- a 10'r with a Johnson 6hp at the PD boathouse. When I reached driving age, I was lucky to be in school!

That was 26 years ago! I still have a passion for salmon and spend roughly 90-150 days on the water every year!

Grew up on the "Rock" and lived a stones throw from the Winslow ferry dock. As a kid I fished for pile perch off the local docks using the little dacron hand line fishing kits you could buy at Vern's Drug for .50 back in the 50's & 60's. Maybe some of you remember the thick green dacron (150# test?) on a square yellow plastic holder that would fit in your back pocket with your slingshot and pocket knife? Didn't take long before I was commandeering dingy's off the beach and fishing for flounder, dogfish and rat fish with my buddies using the same hand lines tipped with bacon. Our hand-line adventures continued as we ventured further afield to places like Restoration & Port Blakely for rockfish & ling cod, always looking forward to the incredible annual true cod migration near Agate Pass where the entire town of Poulsbo turned out enmass with their hand lines too. But before I moved off the "Rock" I had cobbled together a few salmon "poles" and gained access to a wobbly 12 ft Sears Gamefisher with a Evinrude Fisherman. If you would have asked me then and I would have told you that no salmon from Jeff Head to Blake Island was safe in those days. But big salmon lies aside, I will still cherish most the countless days and hours of CNR fly fishing for fiesty cuttthroat off our dock on Agate Point; just me and my dog. Only she wanted to fish as much as I did as a kid.
It wasn't till later that I ran into other wackos like myself and many folks on this board.

Great topic! Call me the urban fisherman. Grew up and raised in Seattle, but, learned how to fish for shiners on the piers around 4, then went to work on my uncles' farm in Auburn at age 9 and he would take me down on the Green and fished for trout! Not steelies, but, trout in the 60's on the Green. Use to be many access until the the trash and vandalism got bad so farmers along the Green stopped that. Then learned salmon fishing at Pt. Defiance for blackmouth only. Didn't start on Kings after a few yrs. then figured out fishing is just as good in Elliot bay too! Now I'm a nomad fishing on the Columbia to the O.P.
Yet I'm only 5 mins. to Armeni or 5mins. to Stan Sayers.....go figure.

Robert

KK,

Thanks very much for the post identifying the Catalpa Tree. Your quote is the only place I've ever seen Catalpa Worms/Trees mentioned and my experience with the worms as bait confirmed.

Thanks again!

Well, let's see. Growing up in Weed, California my grandparents were avid trout fishermen, so we grew up fishing NorCal lakes such as Lake Shastina, Lake Siskiyou, Castle Lake, Gunboot Lake and Juanita Lake. Fished a couple times for crappie down south at Black Butte Lake. Fished the OR coast at Brookings in summers for salmon, and Sunset Bay. In the Air Force fished little lakes on base at Beale AFB in Marysville, CA. Base had 8 lakes, nice bass. Great memories.

growing up. grown up in Bellingham I fish fish the north sound rivers and streams.

I grew up on Lake Ballinger in the 70's & 80's. Caught lots of trout, perch, catfish, crayfish, fresh water clams etc. Funny thing is while fishing that lake for 14 years I never caught a bass! Used to walk right outside my bed room onto the dock & catch 16-19inch trout all the time. Used to play "Hobbit" on the island & sneak out at night to wander all the way around the lake thru everybody's yards & the Nile Country Club & Lake Ballinger Golf Course.
I remember the first time we witnessed a flock of Canada Geese fly in for the winter! We were delighted & noted the day! 10 years later we hated the things- they never left.

I grew up in Waddel Creek S. of Oly; also the millpond and rock quary in 10-9-0 before that.

I started fishing in the 6th grade (not for girls that was to easy) in Federal Way at twin lakes.
Then moved by Saltwater state park where I really got hooked into fishing and we use to go all the time to the HOKO river camping at Kadaka point, think I spelled that right. Then we moved to Renton ( we moved alot) and I would ride my 1970 honda CT70 to the cedar river and have been hooked on rivers ever since and of course still like the lakes. I just can't quit.

the ala wai for tilaps ....and wilson res...nuuanu for catfish.....but o'io on da north shore is no ka bes....

West Seattle, sat. trips to the Cedar River up by the dam (Landsburg?). My dad was a spinner fisherman, liked to drift the colorado spinner for trout and the odd steelhead. We fished in the late spring and summer. This was 1965-1973 for us two, lots of fun......

I tried to read every post to this thread. Seems to me most everyone here had a Mentor, be it their father or a good buddy who had the opportunity of a benefactor who knew a thing or two about fishing. Point of the message is: take that kid down the street who may not have a father who fishes. This day and age, he or she may not have one at all. T ake a kid fishing; I gurantee, you will not regret it.

Best regards to the board,
Santiago

the ala wai for tilaps ....and wilson res...nuuanu for catfish.....but o'io on da north shore is no ka bes....

AK

Allow me to translate haole style:

Ala Wai is a navigable channel in Honolulu where you can catch a cichlid called a tilapia (tropical version of a crappie).

Nu'uanu is a stream flowing thru Honolulu and Lake Wilson is a reservoir where you can catch catfish.

The North Shore of Oahu is a very good place to catch bonefish.

Better?

before posting.