Gone Fishing for the First Time

Do you remember the first time you went fishing? I know I fished as a young child, but my memories of it are sketchy at best. However, I do remember going fishing for the first time as an adult like it was yesterday. This is what I remember as my first time gone fishing, my experience as an adult. It was at a nearby lake and my experience paved the way to lots of successful lake, stream and ocean fishing even though my first attempt was comical.

I was working non-stop hours just outside of Washington, D.C. It was nearing summertime. I was with my then fiancé, now husband. He was a fulltime Ph.D. student, and I had a job that paid mediocre. Therefore, we didn’t have extra money for summertime fun. However, I had a bonus check coming in and an idea.

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I was literally starved for outdoor activities and nature after having worked in a city setting for so long. I got to thinking, and this is what I came up with. I had just enough money to purchase a small tent, a couple of cheap sleeping bags, a small to medium-sized blow-up boat with oars, other smaller accessories and …..,Yes, two fishing poles. This was going to be our great summer fun.

I had the best time picking out all of our stuff. Perhaps the most fun was when I was putting together a small tackle box. For some reason, I didn’t want any help at all. I wanted to learn solely through trial and error and teaching myself. I think back to some of my first choices, and they were comical to say the least. For instance, I picked out large 2” weights for small lake fishing! I had no idea these weights were for river fishing and that I only needed itty bitty ones. I just picked out what I liked. I also picked out rainbow colored beads to attach to my line. My fishing pole looked super girly. Between the weights, my colorful beads, among other things, we gave other people a laugh at my expense. I didn’t care and laughed along. I was having fun.

During our first day out, we had worms for bait and successfully caught three nice-sized catfish. I insisted on bringing them home for food. I was thrilled we caught our dinner. We took the fish home, and I decided that I was going to handle preparing them. To this day, I don’t know whether I was proud or myself or simply a bit sick in the head. I cleaned the fish in the sink, kept the skins on and sautéed them in a pan on the stove. Believe it or not, they tasted great at dinner, but we were a little sick going to bed. I didn’t know catfish had to be skinned.

So, when I say we consumed way too much catfish oil, we did. It’s comical now. That was the first time I went fishing as an adult. It was 20 years ago. We had a lot of fun that summer and learned along the way. By the end of the summer, I was pretty good at catching a variety of pan fish. What I remember most is enjoying myself so much that I had to literally almost be dragged away to go home each time out. I loved it, and therefore, could stay for endless hours. Every time it was time to leave, I think I drove my partner crazy.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos that captured the experience. However, I did recently take the photo pictured here of the fishing boat off the coast of Virginia. Now, all these years later, this is how we go out fishing when we have the time. Now, we are pros I suppose. What’s your first time fishing story?
optional video – “Cute Kids Fishing For The First Time Compilation”