Getting Hooked

My love of fishing started when my dad bought me a Barbie fishing pole at seven. I was in love with the idea of catching a fish to keep as a pet. Though we didn’t catch anything on my first fishing outing, I still look back on that day fondly, remembering it as the time I first got hooked on fishing.

The following anglers all know what I’m talking about. Check out the stories from our readers describing how they first discovered and fell in love with the sport of fishing.

Starting Young
Jeff Kozo’s ten-year-old son Jayce is absolutely obsessed with fishing. He loves it so much that he and Jeff built a 14-foot fishing boat from the ground up this year. With Jayce’s never-ending love for the sport, they now own more fishing gear than you can imagine.

“Any day I’m not working at the firehouse,” explained Jeff, “we’re out on the fishing boat or our Crest pontoon.”

For Jayce’s tenth birthday last month, Jeff surprised him with the mount of a northern pike Jayce had caught. “That’s a monster fish for anyone to land, never mind a 9-year-old,” praised Jeff.

It’s clear that from this point, Jayce’s love of fishing will only continue to grow.



Best Investment Ever
Back in 1990, Chris Howell made his dad a custom sage river fishing rod for his birthday. Afraid to scuff it up, his dad never used it. When his dad passed away in 2010, the rod came back to Chris.

Since Chris hadn’t fly fished for 20 years, he put it for sale online for $350. An older man showed up and gave it a once over after hearing Chris’s story. He told Chris he’d give him $450 cash for it on one condition: Chris had to break it in for him by fishing with it at least once a week.

The man said that if Chris changed his mind about selling it, it would be okay (he wouldn’t be the first). If that happened, Chris could keep the extra $100. If not, Chris could call the man back and he’d come get the rod.

Chris never called him back. In the last 12 years, he’s clocked thousands of days on a hundred rivers or more. He’s also bought other fly rods and reels and taught multiple people how to drown flies.

“That was the single best $100 investment that has ever been made in the history of forever,” admitted Chris.

He called the man’s number a couple years later but his daughter answered the phone. She told Chris that her father had passed away shortly after Chris met him and that he had spent the last six months of his life encouraging people like Chris to get into fishing.

Hooked With Cheese
Matthew Byrne’s kids figured out that fish seem to love cheese. During their week-long vacation, Matt and the kids boated from Lake Erie up the Detroit River and across Lake St. Clair to reach Anchor Bay on their Manitou triple pontoon with a 150hp Evinrude E-TEC.

The boat trip took about two hours and they fished at Anchor Bay on Lake St. Clair. The kids, Seamus, Isabel and Leo, all had the time of their lives trying to land some fish.

“They figured out with trial and error that the fish liked cheese,” laughed Matthew.

They ended up having some success and fostering a great love for fishing in the process.



A Lifetime Passion
From a young age, Ed Emory has been fascinated with water and what lies beneath. “It’s not what we could see on the surface I found exciting,” explained Ed. “It’s what the imagination conjured up in the water’s depths that captivated my thoughts.”

As a young Boy Scout at summer camp, he watched other scouts catch what seemed like bucket loads of bluegill and small pike, but Ed didn’t even get a nibble. However, giving up was not an option.

When he returned from camp, he took odd jobs sweeping driveways and raking and mowing lawns to raise money to buy fishing gear. His efforts were soon rewarded when he caught his first bluegill with an old safety pin and a worm on a handline.

In the Skokie lagoons, bullhead came easily, but the carp were another story. Eventually, Ed caught his first carp. Knowing he wouldn’t be able to get the fish home, he ended up selling it to another fisherman for a dollar.

Once Ed went to the University of Colorado, he found himself near some of the most pristine trout waters. Though he could see trout everywhere, he could never seem to catch one.

That was, until a Fourth of July backpacking trip to the Coney Lakes in the Indian Peaks Wilderness.

“Upon arrival, the lake welcomed us to her emerald waters reflecting the surrounding peaks of shimmering snowfields,” described Ed. “Nothing I had seen before had ever looked so beautiful. I was drunk with her beauty, intoxicated by what lay below.”

Once they set their tents up, they got to work fishing. The gorgeous trout hadn’t seen humans since late September because of the snow and they were waking from a long winter nap, anxious to make up for lost time. After a short fight, Ed laid the most beautiful fish at his feet.

He learned some lifelong lessons during that trip: “One, bring more beer. Two, wind at your back is better than wind in your face. Three, lakes turn over and when they do, fish feed. Four, long lost beer floats to the surface. Five (and most important), fishing alone without the static of other angles is one of life’s most sought-after pleasures.”

As a professional fishing guide of 33 seasons on Idaho’s South Fork of the Snake River, Ed still lives by the precious lessons he learned. He enjoys sharing his knowledge with other anglers in the hope that they’ll “walk away with a nugget or two of fishing wisdom and gold at the end of the line.”