I began fishing at the age of 4 sort of with my biological father. He said "Lets go fishin. I need someone to fish with." I was ecstatic, seriously elated. Fishin with my father, my buddy. Well not quite folks. What he really wanted was an excuse to get away from my mom so he could spend some time fishin on his own. Hey come back here pop what am I 'spossed to do with this stuff?

Well I was left alone on the shore of what was then the largest body of water in the world and Pop was thoughtful enough to provide the essentials: a can of nearly dead and stinky worms, a couple size 6 snelled Eagle Claw hooks, "my" steel telescoping combination rod, an old Pfleuger bait casting reel loaded with 50# braided black nylon line and a few bell sinkers.

Took some doin' but I managed to run out a couple sections of the rod, thread the line through enough of the little wire things, and sort of "tied" the line to the loop of the snelled hook. I had seen my granddad and uncles do this so I knew a bit about it.

The worms were a different problem. I can admit this now, I was a mama's boy and worms had no appeal what so ever. Somehow I managed to get through the worm problem and was ready to fish when the next hitch came up. What am I 'spossed to do with these sinkers. Pop left them so I better use them. Boy this fishin stuff is tough.

Needless to say I caught no fish that day but did develop a determination to succeed on my own and that set the tone for all most all of my fishing adventures for the next 30 years. These days sharing fishing spots and tyin' tips with anyone that wants has become second nature but I still prefer to fish alone. Maybe it's that frightened little kid on that shore way back in the 1949 that's sayin' "You Can Do It Wes"