I have spent many years fishing for all kinds of fish; everything from crappie, brim, catfish and even carp. But none compare to my love for a bass. My grandfather and my uncles took us kids fishing on Saturday almost every week. My four brothers and my little sister weren’t quite into fishing as much as I was. I thought nothing was better than sitting with my family enjoying all that God had created.

I would hear stories of these monster fish being caught, but had never seen one myself. I am now 37 years old and love the outdoors as much, if not more, than I did as a child sitting there with my grandpa and uncles fishing. Mother nature has so much to offer and her wonders never cease to amaze me.

My husband and I now fish with our kids every chance we get. My husband Johnny is the one I thank for helping me find my new one true love; bass fishing. I use to fish with an old open face reel and whatever rod I could find. Bait wasn’t an issue either; just good ole fashion worms worked every time. Now I am very picky about my tackle. I went from an open-faced reel to a bait caster, and my rods are usually a 6 to 7 foot Daiwa with 10 to 15 lb. test. I prefer monofilament line or braid.

The knowledge my husband has passed on to me helped me land the biggest fish of my life. And I continue to learn from other anglers and tournament directors how the bass world works.

The last tournament my husband fished was at High Rock Lake in North Carolina. I often accompany him on his weekend tournaments. I’m usually there for moral support and to help in any way I possibly can. By doing so I have learned a lot about how the tour works. But this one particular tournament weekend they were short one non-boater and that meant one boater going home without getting to fish. Lisa, the tournament director, had asked if anyone knew someone that would be willing to ride along as an observer so that this angler could fish. So, after the tournament briefing, I asked my husband if he thought it would be alright for me to go as an observer. And of course his answer was a resounding, “of course honey”!

After the meeting I approached Lisa and volunteered to be an observer. She was very grateful and then she informed me that I could fish with my angler for free. Even though my catch didn’t count for any points or money, I would be out there with the big dogs fishing and seeing how the tournaments worked, first hand. She then introduced me to my angler “Jamie”. He was a very polite and knowledgeable young man and eager to teach me anything I wanted to know about bass fishing.

Our day began at 5:30 am. We went through inspection and then the thrill began. See, I had never even been on a bass boat before, so this was a totally new experience for me all around. When Jamie and I were past the no wake zone he hit the throttle and “Oh My God “!

The thrill of the boat taking off with the front of the boat appearing to be straight up in the air. Then we got on plane and the boat seemed to be gliding across the water like it was floating on glass. We then headed to a secret spot Jamie had been telling me about earlier that morning. It was a river area right off the largest part of the lake. He pulled into the cove and the excitement began. Jamie was awesome! I thought my curiosity and all my question asking while he was fishing would annoy him, but to my surprise he was very eager to discuss fishing with me. He was also surprised to hear some of what I already knew. He said to me,” You actually are very knowledgeable.”

He was telling me all about his preferences of baits, rod and reel combos and how he liked to fish them. As we talked I realized that I was fishing and actually catching fish without even missing a beat. I didn’t catch any fish as big as Jamie’s, but I was catching all the same. I decided to set back and take a break from fishing and talk more with him about bass fishing.

I’ve used a lot of baits; such as: worms, jigs, crank baits, spinner baits and buzz baits, but never even considered a creature bait; something I knew absolutely nothing about. So, Jamie schooled me on how and what to do with creature baits. I was amazed to find out just how versatile they could be. He even told me you could use the smaller creature baits as jig trailers. Wow, I love fishing with jigs.

After he had caught several fish and put them in the live wells we moved on to dock fishing; another of my favorites. He asked me what I normally use fishing docks and I responded with “jigs of course”. He laughed and then started schooling me some more. I asked Jamie why he wasn’t fishing the newly constructed docks? He then explained to me that since they use treated lumber to build them that bass won’t go near them because of the chemicals they release. He then proceeded to tell me that’s why he fishes old dilapidated docks. Sure enough he was right. We caught nothing on the new docks and we were getting hits all over the place around the older docks.

Soon it was time to get back for weigh-in. As usual I helped with the weigh in process to help it go faster and smoother so that the fish would not be anymore stressed than could be helped.

This may sound strange to some folks but I was rooting for Jamie to win the boater side and at the same time rooting for my husband to win the non-boater side. At this point these were the two men that had shared all their knowledge and experience with me, so that I too would know what bass fishing is all about. They don’t look at me as a competitor or a female trying to take over a man’s sport. They just see someone very eager to learn all she can about bass fishing.

I learned a lot form both of these men, but there is one man I owe it all to; my grandfather, for taking me fishing for the very first time and teaching me that it doesn’t matter what color, race, religion or sex we are… that out here in mother nature, we are all equal.

Because of all of this, I am now going to fish the Bassmaster Weekend Series in 2008 along with my husband. We can only hope that the knowledge we pass on will have as big of an impact on a new fisher-person as these men did on me.