Gary P
02-09-2008, 06:45 PM
I started fishing sometime around 6 or 7 when my older brother took me to the F ort river in Amherst off Stanley St. I remember sitting on the old cow bridge and catching my first brown trout by myself. I was hooked and so proud when I brought it home that day for Mom to cook for dinnerGrinning1. I can't remember when I became cursed or what led up to it but I think I will be able to narrow it down, with a little help from family and friends. I met Rivernut in high school as he was laughing at me for catching trout when he was nailing big bass! We have been fishing together ever since then.
The first time I got in the paper was on May 11, 1983, I had brought home a big bass from the Q on an opening day trip. Here's my recollection of that day.
Fri night before opening day was a ritual for us to camp out in Rivernuts Pinto at gate 31 and be the first ones to our hot spot. We were usually within the first 10 boats and we were ready to go! I remember the cold 50 degree April air and the mist of the big Q like it was yesterday. I was cold and tucked under the front nose of the rental boat for the 45 minute ride to a stream that comes in near gate 37. We pulled in and there were several shore anglers that looked a little mad that this boat was coming in on them, but they were fishing for trout and we had live crawfish that Rivernut got out of the Umass campus pond. We pulled in and the guys started yelling at us. Rivernut looks over at me and yells "There are ZEROES requesting acknowledgement" to my reply "DENIED!!" and we throw out the anchor with enough force to start a tidal wave. Man those guys were P'd at us and to top it off, we nailed a bunch of trout and bass in front of them! I got the one below on a spinnerbait along with some nice rainbows. I had brought the fish home and kept in alive as the reporter for the bulletin wanted to do an article on me!
Check out that hair cut!!!
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o299/GaryP_fishing/Amherstrecord1983.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o299/GaryP_fishing/cropped.jpg
Even at 19, I thought I was king of the Q and wasn't going to give up any spots!
The first time I got in the paper was on May 11, 1983, I had brought home a big bass from the Q on an opening day trip. Here's my recollection of that day.
Fri night before opening day was a ritual for us to camp out in Rivernuts Pinto at gate 31 and be the first ones to our hot spot. We were usually within the first 10 boats and we were ready to go! I remember the cold 50 degree April air and the mist of the big Q like it was yesterday. I was cold and tucked under the front nose of the rental boat for the 45 minute ride to a stream that comes in near gate 37. We pulled in and there were several shore anglers that looked a little mad that this boat was coming in on them, but they were fishing for trout and we had live crawfish that Rivernut got out of the Umass campus pond. We pulled in and the guys started yelling at us. Rivernut looks over at me and yells "There are ZEROES requesting acknowledgement" to my reply "DENIED!!" and we throw out the anchor with enough force to start a tidal wave. Man those guys were P'd at us and to top it off, we nailed a bunch of trout and bass in front of them! I got the one below on a spinnerbait along with some nice rainbows. I had brought the fish home and kept in alive as the reporter for the bulletin wanted to do an article on me!
Check out that hair cut!!!
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o299/GaryP_fishing/Amherstrecord1983.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o299/GaryP_fishing/cropped.jpg
Even at 19, I thought I was king of the Q and wasn't going to give up any spots!