hello greatest group in the world!

[joseph radunz]

My name is Joe,

I havent been spoonplugging as long as the amazing group of individuals that preceded this post but here goes, this is me. I have always had a passion for fishing. Some of my earliest memories involved fishing. I have an uncle that to this day says "as long as you had a fishing rod in your hand you were happy!" At a very early age (maybe 9 or 10) after reading very seriously every magazine and publication and newspaper article about fishing I came to the conclusion that these guys (people in the material I was reading) were doing something that I wasn't. They were catching fish all the time and they were large fish. So I decided tht there had to be a reason that they were catching fish and I wasnt. I was catching plenty of fish (especially for a ten year old) but I wanted more and bigger!
Fast forward to about 16 years old. I had a fantastic friend who I met because of fishing, and eventually went to middle school and high school with (not to mention everything else in my life), who was my only rival for love of fishing. He met an older gentlemen who took him under his wing and my friend took of like a kite. My friend Mr. Joshua Stevenson caught more fish and seemed to know more about fishing than anyone else on the planet (still does, but don't tell him)!
After several years of compulsive fishing together I begged him to let me in on the secret. When I turned 18 and was about to leave for college, my going away present was the green book. It was the best present I have ever received. To this day I have college buddies who claim that the only thing I studied in college was that funny green book! I can't hardly argue.
I am now 35 years old and haven't looked back. The day after I started reading the green book my fishing world was forever changed. Since that day I have faithfully studied Buck's word and done my best to put it in practice. Some days are better than others but all are better than before.
I consider myself extremely lucky that I had a great friend that was and is still willing to share his vast knowlege with me. And in being involved in this forum I now have about 100 extra friends that do the same.
Kudos to all of you and thank you from the bottom of my soul!

[charlie myers]

Joe,

I found you comments interesting. It's amazing how many of us learned about spoonplugging by someone giving us the green book to read. For me, that person was my father-in-law. One of the things my wife liked about me when we were dating was that I didn't fish. Then her dad got ahold of me!

This forum is a great opportunity to learn from many. Thanks for posting. May 2012 be a consistent year of fish contact for you.

Charlie