I caught my first fish!

I recently started my fishing experience when I found an abandoned Abu Garcia Black Max baitcaster. I read this forum, watched YouTube, and practiced casting in the backyard for over a month.

Last night, I finally took it to the little 3-400k gal retention pond in my neighborhood for some night fishing (when no one would see me 😶‍🌫️). After several hours of backlashes or tightening the spool to the point that it wouldn't cast the 40 feet I needed to get near the central water feature, I gathered up my birdsnest and swapped it out for my son's $10 Ozark Trail Wayfarer spinning combo.

With that dinky 5ft rod, I was able to cast those soft plastic lures anywhere in the pond I wanted. In fact, I was so precise that I landed within a foot of the water feature, and two times hooked some really monster fish.

I put my heart and soul into reeling those fish in. Had anyone been awake, they would have seen me climbing the embankment, setting the hook, reeling hard, pulling to the sides, adjusting the drag, and so on. I felt like a real angler pro.

Of course, the first moster fish turned out to be a stick.

With the second one, I bent the rod so far the end popped off. When I relaxed my fight to see what happened, I realized the fish wasn't fighting back because I was actually hooked to the fountain.

Frustrated, I tossed the lure and hook about 10 feet in the water and started walking around to the other side of the pond (bank trolling?).

All of a sudden, I got my third hook. At first I stood there and tried to figure out what I got snagged on this time that was making all those splashes. It took me a couple of seconds to figure out it was actually a fish this time!

It was more of a fight than I expected. And when I finally got him to the edge of the water, I couldn't get him out with the rod. I had to grab the line to flip him on the bank.

I wish I had measurements or something but as soon as I retrieved the hook, he just kind of slithered backwards into the pond like he had done it a thousand times.

He looked between two and three feet to me. That is a 5 in plastic worm in his mouth. It is a little scrunched up, I would say closer to 3 in in the picture which is about the same length as some of that grass. But if it was that big, I am not sure how I was able to pull it in on an 8 lb test mono line.

I guess none of that really matters though, the main point of this story is that I caught my first fish!!! I am a fisherman!

Keep up the good work sharing all your great advice in this forum. It truly does help the rest of us! 🙌