How Fishing Prepared Me For Life
By Jeffery McNeil Before I started writing, I grew up on the Jersey Shore. No matter what I was going through, whether I was successful or had nothing, the one constant in my life was my love of fishing. While I accomplished many achievements, such as being on national television, being published, and being invited to the Whitehouse, the greatest thrill for me is fighting a large bass or game fish. I first learned to fish from my father, a country boy from Ohio, who had the pleasure of living on the Muskingum River, a large tributary that flows down to the Ohio River. I remember the first time my father took me fishing. In early spring 1975, I was eight years old, and my dad bought me an old Zebco push-button reel and a graphite Garcia rod. We drove to Point Pleasant, New Jersey, to fish the Manasquan River. My father, Bishop T. McNeil, was a real fisherman. He would dig for worms and clams and wasn’t afraid to wade the frigid New Jersey waters with a seining net to c...