Jim Napolski

I got my early exposure to the passion of fishing from my dad when I was 7 or 8 years old. My father took all of his sons fishing including my younger and older brothers. Fifty years later my older brother enjoys building things, the younger brother swings his golf clubs and me, a 17'6" Nitro, thousands of dollars worth of equipment and countless memories forever imprinted in my brain.

Most of my early experience was fishing tributaries of Lake Erie. A small container with safety pin spinners, Shyster in line spinnerbaits and various plastic grubs and I'd be gone for hours working the channels and marinas that connected with the Portage river in Northwest Ohio. The early stages of learning about structure and cover. As years progressed time was spent chasing seasonal fish. Early spring meant Maumee river walleye followed by the white bass run. That converted to marina crappies which in turn led to weekends on Erie with dad in pursuit of walleye again. Countless hours, countless memories.

The repetitive phrase to my father that'll be forever locked in my mind when he was ready to call it a day, "just one more cast". This was typically followed by a couple choice expletives twenty minutes later. I'd look at him, big smile, "just one more cast". I started getting into bass fishing in my late teens and early 20's. Bassmasters magazine was the source of my fishing education in those earlier years. A drivers license expanded our fishing horizons and fast food employment equaled rods, reels and tackle. As time marched on bass fishing clubs and open tournaments were what I pursued all the while gaining knowledge and experience.

I met Rick Vogelbacher, the other half of R & J Bass Fishing, at one of the opens he hosted at an inland Michigan lake chain. Didn't take long to see he had the same passion for bass fishing as did I. This led to many trips on the water together and feeding off of each others fishing history to figure out how to fool the fish on any given day. Luckily we both have wives that understand the fanaticism the comes with this sport. Once we started creating fishing videos through R & J Bass Fishing it didn't take long to develop a bit of a library and gain a better understanding of the fish we pursue.

Added together and we tally up to nearly 100 years of fishing experience. We're hopeful we'll both be able to share in that knowledge as we contribute to the content of Premier Angler. Hey guys, "just one more cast".