I was 3 or 4 years old, caught a 2-pounder on a Yakima Baits Flatfish using a Zebco 33 (I was fishing for perch and bluegill). It felt like it was going to pull me overboard!

 

I was fishing off the bank on the California Delta when I threw a Green Pumpkin Chartreuse Yum Dinger at a wood piling sticking out of the water. As it was sinking I recognized the line jumping for the first time. I have been addicted ever since. 

My first lure bass was on a Cotton Cordell Big-O.  The mid sized one.  It was the first or second year they had been out on the market.