I had lots of fun fishing as a kid also, and I have never stopped.
A neighbor (2) doors down had a nice pond, where we would catch largemouth bass and bluegills. There was also a small, slow-moving creek behind our house. That was fed by a limestone mine, that closed down many years ago. It was loaded with bullheads, suckers, and rock bass. Pike came up in the spring. I also caught an occasional carp.
The old guy, that lived across the road, made chowder with snapping turtles. Us neighborhood kids would catch bluegills in the pond, and chop them up for turtle bait on treble hooks, attached to wire. We caught snappers in the creek and pond and took them over to him.
He was pretty well off, and retired as the top union man at the local gypsum plant that made wallboard from the limestone mine. At that time, that plant was the largest employer in our town. He would tell us stories of catching bucket fulls of blue pike at night out on Lake Erie. He bought a brand new Ford 8n, to work his 1/2 acre garden, back in 1951.
I ended up buying that “cherry” from his widow, after he passed away. I still think of him and those snapping turtles, when I’m running that tractor.