Hello y'all,
My name's Nick. I've been using this site for about five straight years now and I gotta say, y'all have taught me a lot of neat techniques and patterns as well as lures to fish off of and I thought that I should give back to the community and become a memeber. I have a interesting past experience that a lot of you I know are going to be jealous of, HIGH SCHOOL BASS FISHING!
I know a lot of you know that college bass fishing has gotten really big in the past decade, and same goes for bass fishing in high school, well the past 5 years it has. I originally went to Streamwood High School in Streamwood, IL and folks I gotta say, it's not a school known for it's sports or popularity. I played football there all four years and we just made it to the playoffs for the first time in God knows when back in 2011-2012 season. Anyways, my freshman year (2009-2010), they started a bass fishing team. I knew how to fish since i was about 2, but I have had no previous knowledge of Bass fishing at all. Needless to say both my freshman and sophomore years were spent learning. Luckyly, our school was blessed with 4 amazing coaches, one of which taught at our school, the other 3 were volunteers that belonged to a fishing club, and one of the volunteers was my defensive line coach for football.
If you have been reading so far or have gotten to this point, I knew you are probably saying things like, "Lucky kid, we never had a fishing team!", "I wish I was still in high school so I could fish", or "That is really amazing." Well, here are some articles of the success my high school has had in the past four years:
http://couriernews.suntimes.com/sports/12277540-419/fishing-streamwood-returning-to-state-finals.html
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110421/news/704219900/
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120420/sports/704209592/
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110617/news/706179947/print/
http://center.ihsa.org/reports/bsf88321.htm
My partner Zach and I made an amazing team! He is a year younger than me but I know he can hold his own and keep our school's glory going- and maybe join me in college? I can only hope.
So heres the facts. My high school is one of three in the state of Illinois, the other two being Monticello and Moline, to have made it to the IHSA Bass FIshing State Final all four years in a row since it was first started back in 2009. I have helped my team go to state twice, back-to-back in both 2011 and 2012. Other schools in the northern area of Illinois where I live know Zach and I by first name almost, if not then they know us by our school just from our success in fishing. I currently attend UW-Stevens Point and joined their bass fishing team called, The Big Dawgs. The Big Dawgs are currently ranked in the top 15 colleges in the nation. No there are no divisions like how there is in football. Everyone fishes thier own conference, we are the northern conference. We compete for sectionals to go to state, then state finalists compete in the conference tournament, then the conference winners compete nationaly.
It is a big change for me to go from high school fishing to college fishing but I know I can hold my own and am very confident in myself as a bass angler. I cannot wait to get out on the water this fall and prove myself as a legit college angler.
Again thank you to all who have posted articles in the past, they have helped me get this far in my fishing career, and I will continue to always read what y'all have on here. There is no losing in fishing, you either catch or learn. either way, it's better than school or work! I'm just glad I can finally give back and contribute my knowledge and experience to y'all. Goodluck fishing this fall.
Well, time to pull out them jigs, tubes, spinnerbaits, and for some crankbaits for some shallow water fishin, be sure to hit the docks and structure. Remember, don't throw it near it, actually cast into that grass or log, and under that dock or pier. thats the only way to get 'em. Sometimes you all you have is that small window to get your bait into the strike zone. Never get discouraged, just keep calm and take your time. Fishing not matter who you are is always a learning experience because you constantly have to adapt, just remember that.
