New guy intro

[diver_sniper]

Hi all. My name is Chad, I'm 21, I'm from Alexandria MN. I'm Junior at North Dakota State University in Fargo ND majoring in fisheries and wildlife management.

I've always had a love for fishing, especially bass fishing. I remember when I was a little kid my family would occasionally go fishing off shore for sunnies. Meanwhile I would be 40 yards down the shore getting my hula popper caught up in the lilly pads. That was the first sign that I had the bass gene in me. But it would lay dormant until recently

Over the last couple of summers some of my buddies took me out and got the fire burning in me again. I hadn't got caught up in fishing because my other passion is waterfowl hunting and I kept myself occupied by obsessing over that(I'm gonna be double broke now ). But it got to the point that I wanted to go out more often than they did. So at the beginning of this summer I went to the bank, took out a little loan and bought my self a hideous 1987 Bayliner bass boat. (It may be ugly, but I love it)

This summer I fished nearly every single day after work. Usually about 5 hours a day. More on weekends.

My favorite lake is one that's only about a mile from where I grew up. 20 years ago it was only about 2/3 the size it is now. But the water level has gone up drastically, meaning that parts of the surrounding forest now rests underwater. The equates to awesome bass habitat and very few jet skiers. 8-)

My favorite thing to do is pitch a medium to small sized jig at the underwater tree stumps out there. I love jig fishing, but I have a ton to learn about it. My most reliable bait is a Texas rigged tube craw. I've caught as many fish on that as I have on everything else combined. I also really like hitting the spots with the trusty old Sprofrog when the big guys are hiding in the slop.

I fished my first tournament just 2 weekends ago. My partner and I took 3rd. I won't lie, when everyone was putting in their boats, we were that team in the old ugly boat. We got some good looks from the guys in their beautiful Rangers and Tritons. I could tell they were thinking, "Are you serious? They're gonna fish out of that?... Seriously!?" That made taking 3rd all the more satisfying though.

Anyways, I'm absolutely hooked on the competitive aspect of the sport. Luckily I live in lake country so there are plenty of events and leagues to get involved with. My boat may not be the fastest, and it's certainly the ugliest, but as long as I remain a student of the game and always keep my mind open, I think good things will come.

My apologies for the long intro. Thanks to anyone who made it all the way through. I look forward to learning, and if I can, teaching a little bit on the forum.

[Sam]

Glad you joined us.

Looks like you will have some great information to share and some good stories up there in the ice belt.

The son of our good friends just graduated from the Univelrsity of North Dakota and he loved the school so I would expect you to love NDS.

So keep us up to date and be sure to see the posts about members wanting to study fisheries biology so you can give them your comments and advices.  

[fishfordollars]

Welcome

[roadwarrior]

Welcome aboard!

8-)

[Grey Wolf]

WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JL Zingg]

Welcome to a great place.

[heathen]

Welcome aboard!!!

[MALTESE FALCON]

Welcome to the best fishing site on the net.

Don't worry what the boat looks like. If it floats, and runs good, you're all set. You should have seen my first boat.

Falcon

[Gatorbassman]

Welcome

[Glenn]

Welcome home!

[FD.]

Welcome!

[Catt]

How Y'all Are?

[Muddy]

Hello and   to the neighborhood

[firefightn15]

come on in, the waters' fine!

[Black Bass]

Welcome to THE list!