MN Bassin' nOOb Posted September 15, 2011 Posted September 15, 2011 Hi all - Like the topic reads, I've been lurking here on BassResource.com for about 3 months or so, and finally made the decision to start posting around here. Love the site! Great members, really great insight; it's a site I find myself visiting more and more every week. About me: grew up in MN, still reside in the Twin Cities. Grew up fishing with my best friend from about 10 years old through through high school, and basically never got serious enough to truly start loving it. I would troll on weekends for pike with my dad at the cabin, head out during the summers with my buddy looking for whatever we could find (usually largemouth), but was never too serious, probably because we never caught anything of note because we didn't know what we were doing... Fast forward 15 years through college, law school, life, etc.: For some unknown reason (honestly), I found myself holding an old Mitchell baitcaster out on the dock of my family's cabin near Brainerd, MN about 4 months ago. I had an old chartreuse spinner (dual Colorado blades) that had seen better days on the end of it (didn't even have my license for the year, as I hadn't fished in 15 years or so, I was just messing around off the dock)... Well, low and behold, there was a patch of pads about 30 ft out that I cast to on a rope on the first cast (even though the brake weights were brutal, squealing the whole time), and BAM! I felt the hit the second the blades helicoptered down next to the pads, set the hook, and saw the largemouth jump out of the water trying to throw it. Kept it taut and brought him in. Nice little guy, about 3.5 lbs on the scale. Everything I remembered about why I loved fishing growing up all came back inside the 7-8 seconds it took me to reel that guy in. I was back, and I was hooked. Within a few weekends, I'd taken a few trips to Cabela's; and came away with more gear than I initially planned (doesn't it always work like that?!): - Curado 200E7 with a 7' MH Prodigy rod, a 7' Daiwa that I tossed a Sedona on (not a huge spin caster, but know I want one for soft plastics), and a used Chronarch that I bought off Craigslist for $40 (good deal I think) with a 6'6'' H Berkley Lighting rod - Solid $150 worth of plastics (lot of watermelon/cream and 222 Senkos), $200 worth of cranks, spinners, etc. - Whole new box, fishing license (obviously), net, scales, etc. And for the next 4 consecutive weekends, I took out an old junked up Lund with a 25hp motor around our lake at our cabin, hitting pads, weeds, and whatever I could find (no trolling motor, no finders, no nothing; literally a 30 year old Johnson and an oar that served as a trolling motor). In that time, probably landed 10-20 "decent" fish (2+ lbs), and I've fallen almost as hard as I did for my wife. So here I am, joining this site, looking at bass rigs on Craigslist, convincing myself that I need to at least get used entry-level bass boat with a platform, trolling motor, and a decent motor, telling my wife that I now need to spend $5-10k on a "bass boat" to take out in the Cities around Lake Minnetonka, as well as bring up to the cabin. Her comment, "a BOAT!?! For what? I didn't even know you knew how to take a fish off the hook!" So, I'm excited to get back into the world of bass fishing (best freshwater fishing there is in my mind), and shoot the breeze with all of you rockstars. Like my name implies, I'm definitely a noob (or newbie if you prefer) compared to everyone on this site, but I just thought I'd introduce myself! Quote
Super User bassfisherjk Posted September 15, 2011 Super User Posted September 15, 2011 Welcome! Quote
Lesley Posted September 15, 2011 Posted September 15, 2011 Hi all - Welcome! We in NC are not known to have as many lakes as you in MN, but we've got a lot of farm ponds! Quote
BassResource.com Administrator Glenn Posted September 18, 2011 BassResource.com Administrator Posted September 18, 2011 Welcome home! Quote
kms399 Posted September 24, 2011 Posted September 24, 2011 welcome you will learn so much so fast around here you will forget more by bass opener than you ever knew before! I live in Plymouth MN and am always looking for someone to fish with I have plenty of stuff so this spring if you want to get out let me know! but for now duck hunting starts tomorrow so I am pretty much done fishing for the year. any way welcome and spend some time in the fishing articles section lots of info in there. Quote
Super User Gatorbassman Posted September 26, 2011 Super User Posted September 26, 2011 Great story. Welcome to the family. Quote
Super User roadwarrior Posted October 4, 2011 Super User Posted October 4, 2011 Welcome aboard! Quote
Edgy Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 Hi all - Like the topic reads, I've been lurking here on BassResource.com for about 3 months or so, and finally made the decision to start posting around here. Love the site! Great members, really great insight; it's a site I find myself visiting more and more every week. About me: grew up in MN, still reside in the Twin Cities. Grew up fishing with my best friend from about 10 years old through through high school, and basically never got serious enough to truly start loving it. I would troll on weekends for pike with my dad at the cabin, head out during the summers with my buddy looking for whatever we could find (usually largemouth), but was never too serious, probably because we never caught anything of note because we didn't know what we were doing... Fast forward 15 years through college, law school, life, etc.: For some unknown reason (honestly), I found myself holding an old Mitchell baitcaster out on the dock of my family's cabin near Brainerd, MN about 4 months ago. I had an old chartreuse spinner (dual Colorado blades) that had seen better days on the end of it (didn't even have my license for the year, as I hadn't fished in 15 years or so, I was just messing around off the dock)... Well, low and behold, there was a patch of pads about 30 ft out that I cast to on a rope on the first cast (even though the brake weights were brutal, squealing the whole time), and BAM! I felt the hit the second the blades helicoptered down next to the pads, set the hook, and saw the largemouth jump out of the water trying to throw it. Kept it taut and brought him in. Nice little guy, about 3.5 lbs on the scale. Everything I remembered about why I loved fishing growing up all came back inside the 7-8 seconds it took me to reel that guy in. I was back, and I was hooked. Within a few weekends, I'd taken a few trips to Cabela's; and came away with more gear than I initially planned (doesn't it always work like that?!): - Curado 200E7 with a 7' MH Prodigy rod, a 7' Daiwa that I tossed a Sedona on (not a huge spin caster, but know I want one for soft plastics), and a used Chronarch that I bought off Craigslist for $40 (good deal I think) with a 6'6'' H Berkley Lighting rod - Solid $150 worth of plastics (lot of watermelon/cream and 222 Senkos), $200 worth of cranks, spinners, etc. - Whole new box, fishing license (obviously), net, scales, etc. And for the next 4 consecutive weekends, I took out an old junked up Lund with a 25hp motor around our lake at our cabin, hitting pads, weeds, and whatever I could find (no trolling motor, no finders, no nothing; literally a 30 year old Johnson and an oar that served as a trolling motor). In that time, probably landed 10-20 "decent" fish (2+ lbs), and I've fallen almost as hard as I did for my wife. So here I am, joining this site, looking at bass rigs on Craigslist, convincing myself that I need to at least get used entry-level bass boat with a platform, trolling motor, and a decent motor, telling my wife that I now need to spend $5-10k on a "bass boat" to take out in the Cities around Lake Minnetonka, as well as bring up to the cabin. Her comment, "a BOAT!?! For what? I didn't even know you knew how to take a fish off the hook!" So, I'm excited to get back into the world of bass fishing (best freshwater fishing there is in my mind), and shoot the breeze with all of you rockstars. Like my name implies, I'm definitely a noob (or newbie if you prefer) compared to everyone on this site, but I just thought I'd introduce myself! Great story doesnt matter if you are new or not you'll find all the help you need here. Even if you are a "seasoned" angler Quote
Super User Jeff H Posted October 8, 2011 Super User Posted October 8, 2011 Watch it with the boat. Don't be in a hurry on that, and stay closer to 10K than 5k if you can help it. There is lots of junk floating around in the below 10K segment. I know, I looked for most of 2010 before finding what I wanted in a 98 Champion 191 Elite. Tonka's great, but I don't care for dealing with the "pleasure" crowd out there anymore, so I go up north. Not to far from you actually, I'm down around the Garrison/Aitkin/North end of Mille Lacs area, mostly. I do get out on Gull now and then too. LOTS of good water up there. If you can raise your budget on the boat for next year, you'll be MUCH better off. Quote
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