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Local angler pursues college fishing dream

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FORT COLLINS - Some sports just hook you. In Legacy High School graduate Ryan Wood's case, that statement comes in the most literal sense.

"He's tried football, he's tried baseball, he's tried basketball," mom Kim said.

But despite his passion for those sports, Wood's true calling was always on the water.

"I first got into fishing by fishing small ponds for trout and pan fish with my parents," he said.

Wood got his first real taste of competitive angling as a child. At age 9, his parents helped him join a bass fishing club they had discovered at the Denver International Sportsmen's Expo. At the end of the season, there was a fishing competition for the participants. Wood, being the youngest, wound up winning the tournament.

The first place trophy wasn't the only victory of the day. It was in that tournament that Wood met his coach, Fishful Thinker TV host and professional angler, Chad LaChance.

"The reason Ryan has excelled is his drive and determination and intelligence. He's determined, flat out. He's determined, this is what he wants to do, and how he wants to do it," LaChance said.

"[LaChance] has helped me with not only fishing, but with sponsorships and what they expect of me, and helping me to be a better tournament angler overall," Wood said.

Under his mentor, Wood has become one of the top junior anglers in the country. In 2008, he won his first state title. Five years later, he reeled in the BASS Junior World Championship.

"It's nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time," Kim said. "He's always been persistent and determined, and he has those qualities I think will make him successful."

After turning down several full-ride academic scholarships, Wood chose a partial one at Dallas Baptist University. The school also has a collegiate bass fishing team he will be joining in the fall.

"The [college] national championship can actually lead to the Bass Master Classic, so if I get that far, that'd be a great opportunity," Wood said. 

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