Ryan Stork estimates that he started fishing when he was around 3 years old.

His dad fished, and they ventured to local ponds. The family had a lake house, and they also traveled to Wisconsin to fish. Stork said he started to take it seriously around the eighth grade.

“It was something fun to do,” Stork said. “As I got older it turned into something I could be good at.”

The high school junior is now part of an Oswego bass fishing team that’s better than ever.

Oswego has won three consecutive tournaments, including the program’s first conference championship. Oswego followed it up by winning its second straight regional title, putting the Panthers in the Big Basin Marina Sectional on the Des Plaines River.

The Panthers went on to qualify for state Thursday.

“It’s pretty insane, considering last year was the first time we placed in a tournament,” Stork said.

“We’re getting kind of spoiled,” Oswego coach Tyler Boyle said. “It’s really rare to win three tournaments in a row. I think I’ve seen it done twice. I don’t know if I’ve seen three tournaments in a row. To win three tournaments in a row is impressive.”

Boyle, who played football in college at St. Ambrose and also started a bass fishing program there, is in the fourth year of his second stint as Oswego bass fishing coach.

The program started out with 12 kids a few years ago, got up to 20 and now has 26 signed up.

“It’s been a great season,” Stork said. “When I first started here it was kind of rough, we didn’t do it very good. Last year we started to figure it out and this year we have done very well. I think we are just starting to take it a lot more serious. We got to practice more, learn the bodies of water better, stuff like that.”

The sport has also grown statewide.

“They expanded the teams – instead of three teams from each regional, the top six out of 20 boats go to sectionals, the top 10 teams out of a 30-boat sectional go to state," Boyle said. “The IHSA got involved, and made it bigger, and the program became bigger. It’s night and day from before.”

Boyle has all different ranges of experienced fishermen on his team – kids who love fishing, who might have grown up on a lake house. Some kids have one rod, others own seven.

Stork gets out as much as he can, three to four times a week.

He personally caught five fish at the conference tournament, caught four fish to win a tournament on Lake Shabbona in a 27-boat field and received the Big Bass award at regionals at Lake Tampier.

“He is one of those kids that you can tell has done it,” Boyle said. “I tell him we can sit down, tell them what rods to use, what lines to use, what baits to use, I can teach you guys all that. I really encourage them to watch the pros. They tell you where to go. You see them set a hook, fight a fish. They have to go out and catch fish to learn how to set a hook, fight a fish. Some of my better kids have done that for years. Some kids might no know if it’s a fish or a rock. It comes with experience.”

Boyle has sat down with the team going into sectionals and looked at Google Earth and contour maps, talking about lures and baits to use. They had two boats go out Saturday and Sunday to practice.

Same thing with regionals, the team looked at water temperatures and fish patterns.

“I’m not saying we have nailed it on the head or whether we have just guessed right but the thing with bass fishing is it’s like tennis or badminton – I try to get everybody involved with pre-fishing tournaments," Boyle said.

“We break down the lake, look at the map, go to YouTube and look at the lake. Eventually we get out and go out to fish. It’s a big reason we have been successful.”