SNICKERS Big Bass Award at Wal-mart FLW Western Division Series Tournament

Thanks to this 4-pound, 14-ounce smallie, local angler James Castillo of Grandview, Wash., won the SNICKERS Big Bass award in the Co-Angler Division in the Wal-Mart FLW Western Division Series bass fishing tournament Wednesday, September 19th, on the Columbia River.

"I literally caught it on the last cast of the day, before heading in," said Castillo.

Castillo also received the Big Fish of the Tournament award at the Northwest Bass Boardman Qualifier on August 11, 2007 weighing 4.96 pounds.

(Attached photo by Jeff Schroeder, courtesy of FLW)

Championship results

After day 1, Team Castillo weighed in 10.0 lbs. We had a lot of spots that we wanted to fish on the south end of the lake but the wind was very strong. When we arrived, we were trying to stay on our open water spots while riding 4-5 foot rolling waves. The forecast called for a breeze of 4-5 mph, however a 20-30 mph wind took over! We decided to go back to the north end and search for largemouth.

Day 2 resulted in 7.68 lbs. We had a great time but we could not find any kickers. We weighed in all largemouth that we caught on topwater frogs! It was a lot of fun!

Pre-Fish Friday!

We started pre-fishing Banks Lake at first light this morning. The 2-Day Northwest Bass Championship starts early Saturday morning with Blast-off at 6:15 A.M. Since we're in 26th place in over-all Angler of the Year points, we'll blast off 26th out of a field of 109 boats.

We had some good practice on the water today and it was Salina's first official pre-fish on the lake.
Hopefully, it will pay off with a good weigh-in tomorrow.

Big Bass of the Tournament - Boardman Qualifier

James Castillo at winning weigh-in Boardman 2007 with Big Fish of the Tournament at the NW Bass Boardman Qualifier. Bass weighed 4.96 pounds and was caught on spinner bait. Took 2nd Place Finish.