Back on the Water

Well I had a fuel injector go out this week and I had limited practice time. It was kind of frustrating but all is well. I still have 4 and a half days to put together a strong pattern. Tommorrow, Tyler Brinks will be practicing with me. He lives in Florida and is fishing on the co-angler side. I am excited to get back out on the water!

Cold Front!

The last 2 days have been extremely challenging. Yesterday (Sunday) morning was 26 degrees and today (Monday)was a chilly 21 degrees. I can tell you one thing for certain, Florida bass are almost nonexistent during an extreme cold front. I talked to a local angler that fished a 75 boat tournament yesterday on the Harris Chain. He mentioned that over half of the local anglers zeroed and it only took 2 fish to win the event...interesting.

Having said that, this afternoon warmed up and I was able to land 4 bass for a total of 7 pounds. Caught the 2 bigger ones on the spinnerbait and the small ones fell to a 6" black worm.

Florida Fishing - 2009 BASS OPEN

It it almost hard to believe but we are actually in Florida! Today was my first day of practice for the 2009 BASS Southern Open. Well, to start out my day, Florida fishing was awesome! Within the first 2 hours of fishng, I caught a healthy prespawn female weighing in just under 5 pounds! She crushed my chartreuse spinnerbait. However, after this brief excitement, I did not get a bite the entire day. I feel good about today because I eliminated a lot of water and I found many spawning areas. The water here in Florida is very stained with an average visibility of about 6-12 inches.

FLW National Guard Western Series, Columbia River

Fishing was great! I had a fun time on the Columbia River. I Finished in 26th place and took home a great check. The weather was great and wind was not an issue for the first 3 days. I caught most of my fish in 25-30 feet of water on jigs and drop shots with some of them falling to a tube on a carolina rig. My biggest fish of the contest came on a 4 inch drop shot sculpin in 25 feet. Happy Fishing!

James feature article in Yakima Herald

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James breaks his G Loomis on a 7 pounder

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)