Oak View, CA, January 26, 2008 – In a first-of-its-kind fishing tournament designed to showcase the talents of big bass
specialists, noted trophy angler Don Osborne, Castro Valley, California, scored the winning fish using a 12-inch Original
Castaic hard-head swimbait. As if on cue, the huge 10.52-pound bass struck on Osborne’s very first cast of the tournament
day.
The inaugural Heavyweight Bass Classic, held Friday, January 25, 2008 on southern California’s famed Lake Casitas,
allowed anglers to weigh just one big bass each, for a winner-take-all prize of $10,000. The unique new format was a first for
competitive bass tournaments. Out of a field of fifty anglers, Osborne was among 25 others invited from a list of the
nation’s finest big bass specialists.
On tournament day, Osborne’s was the second boat to launch, landing him on his spot before other anglers. “I found the
area during (tournament) prefishing, and noticed some giant boulders sticking just out of the water. After a promising
strike and miss in this spot earlier, I made up my mind to go there first,” said Osborne.
A keen observer of fish-related details, Osborne’s pre-tournament research likely helped to key his win. “Before the
tournament, I made a couple phone calls to the state and discovered that they’d recently been stocking (Lake) Casitas with
12-inch rainbows, as opposed to the usual 8-inchers.” Knowing the importance of “matching the hatch,” Osborne made a
switch from the smaller 8-inch bait, opting instead for the super-realistic 12-inch Castaic trout bait that won the event.