BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A mail carrier by profession, Texas angler Rafael Diaz received a special delivery of his own when he won the Bassmaster.com Ultimate Electronics Sweepstakes. The victory in the contest netted him the grand prize of a Humminbird 360 imaging system and a Minn Kota Fortrex bow-mount trolling motor.
“This is going to be great,” Diaz said. “I’ve never won anything online.”
Diaz grew up fishing Falcon Lake, a reservoir in the No. 1 spot in Bassmaster Magazine’s 100 Best Bass Lakes. With a fishery that performs like Falcon, it’s no surprise Diaz is hooked on bass fishing. He fished the February 2012 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Central Open on Lake Lewisville as a co-angler and said it was tough fishing, with 80 or 90 anglers coming in with empty bags.
“I lost a fish close to the boat near the end of the tournament,” Diaz said. “If I’d caught that one, I would have made it to the cut.”
This year, he has his sights trained on the Central Open to be held April 25-27, 2013, on the Red River in Shreveport, La.
Diaz likes to joke about his fishing, as well as his day job. “I get a lot of bites — the problem is that they’re just dog bites,” quipped Diaz, who has gotten his share of nips from dogs on his U.S. Postal Service delivery route in the city of Pasadena. “I hope to get a lot of bites on the water, too.”
The prize package from Humminbird and Minn Kota is valued at $3,150.
A new online sweepstakes offering a chance to fish with former Bassmaster Classic champion Mike Iaconelli will begin in January. Visit Bassmaster.com for details.