Niko Romero has loved bass fishing since he was 4 years old, but wasn’t quite sure the opportunity to be a bass pro would ever present itself to him.
Now 23-year-old can see the dream in his sights. He just has to keep capitalizing.
“I always had aspirations of being an Elite Series angler, but never knew how far I really wanted to take it,” Romero said. “Then I won the Opens co-angler AOY, and that was the coolest thing.”
Romero, an Arizona native who now calls Texas home, notched his first career Top 10 as a boater at the 2026 Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Kissimmee Chain presented by Battery Tender thanks to a 21-pound, 3 ounces Day 2 rally that pushed him to a total of 31-15 ahead of Championship Saturday.
Making a Top 10 was at the top of his list of goals for the new season, as well as qualifying for the Elite Qualifier Division at the end of the year. One of those goals is checked off after just one tournament, and that will certainly go a long way in terms of achieving goal number two.
This comes just two-years after winning 2024 Opens Angler of the Year in the co-angler division, a paycheck that helped him with the funds to buy a boat and enter Division I last season. Romero tried to soak in as much as he could during his two seasons as a co-angler and feels he is far more versatile now.
He also credits Oklahoma’s Austin Cranford, Progressive Elite Series rookie, for showing Romero the ropes and inviting him to be his practice partner.
“That year made me more diverse in what I do and comfortable doing things I wouldn’t ordinarily do. I’m still not a big fan of fishing grass, but I’ve adapted and overcome it. Being on the co-angler side, there are so many different situations you will get put into, and you never know what is coming.”
Even though he was used to the Opens format coming into 2025, and had fished in the boat with many of his competitors as a co-angler, nerves got the best of him during his first year as a Division I angler. At the opener at Clarks Hill, looking around at all of the veteran pros left him in awe.
“It took a little bit of getting used to,” Romero said. “It made me nervous to go float around with some of the guys we fish against.
“Not only that, I wanted to do well for the family. They were at the first couple events, so that was a little bit of added pressure.”
In 2025, Romero is feeling much more comfortable amongst his peers. He also said he is trying a new approach to his practices, which paid off in a big way this week at the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes.
“This year I am practicing to find where they are going to be, not where they are,” Romero said. “That was a big deal this week. I don’t think I ever caught a limit in practice, but I knew my areas would be good with the two frosty mornings we had.”
Although it is unlikely he, or anyone in the Top 10, can catch leader Cody Stahl if he keeps up his current pace, Romero could continue to climb the leaderboard with another good day on Saturday.
