Jim was born about 80 miles east of where Lake Fork is today. He moved to the Houston area where grew up on the out skirts of town. There were many creeks and ponds to fish in. His goal was to become a touring fishing Pro. Jim fished several big tournaments an many small tournaments. He placed in a lot of the smaller tournaments and won a couple. The big tournaments required to much time away from work. These were harder to practice for. Jim met a lady from Alba Texas in 1969 and got married. He hunted in Lake Fork's bottom land before the lake was built this gave him a pretty good head start on his guide career. He bought some land on what is now the edges of Lake Fork. Jim quit his job as a manager of a corrugated box company in 1990. Built a house and has been guiding ever since.

Jim's writings cover especially Lake Fork, but his advice and tactics can be used anywhere. Contact Jim by email at [email protected] or visit his website at http://members.tripod.com/~bassone/