Euless angler to compete for world bass-fishing title

Winning $500,000 in a bass-fishing tournament wouldn’t tempt James Biggs to leave his regular job.

“To be the world champion is life-changing, and half a million dollars is life-changing money,” said the 34-year-old Euless resident. “I want to finish my career as a firefighter and I’ll still have time to fish in the future.”

Biggs, who has been a Colleyville firefighter and paramedic for more than 10 years, is one of 50 anglers who earned spots in the Aug. 20-23 Forrest Wood Cup — considered the world championship bass-fishing tournament — at Lake Ouachita, near Hot Springs, Ark. Biggs qualified with a No. 32 ranking among 154 competitors in the Wal-Mart Fishing League Worldwide Tour.

“He’s the first Texas Bass Federation fisherman to qualify for the Forrest Wood Cup,” said Joe Opager, a Forrest Wood Foundation spokesman. Wood is the founder of Ranger Boats.

Biggs had his most successful year in 2014, winning the Boater Division of The Bass Federation’s National Championship at Grand Lake, Ark.

That win earned him the Living the Dream package — a Ranger 520C boat, a Chevy Suburban and an all-expense-paid season on this year’s FLW tour, where entry fees totaled $26,000.

Not bad for a guy who started fishing at age 16.

“My dad got me signed up in a bass club that year and it took off,” Biggs said.

Now, he’s a role model for young anglers who are just starting out on their dreams.

“One of the fun things is being able to talk with groups of them,” Biggs said. “I get invited a few times a year to high school bass club meetings. They dream of being a bass pro. To make it is a pretty neat accomplishment.”

Making it means doing well enough in tournaments to catch the eyes of sport-fishing executives.

“I have a few sponsors helping me along the way,” Biggs said. “Xcite Baits has been a very good sponsor for me.”

When he’s not fishing in tournaments or working as a firefighters, Biggs works as a teaching guide.

“I started a teaching guide service where I not only take them fishing but teach them how,” he said.

And, while he’s infected his 11-year-old daughter, Kayden, with the fishing fever, his wife, Kaylie, 29, appears to be immune.

“My daughter really likes to fish,” Biggs said. “My wife likes to lay out on the boat and read while I fish.”

Biggs figures he has a little more than a dozen days a year to “do my own recreational fishing. I generally don’t go by myself. I take clients and have a list of people wanting to go. I’ll take Kayden and one of her friends occasionally.”

His boss, Colleyville Fire Chief Brian Riley, said he’s never been fishing with Biggs.

“I’m really not a fisherman,” Riley said. “He told me a little about [the Forrest Wood Cup tournament]. He stands to make some money on it just making it to the top tier.”

But Riley isn’t worried about losing the employee he described as a great firefighter/paramedic who’s a “down-to-earth individual who wants to help any way he can. The Fire Department is one of his true loves and he intends to stay and make a career of it.”

Winning the half-million dollars would just make it easier to retire when he becomes eligible in nine years, Biggs said. There will be plenty of time to fish after that.

“I’ll be 44 and able to draw a pension,” he said. “Until then, I’ll keep my skills sharp.”

This story was originally published August 7, 2015 at 5:09 PM with the headline "Euless angler to compete for world bass-fishing title."