According to the popular BASS, a bass fishing organization, a local Allentown angler won its recent "Fish With Skeet" sweepstakes.

Douglas Oswald of Allentown entered the fishing sweepstakes close to 40 times when his name was recently drawn. When he got a call from BASS Membership Director Mitch Frank, he knew something was up.

"I was hoping that was what the call was about," said Oswald. "There aren't too many times when the membership director calls and asks you to call back. I was ecstatic."

Oswald won a free fishing trip with Bassmaster Elite Series pro Skeet Reese, plus round trip airfare, a two-night hotel stay, a rental car and $500 in cash. Also included in the package of the Bassmaster Elite Series pro's gear, was $500 worth of Wright and McGill and Trokar tackle, a $500 Dick's Sporting Goods gift card and three pairs of polarized Wiley X sunglasses. The total prize package is valued at $4,995.

According to the BASS press release announcing his selection, Oswald takes the Bassmaster Fantasy Fishing seriously and would enter whenever he went online to check his Elite Series team picks and his status during the contest that ran from April 1 to June 12.

"I always entered the contest when I would check to see how I'm doing," said Oswald, who's sitting at a strong 78 percent in the fantasy league. "I've been putting my money on Reese as far as the fantasy league goes. I picked him two weeks ago to win and I've been watching him."

Oswald has been an avid bass fisherman for about 30 years, from the time he and a friend stumbled onto a bass bonanza at a local mine hole.

Oswald's preferred fishery these days is Lake Nockamixon in Quakertown which is about a 20-minute drive from his home. He's perfected the art of catching the five-pounders that lurk there and says the big bass are abundant on this lake, which is horsepower restricted, meaning less boat traffic and less pressure on the bass he targets.

"In the spring I always use spinnerbaits and in summer I use deep-diving crankbaits or a 10-inch worm," said Oswald, who works as a butcher at a local farmers market. "I've been fishing since the early 90s, so I'm confident in going night fishing by myself as I catch most of my bass at night."

Because his work ties him up most weekends, Oswald doesn't often fish tournaments, but he's technical about how he finds his bass, said Cara Clark, BASS media relation's manager.

"I started to get more serious about fishing the lake by my house," Oswald said. "And just when I thought I'd learned it, Humminbird came out with side and down scan. It made all the difference in the world and totally changed how I was fishing. I do a lot of spring fishing for the numbers of bass I catch, and I know where they're going to be in the spring. I scan the lake in the summer months to find them."

Oswald, says Clark, views the sweepstakes win as an opportunity to learn from Reese, the 2007 Bassmaster Angler of the Year and winner of the 2009 Bassmaster Classic.

"I just want to watch him (Reese) fish and see how he picks apart an area and targets fish," said Oswald. "I know he's got the same depthfinder I use, but uses his electronics are a lot more than we're used to using them here."

Oswald hopes to see Reese use a drop shot tactic, a method the contest winner has not yet mastered.

"I don't use it a lot," he said. "But it would be a help to my fishing. I've tried it with little or no success around structure and have never caught anything. So it's something I need to spend time on."

A new sweepstakes is underway that is offering a chance to "Fish With G-Man" (Gerald Swindle, Bassmaster Elite Series Pro) featuring similar and enhanced prizes valued at $10,000. To check it out go to www.Bassmaster.com.