Meet CJ Gonzales of DesertBassin in West Valley

Today we’d like to introduce you to CJ Gonzales.

CJ, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
The DesertBassin name was founded on the love for fishing and the love of educating others. As a young child, I’ve always been fascinated with the outdoors soaking in everything that I could! Each time I was able to go out on the water was a huge privilege that I still appreciate to this day. My father and grandfather taught me all the fundamentals that I would need to know in order to take the reins myself one day. From learning fly fishing by my grandfather and a conventional style from my father I was able to create my own style of fishing. Every year I grew older, I fell more and more in love with that thrilling relationship between angler and fish. With rapidly growing social media engulfing the sport of fishing it offered you everyday angler a wider scope of what was going on in other fisheries outside of their home lake. YouTube, Facebook and other social media sites were highly influential on your new age angler. My generation quickly buying into this new social network I to was an avid user of YouTube learning anything I could about fishing and especially the lakes locally.

Quickly I realized the fishing community here in the great state of AZ is small and mostly untouched by YouTube and larger social media pages. It was hard to find information on our local fisheries and anybody who had the scoop on what the fish were biting did not want to share! I can’t be the only one that is wanting local knowledge in this new format so I set out to create my own means of spreading information and even educating new anglers how to approach our lakes and catch fish! With only my young experience of fishing and not a clue on how YouTube, or filming for that matter, works I created the DesertBassin YouTube page! Being from the desert and mostly fishing for our states most popular fish, the largemouth bass, I thought the name was pretty genius! What a concept! With only an old Sony camcorder, the first model of GoPro, and an old 12’ 1964 mirrocraft aluminum boat I hit the water filming every time I was out. I put my creativity to the test and tried to offer a new style of video to whoever was watching in hopes the channel would start to grow and my experiences would get out to the local public. After a few videos, the channel began to gain traction with a few videos now reaching upwards of 40k views! Every video posted would attract new attention.

Constantly I was seeking new ways to film, learning anything that I could to produce better quality videos and present it in a way that would be more attractive to the viewer. After sometime, I was fortunate to meet other creatives and even travel around the states to fish new areas! Currently, the channel is thriving. More and more videos are able to be posted in the total goal of offering quality, informational content that will help anglers of all calibers. I’ve been very fortunate for all the support and the awesome community that now surrounds the name DesertBassin. It has developed from a kid who loved the sport of fishing to a solid platform for anglers of all types to receive educational, entertaining and sometimes hilarious content to help them advance their angling experience. I’m here to entertain, educate, and Inspire. I can’t be more appreciative for all the support and love that all the viewers have given to the DesertBassin name! Much love to Crystal Lures for sponsoring the channel and for being like family to me. Love those guys and am very fortunate to be a part of their team!

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Like any adventure there is always high moments and low moments! Starting a social media page and or brand from the ground up these days is nearly an impossible feat. The world of YouTube is heavily saturated with very competitive creatives. As the years go on, more and more people create their own channels locally offering a friendly competition saturating the local market. The algorithms and formats of social media is constantly changing. The strongest really do survive in this digital dog eat dog world and to not adapt is to fail. Arizona being a beautiful state is not the most friendly to fishing. With scorching heats and cold winters the fish have to battle the weather all year long making the bite oftentimes tough. If you’re not catching fish you’re not producing a very attention retaining video for a viewer who is wanting to see a fish being caught. However because of this, it really separates those who are dedicated to the sport and those who are not. It’s a hard task to handle camera gear and something like fishing that requires your full attention. Camera gear inevitably fails but it’s just a part of the game and you just have to push through!

Outside of all these small obstacles, what has definitely been the hardest and most influential event that has ever hit the DesertBassin page as well as my personal life is the passing of my brother due to a rare bone cancer. At the age of 16, a rare bone cancer claimed his life after a long year and a half of extensive battling. With his bubbly personality he brought so many people joy and lead a legacy I think he never knew he was leading. Even at his lowest points, he still kept a positive attitude attracting anyone around him. Him, my sister, and I were very close. It was excruciating to watch him suffer so when he passed it left a huge hole in not only our hearts but anyone that he came in contact with.

With his passing it brought a lot of grief but also a lot of motivation. Suddenly I had a second wind. It gave me a new perspective on life and that it’s to easy to fall into a system and miss all the real things in life. He was driven by the love of life and his drive pushed me to pursue the DesertBassin Channel even more. Not only is it for the people but it is for him as well. I wear his necklace every trip on the water inspiring me to never take my time for granted and to push this community around the DesertBassin name as much as I can. There’s always obstacles but it’s how you adjust to them that makes you different.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with DesertBassin – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
DesertBassin is founded off the love of the outdoors and the love of helping others. It was started as a kid filming his fishing adventures and has turned into a community that educates the public specifically in the sport of fishing. It caters more towards local Arizonans but in time I hope to grow the name nationwide as a brand and influencer.

When I meet viewers for the first time they always refer to me as the kid that makes fishing videos! It’s a funny title but always sparks up a fun conversation. I would say what I’m best know for is providing quality videos locally. I put a lot of time and effort into producing quality videos that are entertaining and easy to engage with.

There’s been a lot of accomplishments over the years but what impressed me the most is that it has brought anglers from all over the state and surrounding states into an engaging community!

In this new digital world it’s hard to stand out among other creatives and businesses so it’s always important to start local and form a solid foundation of support. There is a lot of solid fishing creatives here in the state that I pay a lot of respect to. I would say what sets me apart is my style of video and how I portray information to the viewers. It’s not easy keeping attention on your video when there’s so many others out there so it’s important to engage with your audience and produce a video in a way that has value to the viewer. I pride my videos with well put together images and sounds that I’m constantly looking to improve. As a creative, I’m trying to push my videos to the limits and formulate them better than any of my friendly competitors. I creator myself as a Creative, filmmaker, and outdoor renegade.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I have huge plans for DesertBassin. Like any business consistent growth is key. To achieve this, frequent video uploads and precise networking is what is going to enable this business to grow. I want to push this to the limits and in time develop a large engaging community as well as become an influencer that provides value. I also want to turn the name into a brand that provides quality and education and new age products to consumers. Products like clothing merchandise, cutting edge lures, and professional style rods.

I’m really looking forward to growing the local community and even hosting annual events. A bass fishing tournament inviting anyone who wants to compete has always been something I would enjoy organizing. Excited to meet new people and provide better videos!

Contact Info:

• Email: desertbassin1@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/desertbassin/
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZuroFylopkB02Nc3Re-uLw

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