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Chambers Academy students from seventh grade to high school gathered in the school’s gym on Wednesday to listen to Royce Railey speak about fishing and faith on Wednesday morning.

Railey is a professional fisherman who runs Go Fish Ministry, an organization that spreads God’s word through fishing.

Railey started his 20-minute speaking appearance by talking about his start on the professional circuit.

To start his career, Railey was competing in the Bassmaster Trail, which was held in the late 1990s. He was coming off a top-10 finish at the tournament when his home phone rang. It was Bassmaster Magazine.

“My wife calls out to me in the backyard, and she says Bassmaster Magazine is on the phone. I start getting excited,” Railey said. “Maybe they’ve heard about this tournament, and they’re interviewing the top-10. So I start walking toward the house and my mind starts going. I’m kind of local, and maybe they’re interviewing local guys and they’re going to give me a half-page in the magazine. Then I think, well they’re going to interview rookies, and they’re going to interview me for being in Rookie of the Year. By the time I get to the phone, I’m thinking they’re going to do a whole article about me, my pictures are going to be in it.

“When I get to the phone, there is a woman on the other end and she asks ‘is this Royce Railey?’ I reply ‘yes mam it is.’ She then calls out my address, and I’m thinking she needs my address because they’re going to send out photographers to do this whole spell. I said ‘yes maam it is. I’m thinking here it is my big moment as a professional fisherman. She said ‘I just wanted you to know that your subscription to Bassmaster Magazine has run out.”

While he didn’t get his story in the magazine, Railey has loved fishing for his entire life. He taught the students three types of casts that they would be able to use the next time they go fishing.

“To be an effective bass fisher, you need to be an effective caster,” Railey said.

The three types of casting were overhead, flipping and pitch.

The overhead cast is used when there is open water and there are not any obstacles in the way. The flipping method is used when there are stumps or other debris in the way. To perform this cast, the fisher pulls out about 20 feet of line and flips the rod to cast out the line. The pitch is an underhand version of the flip.

As a fisherman, Railey said that his job on a daily basis is to try to convince fish that something that isn’t real, so the lure he uses is real and enticing.

He related that part of his job to the battles that people go through every day.

“We’re in that same battle every day,” Railey said. “The Bible tells us that we have an enemy, and he’s very real. He’s going to come into your mind and try to tell you things that aren’t true. He’s going to try to trick you into believing things are good for you that aren’t good.”

Railey laid out two ways to combat that enemy. The first way is the fruits of the spirit, which are love, joy, peace, patients, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

“What we have to do is recognize where is this voice coming from inside my head,” Railey said. “If that voice is producing [the fruits of the spirit], that’s from God. If it’s anything else, it’s from the devil.”

The other way to combate that enemy is by listening to scripture. The verse Railey uses is James 4:7, which is “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Railey lives in Harris County. For more information about Go Fish Ministries, visit its website at www.gofishoutdoorministries.com/about-us.html or visit its Facebook Page.