By BassFan Staff
Down to the wire. Raw emotion. Fish caught. Fish lost. A Classic dream dashed.
Today’s match between Kevin VanDam and Koby Kreiger in the semifinals of the Niagara River Elite Series Classic Bracket offered up a little bit of everything, including the need for two tiebreakers to finally determine the winner.
When time expired at 2:30 p.m., both anglers had caught 11-00 on the day, the biggest stringers for each this week. Since single biggest stringer was the first tiebreaker, VanDam was declared the winner via the second tiebreaker, which was the second-heaviest stringer from any previous day – he caught 10-04 on both Tuesday and Wednesday while Kreiger’s 8-14 from Tuesday was his best effort.
“That was high stress right there,” VanDam said.
It was a dramatic back and forth duel for 6 hours that saw Kreiger not record his first keeper until almost noon. He also lost three key fish, including one with less than 10 minutes remaining that would’ve likely given him the win.
Ultimately, a 1-15 smallmouth that VanDam caught at 2:08 p.m. proved to be the difference-maker.
“I’m sure everybody thought it’d be a runaway win for VanDam, but I proved that Koby Kreiger can fish even though I only caught one yesterday,” Kreiger said. “I had three things happen to me this afternoon that if they go the other away, they’re talking to me about a major upset.”
The win pushes VanDam, the top seed, into the finals against Brett Hite, who racked up a tournament-best 13-09 today to dispatch fellow Arizona pro Dean Rojas, who managed 7-14.
The finals will be a matchup between the two anglers who’ve caught the most weight over the first three days. Through 12 hours on the water, Hite has caught 35-07 while VanDam has totaled 31-08. The winner Friday earns an automatic berth in next year's Bassmaster Classic.
“It’s not been easy, but nobody’s really put the pressure on me,” Hite said. “That first day was a little slow until I got them dialed in. Since then, it’s been pretty stress-free. The guys who are on the best fish are fishing in the finals.”
“We both want to win,” VanDam said of Hite. “I have tremendous respect for him. He’s one of the best dropshot anglers there is and it’s going to be tough. It’s going to be hard to beat him. His location has a lot of quality fish on it.”
The format for the finals will be slightly different than the first two rounds. On Friday, every legal bass caught will count rather than just the biggest five. Some may think that will favor VanDam since it’s basically the same format used in Major League Fishing events.
After have mostly blue skies and sunny conditions through the first two rounds, Friday’s weather could bring a different set of conditions to deal with. There’s a chance of thunderstorms (some severe) in the forecast along with strong winds out of the southwest at 15 to 25 mph.
VanDam leans into a fish early on his matchup against Koby Kreiger.
Kreiger Wanted To ‘Go Ike’; KVD Relieved
> VanDam (5, 11-00) def. Kreiger (5, 11-00); VanDam advances on tiebreaker No. 2 (second-heaviest stringer from any previous day)
VanDam and Kreiger made their first casts of the day within shouting distance of each other on the north side of Strawberry Island, which has been the most popular stretch of water all week.
VanDam caught three keepers there to get started and had four fish for 6-00 before Kreiger caught his first fish at 11:25.
As the day wore on, VanDam tried to milk places that had produced for him earlier in the week, but once Kreiger started to gain momentum, he moved to a stretch that he'd been hoping to save.
“Man, I almost screwed this deal up,” VanDam said. “I knew Koby was struggling, so I wasn’t going to hit my best stuff today. Then, when I saw him start catching them with a really good average weight, I knew I had to get serious.
“You don’t make it to the finals if you don’t win the semifinals, and I almost didn’t win it.
"When I caught back up, I couldn’t believe we were tied,” VanDam continued. “I lost a few, but I knew I had the tiebreaker. It was intense. I knew what I had to do. I knew it might go down to the wire.”
Knowing that every bass counts tomorrow will alter how VanDam plans his day.
“Now, it’s a numbers game,” he said. “I have a few places I haven’t been to yet that I think I can catch a fish here or there. It totally changes how I’m going to spend my day.”
After a sluggish morning Thursday that was reminiscent of his Wednesday afternoon session in the quarterfinals, Kreiger finally got into a rhythm after moving to the north Grand Island Bridge where he started to apply some heat to VanDam as their match wore on.
At one point, Kreiger pulled ahead by 1 pound, 7 ounces (11-00 to 9-09), but VanDam answered with a pair of 2-02 smallmouth and sealed the win with a 1-15 with just over 20 minutes to go.
Kreiger had plenty of chances to improve his weight, but he lost three key fish, including one with less than 10 minutes to go that he was sure would’ve broken the tie.
“In the back of my mind, I’m sitting there with an hour ago and I’m up by a pound,” Kreiger said. “Then we have 45 minutes to go and Kevin catches another one, but I was still ahead by 4 ounces. I started thinking to myself, ‘Watch us tie.’ I knew I had to catch one bigger than 2 pounds.”
He left himself the last 30 minutes to fish three concrete pilings – not the same ones that have produced for Hite all week – after not getting bit on the first two, he got a bite with about 9 minutes to go.
“I knew it was a good one,” he said. “It wasn't budging at all. I had to move the boat so I didn’t crash into the piing. After I got the boat free, I started to reel it in. I knew it was over 2 pounds, but then it came off.
“I wanted to go Iaconelli, as they say. I was frustrated and mad. It was one of those things where you fight and battle all day and it ends up like that in the last 5 minutes.”
Brett Hite continued to have success targeting fish around bridge pilings today.
Hite Ready For What’s Ahead
> Hite (5, 13-09) def. Rojas (5, 7-14)
Twice this season, Hite felt like he was on the pattern and fish to win. He came up short at Winyah Bay (2nd place) and also at Cayuga Lake (3rd), where VanDam prevailed to earn the top seed in this week’s event.
Tomorrow, Hite hopes to make amends and prove that he can still close out events.
“If you’re going to beat somebody, you might as well try to beat the best,” he said. “He’s been pretty hot lately and we had a pretty good head to head at Cayuga. We both made Top 12 at Toledo Bend and Cayuga so I’d like to close one out. I had two good opportunities and haven’t been able to close one this year. That’s usually not characteristic of me. Historically, if I have a shot at it, I close them good. I want to get this win and get that Classic berth.”
Not much changed in how he fished today compared to previous days. He continued to move around and learn more about the structure and rock piles around the pilings that support the north Grand Island Bridge. He caught seven fish total today and his two best were 3-06 and 3-02.
“I laid off them around 11:30,” he said.
That was around the time Kreiger decided to start fishing the pilings. Hite had a brief conversation with him on the water about where he’d be fishing and Kreiger ultimately stayed away from Hite’s key area.
He’s not concerned that he’s wearing the area out since the fish he’s catching are being released back in the water right there.
“I think they’re going right back to the pilings,” he said.
Later in the day, he moved around, but stayed around the bridge to keep an eye on the spot and he caught a keeper that helped him upgrade.
Rojas knew he faced a tough foe in Hite today. He hadn’t tapped into any consistent quality fish and figured his best chance to advance was for Hite to struggle and to capitalize on his chances.
“I know where he’s fishing. I know the area he’s at,” Rojas said. “It’s probably one of the best spots, if not the best, on the river for what we have to work with. I was not going down there to poach his stuff.
“If he didn’t catch them today, I had a chance. I hung with him for half the match and then he started to put 2 1/2-pounders in the boat and that did me in.”
Rojas said he fished several spots where the fish would show themselves, but were reluctant to bite.
“When we go to places like this, typically when you see them and they do that, you can get them to bite,” he said. “I’m not sure if it was the current or the weather we had.”
> Additional details will be published shortly.
