By Dan O'Sullivan
WON Bass

Fall tournaments can be tricky. From an angling perspective, the season presents a time of transition when shorter days and cooler temperatures cause baitfish to begin to move, which spurs a nomadic response in feeding bass. This urgency to move can cause schools of fish to become aggressive and vulnerable to presentation, but also difficult to stay in contact with as they can be here one minute and gone the next.

From a weather perspective, fall can create logistical challenges for event organizers, as is the case for the 2021 WON Bass U.S. Open. Day 1 was scheduled to be contested on Monday, but forecasts calling for high winds and small craft advisories at Nevada's Lake Mead has shortened the tournament to a two-day event (today and Wednesday).

Practice has revealed that Lake Mead may be a little stingier this year than usual. While the past several years have produced slightly heavier winning weights, the challenges of the winds and the lower water level may create close-quarters fishing for the anglers. But someone always figures out the pattern, no matter the conditions.

One of those hoping to do so is Mike Iaconelli, who is competing in his first U.S. Open. Having won nearly every major title there is in bass fishing, the 2003 Bassmaster Classic champion said being in this field is something is a dream come true.

“I’m a basshead, and this is a tournament I’ve followed and wanted to fish for many years,” he said. “In fact, the history of the tournament is so important to me that I really feel that I couldn’t have imagined my career being complete without having been in this field – it’s an important event, I’m proud to be fishing it and supporting Bass Cat’s support of the U.S. Open and the West.”

From a fishing perspective, Iaconelli can only draw from his few days on the surface of Lake Mead.

“It’s a different fishery in stunning landscape, but it’s not easy to find quality bites,” he said. “It’s historically been a low-weight event and growing up fishing the Delaware River, I’m comfortable fishing these types of events. We’ll just have to get out there and see what happens.”

Tim Klinger, the 2020 WON Bass U.S. Open Champion, said that it should be different than years past.

“The low water level will have an effect, but I think the wind is going to make it fish smaller,” he said. “The field won’t have too many areas to completely hide from the wind and those areas that are protected will get a lot of traffic.”

He said that the conditions should result in lower weights.

“It could be a smaller-weight event this year,” said Klinger. “I’ve checked some of the stuff I’ve done well on in the past, and I’m not seeing the fish that I’ve seen in the past, but I will keep looking, play the wind and do whatever I need to do to have a chance to repeat.”

Takoff commences at safe light, with daily weigh-ins from Callville Bay Marina beginning at approximately 2 p.m. PST.

The top prize is a 2021 Bass Cat Puma FTD powered by a Mercury Pro XS 250 Four Stroke outboard valued at $64,000, along with cash prizes. The live weigh-in will be live-streamed at http://www.WONBassEvents.com and on the WON Bass Facebook page.

The Sponsors of the 2021 U.S. Open are: Bass Cat Boats, Mercury, HUK Performance Fishing, KUIU, Phenix Rods, Daiwa, Berkley, Abu Garcia, Seaguar Fluorcarbon, Lew's, Strike King, Power-Pole, Life Source Water Systems, Gamakatsu, Lowrance, Next Gen Lithium, Century Marine, Costa, Anglers Marine, San Juan Marine, Boatmasters, Last Chance Performance Marine, Huntington Beach Honda, Sure Life, Chevron/Techron Marine and Access Parks.

Pro Roster

(Listed alphabetically)

1. Matthew Adamson
2. Angelo Aliotti
3. Darius Arberry
4. Ray Arbesu
5. Raymond Archer
6. Randy Austin
7. Duck Ayers
8. Victor Azevedo
9. David Baca
10. Jeff Baird
11. Russ Barger
12. Brent Becker
13. Jiggs Benn
14. Josh Bertrand
15. Jeff Bias
16. Gabe Bolivar
17. Austin Bonjour
18. Kona Borja
19. Jason Borofka
20. Mike Brillhart
21. Tyler Brinks
22. Adam Brister
23. Bill Brown
24. Ben Byrd
25. Adam Cacal
26. Joe Caporuscio
27. Tony Capparelli
28. Allen Clark
29. Rick Clunn
30. Sean Coffey
31. Chase Colby
32. Joe Cole
33. Samuel Collins
34. Jordan Collom
35. Rob Copple
36. Duaine Cowley
37. Jay Cranney
38. Travis Darrough
39. Scott Davis
40. Dylan Denny
41. Mark Dotterer
42. Kurt Dove
43. Henry Dover
44. Phil Dutra
45. Jordon Erekson
46. David Erickson
47. DeeJay Evans
48. George Fedor
49. Marco Fenelli
50. James Feney Jr.
51. Louis Fernandes
52. Kalum Figy
53. Kevin Finley
54. Marvin Finley
55. Cy Floyd
56. John Fuqua
57. Brandon Gaither
58. Carlos Garcia
59. Greg Garcia
60. Richard Garcia
61. Steve Gibson
62. Keegan Graves
63. Jonathan Green
64. Bryan Grier
65. Scooter Griffith
66. Kevin Gross
67. Kyle Grover
68. Jay Guterding
69. Greg Halliman
70. Jesse Halstead
71. Ron Hammett
72. Davis Hart
73. Roy Hawk
74. Sunny Hawk
75. Mike Hawkes
76. Scott Hellesen
77. Max Hernandez
78. Jason Hickey
79. Shawn Hilton
80. Billy Hines
81. Brett Hite
82. Zack Holwerda
83. Garrett Howard
84. Kevin Hugo
85. Mike Iaconelli
86. Eric Inman
87. Brent James
88. Rick Jarakian
89. Steve Jenkins
90. Travis Jewell
91. Tom Job
92. Johnny Johnson
93. Kevin Johnson
94. Ron Johnson
95. Douglas Jones
96. Miach Jones
97. David Kemper
98. Steve Kennedy
99. Justin Kerr
100. Cliff King
101. Chris Kinley
102. Todd Kline
103. Tim Klinger
104. Dennis Kolender
105. Dean Kreuzer
106. Bobby Lanham
107. Wayne Larsen
108. Marty Lawrence
109. Brett Leber
110. Shawn Lee
111. Tom Leedom
112. Eddie Lero
113. Carl Limbrick Jr.
114. Jacob Lute
115. Steven Mack
116. Andy Manahl
117. Pete Marino
118. Gary Martlage
119. Dylan Maxon
120. Logan McDaniel
121. Bob McWilliams
122. Vincent Melkus
123. Clayton Meyer
124. Jeff Michels
125. Lowell Mickelson
126. Greg Miser
127. Mark Mitchell
128. Steve Molinari
129. Junior Mora
130. Robert Morales
131. John Morrow
132. Brandon Morton
133. Trace Myers
134. Robert Nakatomi
135. Andrew Napoleon
136. Hobby Nelson
137. Tom Nokes
138. Nick Nourot
139. Brian Nunn
140. Shawn O'Connell
141. Bill O'Shinn
142. Tom Ormsby
143. Robert Ostercamp
144. Jackson Paluczak
145. Justin Patti
146. Joe Patz
147. Randy Pierson
148. Clifford Pirch
149. Travis Pitt
150. Terry Putman
151. James Ramer
152. Jason Randall
153. Ron Ratlief
154. Mark Rauenzahn
155. Rodney Reed
156. Trevor Reis
157. Mike Rennie
158. Cameron Rodriguez
159. Philip Roesener
160. Jamie Royter
161. Jeff Rutt
162. Rusty Salewske
163. Levi Samz
164. Eric Schook
165. Jonathan Schuyler
166. Jamie Shaw
167. Kevin Short
168. Matt Shura
169. Ronald Slack Jr.
170. Jerren Slaton
171. Cody Spetz
172. Wayne St. John
173. Gunnar Stanton
174. Cody Steckel
175. Mike Steckel
176. Cody Stentz
177. Brad Szarkowski
178. Gabe Thomas
179. Gerard Thomas
180. Sean Torgrude
181. Patrick Touey
182. Brian Tressen
183. Gil Valadez
184. Byron Velvick
185. Dung Van Vu
186. Mike Walsh
187. Mark Walsh
188. Larry Warren
189. Dick Watson
190. Ed Webb
191. Jim Wells
192. Ken Whalen
193. Patick Whitacker
194. Tom White Jr.
195. Kevin Wiggins
196. Corey Williams
197. Mark Williams