Junk-fishing is a general term that means an angler didn't fish a specific pattern. It's characterized by several rods on the deck and a willingness to throw at any cover that might hold a bass.

But there are junk patterns, and then there are junk patterns, and the best of the junk fishermen seem to have a feel for the what, where and when each day.



Andy Morgan's one name who comes immediately to mind when junkin's the order of the day. But in the west, Cliff Pirch might very well top the list.

Pirch bagged his second WON Bass U.S. Open title in just 4 years this week at Lake Mead near Las Vegas, Nev. He bested nearly all the west's top sticks, as well as tour pros like Rick Clunn, Morizo Shimizu and others.

Pirch said he junk-fished and caught fish on five or six different baits, but he refined his approach and fished the right bait in the right spots at the right times.

Here's a look at how he did it.

Practice

Pirch lives several hours from Mead in Payson, Ariz., and like any desert pro, knows Lake Mead inside and out.

He started his practice in the Overton Arm. The water there had continued its significant drop and he figured some deeper structure he knew about might be coming into play.

Not so. He didn't like what he saw up there and spent the rest of his practice on the lower basin.

"It just seemed like there was more fish and more bait activity in the lower end," he noted. "All the bluegills looked pretty healthy – they were in every little patch of grass. Over the past several years it seems like the lake as a whole is a little healthier."

He thus decided to spend his tournament in the lower end.

Day 1

> Day 1: 5, 10.74 (8th)

Pirch planned to start on fish that he determined in practice to be of the best quality. As he was driving down the lake, something caught his eye.

"As I was driving to the first spot, I saw an area that I'd liked in the past, and where I saw a nice one swimming around in practice," he said. "No one was there, so I made a right-hand turn before I expected to, and I caught a couple that turned into a few more. I just kind of rolled with that and never even went to anywhere I'd intended to fish that day.

"It was kind of junk-fishing, but I was fishing based on wind direction and everything else going on at the time."

Day 2

> Day 2: 5, 9.80 (8th)

Pirch returned to his hot day-1 areas and cobbled together a few keepers, but suffered a few mishaps when both he and his co-angler lost big fish. The U.S. Open features a shared-weight format, so the co-angler's lost fish was just as much a disaster.

"We had one of those let-the-wind-out-of-you flurries, where we could have gone from really putting the hurt on the whole deal to being way behind," Pirch said. "I just kind of started limping through the day. At about noon I had five little ones and I was really pretty disappointed with the start of the day."

The wind kicked up a little after that and he caught a 2-pounder, which is gold at Mead right now, and through the rest of the day culled up to almost 10 pounds.

"I started thinking that I was really in this deal if I could get just one kicker bite," he said. "Right there at the end I hooked a great big one. It came up and jumped and stayed on, and I thought for sure it was coming to the boat, but it jumped a second time and threw it. It was another knock-the-wind-out-of-you type of deals. I thought I'd let the tournament slip away, but maybe I could still salvage a Top 10."

Day 3

> Day 3: 5, 10.90
> Total = 15, 31.44

Pirch boated a nice fish early on the final day, which he said was "a big confidence-booster." The feeling didn't last long, because his co-angler soon broke one off and that signaled the end of the morning bite.

"There was a real heavy wind and I was kind of restricted on where I could go," Pirch noted. "I didn't go more than about 4 or 5 miles in any direction and it was definitely tougher fishing. I didn't get as many bites, and I think I went two or three stops before I got another bite. Then I hit a little flurry and caught two or three real quick. Two of them were decent keepers and that was about it until the end of the day."

He finished with two decent fish and didn't think he had a chance to win. Turns out it was enough by nearly a half-pound.

"I was really surprised seeing everybody slip by, and I just kind of snuck in there," he said.

Winning Pattern Notes

In general, Pirch targeted grass and boulders. In the mornings, the fish would be shallow in the grass – anywhere from the bank out to about 20 feet. Then he moved deeper, but oftentimes the fish would move back shallow toward the end of the day, he noted.

"Those last couple hours it seemed they'd go back up into that 2- to 8-foot range in the grass. So I was fishing that grass, and little rock shade pockets and boulders. On Mead, it doesn't take much cover for them to hang on it.

"I noticed there seemed to be quite a bit more shad than normal in the lake, and I think they'd come back up into the grass later in the day," he added.

Winning Gear Notes

As stated previously, Pirch kept a number of rods rigged up and they all got a workout. His most successful presentations were as follows:

  • He fished a 4 1/2" Roboworm Straight-Tail all 4 days in Folkestad special and oxblood light.

  • He fished "one of those deep-diving Strike King cranks in sexy shad," he said. Fellow FLW Tour pro Mark Rose gave him a bunch and the crank accounted for several of his weigh-fish.

  • He also caught fish on a jig, a spinnerbait and a Texas-rigged Roboworm Zipper worm.

    "Mead is an unusual place because you have to fish one pocket one way, then another pocket or this or that point another way," he noted. "I always say it's junk-fishing, but it's really just fishing a certain thing in a certain area."

    The Bottom Line

  • Main factor in his success – "I just kind of went out and went fishing. I have a lot of knowledge of Lake Mead. There were no points at stake, and no pressure. With the pro-co shared weight, it's a relaxed atmosphere in the boat. I just had a lot of fun."

  • Performance edge – "Lake Mead is ultra, ultra tough on equipment. I've got a Yamaha and a Ranger and I really didn't have to worry. I just took it easy and things held together. The engine ran and the equipment worked and that's important. A lot of guys had equipment failures."

    Notable

    > The U.S. Open rules permit competitors to enter the water in order to cool down. Severe heat conditions in the desert sent several anglers to the hospital, but Pirch was able to endure. "I had to get in four to six times a day," he said. "The air is dry so if you're wet, you're cool. You had to drink a ton of water and eat well. It's definitely the toughest physical tournament there is. And that's a big part of your tournament strategy – how to keep cool and keep your energy up. It's one of the neat things about it – that it's such a physically challenging event."

    > He didn't want to say much about the Hart affair, but did note" "It just gave me a sick feeling when they showed me the weights. I didn't want to be around it or see it."