By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
Thanks to a lot of human intervention over the past two-plus decades, Arizona's Lake Havasu is an incredibly healthy fishery. The largemouth and smallmouth bass that inhabit the lake feed on all sorts of creatures, including some that travel through the air.
Those fish can be caught in a lot of different ways, but frequently not via the same methods on consecutive days. Their home consists of extremely clear water and they can often be seen going about their business far below the surface, but there are days when they seem to flat-out disappear.
Winner Aaron Martens was expected to fare well in last week's Bassmaster Elite Series event, as was home-state stalwart Clifford Pirch. But who could've predicted that avowed bank-beater Takahiro Omori would finish 4th by fishing offshore, or that North Carolinian David Williams, who'd never been to the region before, would just show up and do the same things he does back home and drive away with a Top-5 showing?
Here are some details on how Martens' closest pursuers went about their work on the best bass lake in the Desert Southwest.
2nd: Clifford Pirch
> Day 1: 5, 17-08
> Day 2: 5, 19-04
> Day 3: 5, 14-15
> Day 4: 5, 14-14
> Total = 20, 66-09
Like Martens, Pirch was on everybody's watch list coming into the event. The two-time defending WON Bass U.S. Open champion (and overall three-time winner of that annual Lake Mead derby) can catch fish anywhere, but he's at his best in his native Mojave Desert.
He led the standings after days 2 and 3, but failed to get the big bites he needed over the weekend and came up 2 pounds shy of Martens' total. Nonetheless, he performed superbly on the Western swing (he was 7th at the Sacramento River/California Delta) and now sits at No. 4 in the Angler of the Year race.
He threw a lot of reaction baits in practice in a quest to locate groups of quality fish that he could exploit with a dropshot once competition got under way.
"Interestingly enough, I thought I could do well on some of those (moving baits) in the tournament, but I never did catch anything even though I spent a significant amount of time doing it," he said.
He shared one extremely productive area with Omori, Justin Lucas (8th), Chad Morgenthaler (14th) and Jeff Kriet (19th). He regretted leaving it and heading upriver on day 3, then watching Omori and Lucas combine to weigh in nearly 39 pounds of fish.
> Dropshot gear: 7'2" medium-action Phenix M1 Series rod, Ardent Bolt 2000 spinning reel, 8-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, 1/0 Roboworm Rebarb light-wire hook, unnamed 1/4-ounce cylindrical dropshot weight, 6" Roboworm Straight Tail worm (various shades of purple or brown, including oxblood light and purple blue neon).
> Main factor in his success – "Just knowing how the fishing on these Southwest lakes usually plays out."
> Performance edge – "I fished a lot of (man-made) habitats, and my Lowrance unit was important for seeing exactly what I was fishing. Also, my Typhoon Polarized Optics allowed me to see a lot of it visually."
The 20-07 stringer Edwin Evers caught on day 1 was the biggest of the tournament.
3rd: Edwin Evers
> Day 1: 5, 20-07
> Day 2: 5, 14-01
> Day 3: 5, 15-14
> Day 4: 5, 14-10
> Total = 20, 66-09
Evers spent the tournament flipping heavy cover about 10 miles up the Colorado River.
"It's a beautiful lake and really a neat place," he said. "Having never been there before and not knowing any better, I just started flipping up shallow (in practice) and got some bites."
The 20 1/2-pound stringer he brought to the scale on day 1 was the biggest of the tournament.
"I figure some of those fish were still spawning. I caught some in the slack water and some in the current from a foot to 4 feet of water. I caught a few on a frog when it was a little calmer or when I didn't have something to flip to.
"A lot of the fish I caught were ones I shook off in practice. I marked the waypoints, then I'd go back in the tournament and make that exact same flip and catch that fish."
> Flipping gear: 7'6" extra-heavy or 7'3" heavy-action Bass Pro Shops Carbonlite rod, Bass Pro Shops Johnny Morris Signature Series casting reel (7:1 ratio), 55-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS 8 braided or 25-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS fluorocarbon line, 1 1/2- or 3/4-ounce Bass Pro Shops tungsten weight, 4/0 Mustad flipping hook, Zoom Z-Hog (green-pumpkin).
> Frog gear: 7' medium-heavy Bass Pro Shops CarbonLite Rod, same reel, 50-pound XPS 8 braid, Snag Proof Bobby's Perfect Frog (black).
> Main factor in his success – "Just covering a lot of water, putting my head down and fishing what was in from of me."
> Performance edge – "My Wiley X sunglasses – I saw a whole bunch of those fish before I caught them."
Takahiro Omori made a big move in the standings with a 20-pound bag on day 3.
4th: Takahiro Omori
> Day 1: 5, 15-04
> Day 2: 5, 15-08
> Day 3: 5, 20-00
> Day 4: 5, 13-13
> Total = 20, 64-09
Omori was fearful that his fourth straight bomb might be forthcoming when he arrived at Havasu. Instead, he departed with a much-needed single-digit finish that he hopes will give him momentum for the season's second half.
"I didn't expect to do well and I thought I'd just be fishing for a check, but I ended up with a chance to win it," he said. "It's weird that I did well on a technique that's one of my weaknesses."
Instead of pounding the shallows, which he's always inclined to do, he fished drop-offs with weed or grass. He threw a swimjig and a dropshot rig and all of his fish were all post-spawners. He flipped up four fish on the final day when that action finally died.
"They were all skinny ones," he said. "I don't weigh mine on a scale, but I almost never misjudge the weights. I was misjudging them every day.
"It was my first time on the lake and I didn't know what to expect, but sometimes it works better that way. I made adjustments and that's why I had better results. There are way better (deep-water) fishermen out there than me."
> Swimjig gear: 7'3" medium-action Daiwa Black Label rod, Daiwa Tatula casting reel (8.1:1), 16-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, 3/-4-ounce Blade Runner jig (green-pumpkin), Yamamoto Heart Tail swimbait trailer (green-pumpkin).
> Dropshot gear: 6'3" Daiwa spinning rod, Daiwa spinning reel, 7-pound FC Sniper fluorocarbon, 3/8-ounce teardrop Ultra Tungsten dropshot weight, No. 1 Gamakatsu Split Shot/Drop Shot hook, Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm (green-pumpkin).
> Flipping gear: Same rod and reel as swimjig, 56-pound Sunline Super P.E. braided line, 3/4-ounce Ultra Tungsten weight, 4/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook, Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver (black/blue flake).
> Main factor in his success – "Not overthinking a place that doesn't fit my fishing style."
> Performance edge – "My Lowrance HDS-12 – it showed the fish clearly off the bottom."
David Williams had little company on the south end of the lake.
5th: David Williams
> Day 1: 5, 16-08
> Day 2: 5, 11-04
> Day 3: 5, 19-08
> Day 4: 5, 15-10
> Total = 20, 62-14
When the schedule for his rookie season on the Elite Series was released, Havasu was the event that Williams dreaded the most. Gin-clear water has never been his forté.
It turned out, though, that he could catch fish at Havasu with the same techniques he favors in water where the lake bottom can't be seen from 15 feet above – flipping and throwing a swimbait.
"Practice was phenomenal," he said. "I was catching 30 to 40 fish a day on a topwater, then I actually cut the hooks off the bait and still boated two 3-pounders – that's how hard they were biting it. But that almost completely went away.
"I ended up fishing on the south end and I was pretty much by myself the whole tournament. The fish were set up on different stuff every day and I had to work until I found them."
He found them on rocks on day 1, on large boulders on day 2, clinging to wood on day 3 and in matted reeds on day 4.
"The second day I broke a real big one off and that was the day I only had 11 pounds – I had two little 13-inchers in the boat. But in 4 days I only lost one fish that really cost me, so I can't complain too much."
> Swimbait gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Abu Garcia Veracity rod, Abu Garcia Revo Premier casting reel, 17-pound Hi-Seas monofilament line, Sebile Magic Swimmer (blue Althea).
> Flipping gear: Same rod, reel and line, 1/2-ounce shooter jig (crawdad or white), Zoom Speed Craw trailer (green-pumpkin or white).
> "Bait color didn't seem to matter if you found one ready to eat," he said. "It was all about finding what they were set up on every day, then you could usually go to other places and run the same kind of stuff."
> Main factor in his success – "Adjusting every day – the quicker you could get onto what they were hanging on, the quicker you could go run that pattern all over the lake."
> Performance edge – "Probably the GPS on my Humminbird 1198. I could keep finding identical stuff to run even if it was a couple miles down the lake."
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