By BassFan Staff

Takahiro Omori had described days 2 and 3 at the Wheeler Lake Bassmaster Elite Series in Alabama as "perfect." Somehow, day 4 was even better.

The Texan by way of Japan claimed his first tour-level victory in 11 years on Sunday as he boxed a tournament best 25-03 to finish with an 81-03 total. Following a sluggish opening day during which his offshore fish weren't where they were supposed to be, he scaled the three largest stringers of the derby on the ensuing 3 days to prevail by more than 4 pounds over runner-up Dave Lefebre.

"It's been awhile," the 2004 Bassmaster Classic champion said a couple of hours after the final weigh-in. "I hadn't forgot what (winning) was like, but almost."

Lefebre was the only competitor with even a slight chance of derailing the Omori Express on day 4, but he weighed his lightest sack of the event to finish with 77-03. From there, it was an 11-pound drop down to 3rd, where John Crews ended up with 66-04 following a 14-12 haul.

Steve Kennedy caught a stout 20-12 to finish 4th with 64-00 – his highest finish in 3 years. Bobby Lane completed the Top 5 with 60-07 (13-00 on day 4).

Here are the final numbers for the remainder of the day-4 field:

6. Greg Hackney: 59-12
7. Cliff Crochet: 59-10
8. Luke Clausen: 59-09
9. James Elam: 58-09
10. Casey Ashley: 58-00
11. Gerald Swindle: 56-12
12. Gary Klein: 52-12
13. James Niggemeyer: 50-01

The placements of Crochet and Clausen are contingent upon the result of Clausen's appeal of a disqualification, which is expected to be handed down this week. If a committee consisting of two anglers who didn't compete in the event and one B.A.S.S. employee who's not part of the tournament staff rules in Clausen's favor, Crochet will be relegated back to the 13th-place position he occupied upon the conclusion of the day-3 weigh-in and each angler behind him will move up one slot.



B.A.S.S./Gary Tramontina
Photo: B.A.S.S./Gary Tramontina

Omori caught seven keepers and his best five averaged 5 pounds apiece.

Hackney, who has three finishes of 13th or better and none worse than 29th through the season's first four tournaments, took over the lead in the Angler of the Year (AOY) race. He has a 26-point edge over Omori as he pursues his second points crown in the past 3 years.

The circuit takes a week off before resuming at Toledo Bend Reservoir on the Texas-Louisiana border May 12-15.

Omori Never Let Up

> Day 4: 5, 25-03 (20, 81-06)

Omori hadn't won at the sport's top rung since topping the Bassmaster Tour field at Florida's Lake Toho in January 2005. Counting his Classic triumph, this was the fourth tour-level victory of his career (he has one on the FLW side).

Again, he did most of his work in the earliest part of the day. Rotating between three baits and three offshore locations on the Decatur Flats, he had well over 20 pounds of big post-spawn fish in his livewell by 8 o'clock.

After starting the day with a deficit of nearly 4 1/2 pounds, he said he was never confident that he had enough to win – even when he caught a 6-plus-pounder at about noon.

"I actually lost two 4-pounders and I had to weigh one in that was about 3," he said. "You're going to lost fish, that's part of the game, but to catch over 22 pounds for 3 days in a row at Lake Wheeler, that's unbelievable.

B.A.S.S./Gary Tramontina
Photo: B.A.S.S./Gary Tramontina

Dave Lefebre's bites were smaller than they'd been on previous days.

"I kept fishing hard the whole time. I kept thinking about the 4-pounder that I lost."

He caught weigh-in fish (both largemouths and smallmouths) throughout the event on a topwater, a swimbait and a Carolina rig. Full details of his winning pattern, as well as those of the other top finishers, will be published this week.

2nd: Lefebre didn't Get Right Bites

> Day 4: 5, 16-10 (20, 77-03)

It would've been a preposterous notion a week ago that a 77-pound total wouldn't win this derby, but that's what occurred. Lefebre needed close to 21 pounds on day 4 to thwart Omori, but he came up well short of that mark.

"I should've been able to do that," he said. "I really preserved my best area, but today was different. They just didn't bite the same way."

He caught about a dozen keepers, including three that were in excess of 4 pounds each. Ultimately, he needed to replace the two 2-pounders he weighed with 5s.

"It was a struggle this morning and I didn't have a fish at 8 o'clock, but I really didn't feel bad about that at all. Even right at the end of the day, I was fishing 'the juice' and I had three good fish, and with two more of those I could've won.

"I saved my best brushpiles on day 3. I caught two there the first day and three the second day and every one was a 5-pounder. I thought that was where it was going to go down, but I started there, I fished there in the middle of the day and I was there at the very end, but I never got a bite."

"I caught about the same number of fish every day," he concluded, "but they were smaller today."

3rd: Crews Stayed Put

> Day 3: 5, 14-12 (20, 66-04)

Crews, the day-1 leader, ended up in the same position in which he started the day.

"It wasn't too bad," he said. "Tak just kind of blew it out and I didn't really have a shot at winning. It was definitely a good event – I got a lot of (Angler of the Year) points and I'm pumped about that."

B.A.S.S./Gary Tramontina
Photo: B.A.S.S./Gary Tramontina

John Crews started and ended the day in 3rd place.

He caught 12 keepers, including one that was close to 4 pounds. He said he lost one on a topwater that was at least 5 and might've gone 6.

"I feel like I maximized what I found and I was able to adapt and get them to bite as the tournament went on."

4th: Good Day for Kennedy

> Day 4: 5, 20-12 (20, 64-00)

Kennedy moved up eight places with his best stringer of the event.

"It was a fun day," he said. "Yesterday (when he caught 11-08) was a very painful day, and today I fished the same water with the same bait (a swimjig). They just ate it better and I don't know what the difference was.

"It's kind of frustrating knowing that those big fish were sitting there the whole time and I couldn't catch them."

He handled 10 keepers for the day, the best of which weighed nearly 5 pounds.

"I didn't really have a spot – I was just fishing. This lake isn't easy, but it's got quality fish in it. At the end of the day the weights look good, but nobody really knew when or how they were going to get a bite."

5th: Lane's Bag Bigger Than He Thought

> Day 4: 5, 13-00 (20, 60-07)

Lane thought he had about 12 pounds when he returned to the ramp and figured he'd drop several places in the standings. That extra pound made a big difference in terms of dollars as the three anglers immediately behind him in the final standings were all within 14 ounces of his total.

"I caught some breaks and ended up having a good tournament," he said. "I really got fortunate – I missed a 4-10 and a 4-06 (on previous days) and I was able to pitch back in and catch both of them. I had a lot of things go my way."

He caught at least 20 keepers on the final day and maybe as many as 30. The best was a 4 1/2-pounder.

"I lost a pretty good one that never bit again. I had a chance to have a pretty good bag – maybe 17 pounds.

The finish was easily his best of the year and he's now up to 47th on the points list.

"Hopefully this was what I needed to get out of this slump."

Notable

> Day 4 stats – 12 anglers, 12 limits.

Day 4 (Final) Standings

1. Takahiro Omori -- Emory, TX -- 20, 81-06 -- 110 -- $100,000
Day 1: 5, 10-07 -- Day 2: 5, 23-03 -- Day 3: 5, 22-09 -- Day 4: 5, 25-03

2. Dave Lefebre -- Erie, PA -- 20, 77-03 -- 109 -- $25,500
Day 1: 5, 18-12 -- Day 2: 5, 21-03 -- Day 3: 5, 20-10 -- Day 4: 5, 16-10

3. John Crews Jr. -- Salem, VA -- 20, 66-04 -- 108 -- $22,000
Day 1: 5, 20-07 -- Day 2: 5, 12-00 -- Day 3: 5, 19-01 -- Day 4: 5, 14-12

4. Steve Kennedy -- Auburn, AL -- 20, 64-00 -- 107 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 14-06 -- Day 2: 5, 17-06 -- Day 3: 5, 11-08 -- Day 4: 5, 20-12

5. Bobby Lane Jr. -- Lakeland, FL -- 20, 60-07 -- 106 -- $14,000
Day 1: 5, 15-05 -- Day 2: 5, 17-01 -- Day 3: 5, 15-01 -- Day 4: 5, 13-00

6. Greg Hackney -- Gonzales, LA -- 20, 59-12 -- 105 -- $14,500
Day 1: 5, 16-02 -- Day 2: 5, 15-00 -- Day 3: 5, 15-07 -- Day 4: 5, 13-03

7. Cliff Crochet -- Pierre Part, LA -- 20, 59-10 -- 104 -- $20,000
Day 1: 5, 11-02 -- Day 2: 5, 13-13 -- Day 3: 5, 18-01 -- Day 4: 5, 16-10

8. Luke Clausen -- Otis Orchards, WA -- 20, 59-09 -- 103 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 15-15 -- Day 2: 5, 13-15 -- Day 3: 5, 15-12 -- Day 4: 5, 13-15

9. James Elam -- Tulsa, OK -- 20, 58-09 -- 102 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 17-14 -- Day 2: 5, 14-08 -- Day 3: 5, 11-11 -- Day 4: 5, 14-08

10. Casey Ashley -- Donalds, SC -- 20, 58-00 -- 101 -- $10,750
Day 1: 5, 19-12 -- Day 2: 5, 13-11 -- Day 3: 5, 14-01 -- Day 4: 5, 10-08

11. Gerald Swindle -- Warrior, AL -- 20, 56-12 -- 100 -- $10,750
Day 1: 5, 16-08 -- Day 2: 5, 14-06 -- Day 3: 5, 13-14 -- Day 4: 5, 12-00

12. Gary Klein -- Weatherford, TX -- 20, 52-12 -- 99 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 16-01 -- Day 2: 5, 19-07 -- Day 3: 5, 08-03 -- Day 4: 5, 09-01

13. James Niggemeyer -- Van, TX -- 20, 50-01 -- 98 -- $10,000
Day 1: 5, 12-12 -- Day 2: 5, 13-04 -- Day 3: 5, 17-05 -- Day 4: 5, 06-12