Erie/Niagara Northern Open
Scalish Wins By 4 Ounces

Photo: Bassmaster.com Even with a small dead fish in his limit, Frank Scalish managed to pull out the win.

Scalish's 55-04 3-day total was just enough to beat Costabille's 55-00 (15-05 of it today). Both anglers' catches were down, in part due to weather that was as bad or worse than day 1 – meaning 6- to 8-foot waves on Lake Erie.

Connecticut's Chris Bielert remained in 3rd, but made up some ground on Scalish and Costabille, who were 2nd and 1st yesterday. Bielert had 18-03 today, the best weight he's had all week, to finish with 53-01 total, 2-03 out of 1st.

Maryland's Aaron Hastings had 16-09 today for 51-03 and 4th, and Lakefield, Canada's George Saliba had 16-09 today for 50-06 total and 5th.

Surreal Day for Scalish

Scalish called his victory "absolutely surreal. It's out of control. It's absolutely out of control."

Why he said that becomes clear when you understand his day. Beyond just the mind-blowing barely-fishing weather, he dealt with two nail-biters today. First was a 2-11 keeper that turned belly-up in the livewell at around 11:00. "Bassmaster has that rule where you're not allowed to cull a dead fish," he noted "I told my amateur partner that there was no way I could win this tournament with (that dead) fish."

Usually a dead fish is the kiss of death to a potential winning stringer, but Scalish didn't give up. Even though he thought he was fishing for 2nd at that point, he tried his darndest to cull up with the biggest fish he could find. "I was gaining several ounces, but nothing over a pound," he said.

"The lake was really bad, probably 7-footers or more, and I said to my partner that we had to think about going back or we might not make it in time. I said, 'Let's make another pass. I have another boulder we can try and find.'" Scalish found the spot, threw a buoy out, made a pass and hooked the last of his 20 keepers on the day – a 5-pounder.

Landing a 5-pound Erie smallmouth in perfect conditions is hair-raising enough, but in today's conditions it was nuts. "The waves were so big that my line was going from my boat, through one wave, in the air about 10 feet between that wave and the next one, and into the next wave, and the fish is jumping on the back of that wave," he said. "It was absolutely unbelievable."

But he landed the fish, took off and figured "at best (he) locked up 2nd place. I was really kind of depressed. I come in and (Costabille) was standing there. I said, 'Did you get them today?' He said he didn't think he had even 16 or 17 pounds. I said, 'You probably won.' He looks in my bag, looks at me, shakes my hand and said, 'Congratulations. You've got me beat.' I said, 'No way.'"

Sure enough, Costabille was right.

> Scalish's winning pattern will be up soon.

Costabille Not Happy, Not Disappointed

Photo: Bassmaster.com Gaspare Costabille fished a good tournament, but knew he didn't have enough today.

Today he changed up a little bit. "I had to do something different because of the way the wind was getting the last couple of days. I had a milk run, and (today) I tried to eliminate some water real quick." He found that the shallower bite "wasn't there. Most of the big fish I caught today I caught out deeper, and I didn't relocate them until 11:30.

"Where I was catching my big fish, I had a limit of dinks, small fish – maybe 9 pounds by 11:30. I figured I had to look for cleaner and deeper water." He went to a spot that had been heavily trafficked the prior 2 days, and they were there. "Every pass over the top of this area, my co-angler or myself were getting 1-2 good fish (3-pluses)."

But because the wind was so strong and the waves so big, it took a while to get in position for each pass. He only had 2 hours on the spot, but "went from 9 pounds to 15-05. I can't complain," he said.

The spot was an offshore shoal, which came up to 26-28 feet and dropped down into the 30s. "The fish we were catching were on the wind side of the shoal," he said. "As soon as we'd come up the break (he fished it from deep to shallow), they were up on top, but close to the break." He noted that he had to let a bunch of line out the back of the boat to make contact with the bottom.

He fished a 4-inch ISG tube (smoke with silver and gold flake) on a 1/2-ounce jighead with a 4/0 Mustad hook. He fished the rig with a 6' 6" Quantum PT medium-action rod, a Quantum PT spinning reel and 8-pound Vanish fluorocarbon. He noted that his co-angler was fishing a white tube so the bass were "feeding on baitfish."

Bielert 'Ecstatic'

Bielert was "ecstatic" with his 3rd-place finish, not bad for a guy making his first trip to Erie. "It's my 32nd birthday today, so it's a great birthday present," he said, though he felt that he "maybe could have done a little bit better in the tournament." That's because he left his spot early on day 1 due to the horrendous weather.

He also thought he might have had 20 pounds today if the weather wasn't so bad. "It's pretty tough to fish the middle of Lake Eire with 6-footers," he noted.

He was dragging a 5-inch Baits While You Wait tube (green pumpkin) over a big shoal. "It was right around 30 feet on top and 35 on the edge, and as it came off the deep edge of the reef, they would eat it," he said. He rigged that on a 1/2-ounce Tournament Force Tackle rattling jighead, which he called "key." The rest of his gear was a 7' All-Star Titanium rod, a Shimano Symmetry 4000 reel and 8-pound Triple Fish fluorocarbon line, which he chose over mono due to water clarity.

Notable

> Day 3 stats – 50 anglers, 40 limits, 1 zero.

Final (Day 3) Standings

1. Frank Scalish -- Cleveland, Ohio -- 15, 55-04 -- 305 -- $50,000
Day 1: 5, 19-04 -- Day 2: 5, 19-02 -- Day 3: 5, 16-14

2. Gaspare Costabile -- Ontario, Canada -- 15, 55-00 -- 305 -- $41,000
Day 1: 5, 20-08 -- Day 2: 5, 19-03 -- Day 3: 5, 15-05

3. Chris Bielert -- Danbury, Conn. -- 15, 53-01 -- 290 -- $15,300
Day 1: 5, 17-15 -- Day 2: 5, 16-15 -- Day 3: 5, 18-03

4. Aaron A Hastings -- Middletown, Md. -- 15, 51-03 -- 285 -- $12,600
Day 1: 5, 18-08 -- Day 2: 5, 16-02 -- Day 3: 5, 16-09

5. George Saliba -- Lakefield, Canada -- 15, 50-06 -- 280 -- $8,000
Day 1: 5, 17-12 -- Day 2: 5, 16-01 -- Day 3: 5, 16-09

6. Mark Burgess -- Norton, Mass. -- 15, 49-07 -- 276 -- $7,000
Day 1: 5, 13-09 -- Day 2: 5, 19-15 -- Day 3: 5, 15-15

7. Pete Gluszek -- Franklinville, N.J. -- 15, 48-11 -- 272 -- $6,000
Day 1: 5, 14-06 -- Day 2: 5, 19-06 -- Day 3: 5, 14-15

8. Jordan Paullo -- Coventry, Conn. -- 15, 48-06 -- 268 -- $5,500
Day 1: 5, 16-03 -- Day 2: 5, 16-06 -- Day 3: 5, 15-13

9. Mike Desforges -- Burlington, Canada -- 15, 48-04 -- 264 -- $4,500
Day 1: 5, 14-04 -- Day 2: 5, 17-07 -- Day 3: 5, 16-09

10. O T Fears III -- Sallisaw, Okla. -- 15, 48-03 -- 260 -- $5,000
Day 1: 5, 16-03 -- Day 2: 5, 17-01 -- Day 3: 5, 14-15

11. Peter E Thliveros -- Jacksonville, Fla. -- 15, 48-02 -- 257 -- $3,500
Day 1: 5, 17-01 -- Day 2: 5, 17-05 -- Day 3: 5, 13-12

12. Louis Iribarren -- Port Jervis, N.Y. -- 15, 47-11 -- 254 -- $2,750
Day 1: 5, 17-06 -- Day 2: 5, 12-11 -- Day 3: 5, 17-10

12. Kenyon Hill -- Norman, Okla. -- 15, 47-11 -- 254 -- $2,750
Day 1: 5, 15-13 -- Day 2: 5, 16-13 -- Day 3: 5, 15-01

14. Rick E Anderson -- Dover, Pa. -- 15, 46-14 -- 248 -- $2,400
Day 1: 5, 15-06 -- Day 2: 5, 18-04 -- Day 3: 5, 13-04

15. Lawrence Mazur -- Lancaster, N.Y. -- 15, 46-11 -- 245 -- $2,300
Day 1: 5, 10-15 -- Day 2: 5, 15-07 -- Day 3: 5, 20-05

16. Frank Ippoliti -- Smithsburg, Md. -- 15, 46-05 -- 243 -- $2,200
Day 1: 5, 15-00 -- Day 2: 5, 15-04 -- Day 3: 5, 16-01

16. Grant Goldbeck -- Gaithersburg, Md. -- 13, 46-05 -- 243 -- $2,200
Day 1: 3, 12-07 -- Day 2: 5, 16-14 -- Day 3: 5, 17-00

18. Kotaro Kiriyama -- Moody, Ala. -- 15, 45-13 -- 239 -- $2,200
Day 1: 5, 11-06 -- Day 2: 5, 21-06 -- Day 3: 5, 13-01

19. Robert Merkin -- Downers Grove, Ill. -- 15, 45-11 -- 237 -- $2,200
Day 1: 5, 14-15 -- Day 2: 5, 14-08 -- Day 3: 5, 16-04

20. Dan Martin -- Egg Harbor Twnshp, N.J 15 -- 43-15 -- 235 -- $2,200
Day 1: 5, 13-11 -- Day 2: 5, 16-01 -- Day 3: 5, 14-03

21. Mike Weiss -- Union Grove, Wisc. -- 15, 43-09 -- 233 -- $2,100
Day 1: 5, 13-02 -- Day 2: 5, 14-03 -- Day 3: 5, 16-04

21. Rodney Sorrell -- Stokesdale, N.C. -- 15, 43-09 -- 233 -- $2,100
Day 1: 5, 13-01 -- Day 2: 5, 17-02 -- Day 3: 5, 13-06

23. Mark Duerr -- Milwaukee, Wisc. -- 15, 43-01 -- 229 -- $2,100
Day 1: 5, 13-12 -- Day 2: 5, 17-10 -- Day 3: 5, 11-11

24. Loren Wetzel -- Sharon, Canada -- 15, 43-00 -- 227 -- $2,100
Day 1: 5, 13-04 -- Day 2: 5, 15-12 -- Day 3: 5, 14-00

25. Ken Brodeur -- Niantic, Conn. -- 15, 42-13 -- 225 -- $2,100
Day 1: 5, 11-03 -- Day 2: 5, 18-03 -- Day 3: 5, 13-07

26. Matthew Sphar -- Attica, N.Y. -- 15, 42-07 -- 223 -- $1,700
Day 1: 5, 12-05 -- Day 2: 5, 14-01 -- Day 3: 5, 16-01

27. Michael Hicks -- Mineral, Va. -- 15, 42-06 -- 221 -- $1,700
Day 1: 5, 11-15 -- Day 2: 5, 14-01 -- Day 3: 5, 16-06

28. Tony Black -- Manassas, Va. -- 14, 41-15 -- 219 -- $1,700
Day 1: 5, 15-05 -- Day 2: 5, 16-14 -- Day 3: 4, 9-12

29. Aaron Wessels -- Watervliet, N.Y. -- 15, 40-14 -- 217 -- $1,700
Day 1: 5, 11-06 -- Day 2: 5, 14-03 -- Day 3: 5, 15-05

29. Rick Kazmierczak -- Orchard Park, N.Y. -- 15, 40-14 -- 217 -- $1,700
Day 1: 5, 11-03 -- Day 2: 5, 14-15 -- Day 3: 5, 14-12

31. Jess Salmon -- Milford, N.J. -- 15, 40-11 -- 213 -- $1,500
Day 1: 5, 11-11 -- Day 2: 5, 14-03 -- Day 3: 5, 14-13

32. Danny Correia -- Marlborough, Mass. -- 15, 40-09 -- 211 -- $1,500
Day 1: 5, 18-05 -- Day 2: 5, 11-01 -- Day 3: 5, 11-03

33. Christopher Davidson -- Watertown, Wisc. -- 15, 40-03 -- 209 -- $1,500
Day 1: 5, 11-12 -- Day 2: 5, 14-07 -- Day 3: 5, 14-00

34. Jon Bondy -- Windsor, Canada -- 15, 40-00 -- 207 -- $1,500
Day 1: 5, 12-04 -- Day 2: 5, 16-05 -- Day 3: 5, 11-07

35. Art Ferguson III -- Saint Clair Shores, Mi 14 -- 39-15 -- 205 -- $1,500
Day 1: 5, 11-11 -- Day 2: 5, 16-13 -- Day 3: 4, 11-07

36. Richard Smith -- Dumfries, Va. -- 15, 39-14 -- 203 -- $1,300
Day 1: 5, 15-15 -- Day 2: 5, 13-04 -- Day 3: 5, 10-11

37. Jason Houchins -- Clarksville, Va. -- 15, 39-06 -- 201 -- $1,300
Day 1: 5, 12-10 -- Day 2: 5, 15-09 -- Day 3: 5, 11-03

38. Kurt Dove -- Warrenton, Va. -- 15, 39-05 -- 199 -- $1,300
Day 1: 5, 11-03 -- Day 2: 5, 15-13 -- Day 3: 5, 12-05

39. Brian Wilhoit -- Oxon Hill, Md. -- 15, 38-04 -- 197 -- $1,300
Day 1: 5, 11-10 -- Day 2: 5, 13-15 -- Day 3: 5, 12-11

40. Wally Szuba -- Cary, N.C. -- 15, 37-04 -- 195 -- $1,300
Day 1: 5, 13-08 -- Day 2: 5, 12-11 -- Day 3: 5, 11-01

41. Vance E Manchester -- Wakefield, Mass. -- 14, 36-14 -- 193 -- $1,200
Day 1: 5, 11-07 -- Day 2: 5, 17-03 -- Day 3: 4, 8-04

42. Jimmy Cannoy -- Martinsville, Va. -- 15, 36-10 -- 191 -- $1,200
Day 1: 5, 14-00 -- Day 2: 5, 12-01 -- Day 3: 5, 10-09

43. Stephen Miller -- Mechanicsville, Va. -- 15, 36-04 -- 189 -- $1,200
Day 1: 5, 14-02 -- Day 2: 5, 13-03 -- Day 3: 5, 8-15

44. Phil Paradis -- Minot, Maine -- 13, 35-01 -- 187 -- $1,200
Day 1: 5, 10-13 -- Day 2: 5, 18-12 -- Day 3: 3, 5-08

45. Fabian Rodriguez -- Ocean City, Md. -- 12, 33-11 -- 185 -- $1,200
Day 1: 5, 13-08 -- Day 2: 5, 14-04 -- Day 3: 2, 5-15

46. Swift Spaulding -- Germantown, Md. -- 13, 33-01 -- 183 -- $1,100
Day 1: 4, 10-00 -- Day 2: 5, 16-00 -- Day 3: 4, 7-01

47. Paul H Kimball -- Glastonbury, Conn. -- 13, 31-14 -- 181 -- $1,100
Day 1: 5, 13-10 -- Day 2: 5, 12-01 -- Day 3: 3, 6-03

48. Gerald Brumbaugh -- Martinsburg, Pa. -- 10, 31-06 -- 179 -- $1,100
Day 1: 5, 15-07 -- Day 2: 5, 15-15 -- Day 3: 0, 0-00

49. Jason Carleton -- Rochester, N.Y. -- 12, 30-14 -- 177 -- $1,100
Day 1: 5, 12-07 -- Day 2: 5, 14-09 -- Day 3: 2, 3-14

50. Randy Yarnall -- Womelsdorf, Pa. -- 12, 28-05 -- 175 -- $1,100
Day 1: 5, 13-02 -- Day 2: 5, 12-07 -- Day 3: 2, 2-12

Big Bass
> Day 3 -- O T Fears III -- Sallisaw, Okla. -- 5-07 -- $1,000
> Day 2 -- Kevin Price -- Westerville, Ohio -- 5-06 -- $1,000
> Day 1 -- Gaspare Costabile -- Ontario, Canada -- 5-08 -- $1,000