Take the runner-up monkey off the back of Yuba City’s Gary Dobyns–he can add a U.S. Open title to his impressive tournament resume. He finished with 32.91 pounds to take home $50,000 in cash, and a Nitro/Mercury boat package.
Clifford Pirch, the 2007 Open champion made a run, but finished with a 3-pound deficit. After that it was Aaron Martens, Dr. Randy Estrada (former AAA) and from Ramona, the 2003 Open champ John Kerr (left in file photo from Lake Havasu). The latter three each weighed 25 pounds and change. Complete tournament results should be available late this evening, (click here).
Kerr battled all week, but did not have an answer for catching the bigger bass, which he called “frustrating.” However, when commenting on the subject that nobody remembers second place, he pointed out, “Dobyns remembers–but I guess now he can forget about it.”
In assessing the last three days, he said, “I haven’t found the 3-pounders. I was a 2- or 3-pound fish from moving up. I think 2.12 was my biggest fish (for the tournament).”
Today was probably his hardest. “I hate coming in with four fish. I think that’s the first time in three years in all tournaments. It happens. It was tough,” he continued, “I’m happy with what I got. With 20 minutes to go I rolled up and caught back-to-back-to-back fish to go with the one I caught on the first cast of the day.”
As for the hot and generally still conditions that generally dominated the contest, John said, “It was so physically draining. This was the most emotionally draining. It was mentally numbing seeing those other rods on the deck and staying with that pattern that hasn’t worked in seven hours. I know it was for my AAA.
“There is no tournament like this. It’s a battle of wills.”
Tami Curtis (Tami on Tour) fished with top 10 pro Shad Berweger and helped with a pair of fish in their 6.57-pound limit. “We got five bites and five keepers.”
As she was preparing to attend the awards ceremony, she reflected on her experience. “I felt I had a better chance this year. All three of the pros I drew this year were very familiar with the lake and the better areas. It’s just no one told the fish to cooperate. It’s just how it goes sometimes.”
I also caught up with Shaun Bailey, twice a U.S. Open runner-up and one of the formidable young fishermen in the West. Unfortunately, he suffered engine trouble that forced him to drop out of the competition, and his situation points up the difficulty of competing in an atmosphere of few cash sponsorships.
He first encountered problems on Friday, and called his sponsor Al’s Outboards who worked on it after traveling from Lake Havasu City. While a new fuel filter appeared to solve the problem, a blocked injector resulted.
“I had to borrow some money to get in the tournament,” he told me. “When I couldn’t get it running, Hutch (Bill Hutcheson, WON Bass tournament director) was able to get a ride for my AAA so he didn’t have to float around in Callville Bay.
After that, he said, “I didn’t even want to spend the money to drive down to Callville, just to float around outside the marina. Four tournaments the boat has broke on me. It’s been one thing or another.”
2 Responses to “John Kerr takes 5th behind Open champ Dobyns”
Thanks very much, Robert. Winning patterns I have a pretty good handle on–it’s those winning areas that seemed to make the biggest difference and those I can’t pinpoint without more interrogation.
I say that because this year, and pretty much over the last few years, if you look at the daily big bass prizes, they almost all went to a reaction bait. Topwaters (walking types, in particular) and spinnerbaits when there was a breeze. Then the number taken on crankbaits, jigs and plastics were similar.
So, in calm to light ripple, topwaters dominated, while in a breeze (and shallow water) the spinnerbait was best, followed by a crankbait. You could count on shad (clear or translucent) patterns in most cases, but clear/chartreuse Spooks and similar walkers have been used a lot in the last few years.
Because there is so much lake to cover, and so much of it is similar, there is a high premium on scouting, fishing fast to get tell-tale bites, and personal observation (seeing sunfish, shad, striper activity, grass or some combination.)
The top guys are particularly concerned about the angle of presentation, as relates to position of the sun, or edge of the wall or grass bed, along with wind intensity and direction.
They are helped by the confidence they garner from their experience. And, of course, when they catch fish, they (just like us) seem so smart!
Hi George, Your articles are superb, wish you could see more of it in more publications. On your last article, you mentioned you would publish some of the winning patterns used by the pro’s at the U.S. Open. Any word on that…