2014 US OPEN Lake Mead Day 1: Clifford Pirch in Commanding Lead Again!

Las Vegas, Nev. - September 8, 2014 - The King of Lake Mead is at it again.

Clifford Pirch, a two-time U.S. Open champion and multiple time top five finisher in the event has once again astounded the followers of the most prestigious bass fishing event in the Western United States.

Clifford takes control with Mead monster.
His 6.49 pounder is his largest Lake Mead bass ever.  

On a day ruled by changing weather conditions that saw high temperatures well below last week's 109 degree heats, Pirch managed to utilize his skills as an angler and his knowledge of the lake to scramble and find the kind of fish that leaves fans and competitors shaking their heads.

Pirch and his AAA partner Ronald Slack Jr. brought a 15.47-pound limit of bass to the scales that included Pirch's 6.49-pound largemouth; which was the big fish of the day. The performance put Pirch in the driver's seat to claim his third U.S. Open victory by nearly four pounds over Dixon, Calif. pro Brett Leber, who came to the scales with 11.54 pounds.

Pirch said that his game plan suffered an early demise, and he ran the conditions to improve. "I had a stretch that I thought I could get a pretty strong limit on first thing, but by one o'clock, I still only had seven pounds in the boat," he said. "I saw the weather changing, and the wind and rain picking up and I started moving around more. Within a couple hours I had caught the big one and two other really good fish that got me to 15 pounds."

Full Standings

2013 US OPEN Final Day Report

WON Press Release

Las Vegas, Nev. - September 11, 2013 - The rule for the week at the 31st Anniversary WON Bass Nitro Boats / Mercury U.S. Open had been consistency.   The anglers that seemed to fare the best had been those who had managed to put together steady limits, avoiding the wild swings that can happen in a event on Lake Mead.

Rusty made every fish count. Lake Mead is never forgiving
so he had to make every cast count.
(Photo: WON)

Rusty Brown proved that one more time on the final day, and claimed the title of U.S. Open Champion.

The Tustin, Calif. pro posted his third consecutive limit weighing in excess of 10 pounds to claim his first U.S. Open victory. His final day limit of 10.81 pounds pushed his three day total to 31.25 pounds and help him eclipse a hard charging Clifford Pirch; a two-time U.S. Open Champion who bagged a 15.48-pound bag to give him his second consecutive runner up finish with a total weight of 30.32 pounds. Day two leader Brett Hite stumbled slightly in his quest for three consecutive 10 pound limits, and brought 9.03 pounds to the Callville Bay Marina scales and slipped to third place with 30.09 pounds.

Brown credited three lures, and his ability to slow down and fish his areas thoroughly with the win. "I knew there were quality fish in the Gregg Basin area, so I just had to slow down and fish back and forth around grass beds to try and trigger the big fish into biting," I caught my fish on a Rapala Skitter Walk and a few on a Vixen, a shad colored Pro Line spinnerbait with smaller sized willowleaf blades and a size 3 Storm Arashi Squarebill crankbait."

U.S. OPEN 2013 September 9 to 11 on Lake Mead

The WON US OPEN on Lake Mead is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world. Check out who is fishing it this year.

Check back with IBASSIN.com for US OPEN  Coverage.

2013 ICAST Wrapped Up!

By Luigi De Rose

Well, we are finally done all the ICAST videos. Actually, I have a few more that are in Japanese but that should be it. I hope you enjoyed them. Here is the playlist from this year's ICAST. Please check them out just in case you missed any.

ICAST PLAYLIST LINK

ICAST 2013 Jackall Clone Fry with Cody Meyer and IBASSIN

2013 ICAST If you love to drop shot or finesse fish, then you need to listen to Cody Meyer. Jackall's Clone Fry is an amazing. Listen with IBASSIN.com as we learn bout this Jackall bait.

2013 The New 10 and 12 Foot Minn Kota Talons with Brent Ehrler and IBASSIN

IBASSIN.com found FLW Cup Champ Brent Ehrler in the Minn Kota booth at ICAST 2013. He explains all the features on the new and improved 10 and 12 foot Talons. These shallow water anchors are truly amazing.

ICAST 2013: Day 2 Photo Gallery

By Luigi De Rose

Day 2 was a busy one. Saw a lot of old friends and made some new ones. Even got to chat with the master Roland Martin. That doesn't happen everyday. Here is a glimpse of the ICAST Day 2.

Roland Martin and myself.

Holy crap! Not sure if that deer is real but the Lucky Strike guys
love their bucks, they had a whole booth full!

A packed Strike King booth.

Chip Leer said he took the Grayhound bus from Minnesota all
the way to Vegas. Not sure if he was joking but a trip that long is not funny.

Did some great videos with Shaw at the Quantum booth.

Morizo Shimizu with the new Evergreen Cranking rods.

FLW Pro Shinich Fukae showing what Megabass rods are all about. 

A new clip from Gamakatsu.

Bassmaster Elite angler Aaron Martens. He did the funniest
video ever. It is full of follies.  I am still laughing. 

ICAST 2013: Fish Skull- Cool Flies for Bass and Game Fish

By Luigi De Rose

If you hunt bass with a fly rod you have to check out these guys.

Flymen Fishing Company will be expanding its line of Fish-Skull® brand products with several exciting new, innovative fly tying materials and flies to be launched at the 2013 International Fly Tackle Dealer (IFTD). 

Click here is the link to their site. 

Here's a sneak preview. 

Fish Skull: Daddy Crayfish

Fish Skull: Foxy Shrimp

Flambeau Outdoors Presents 2013 I-Cast New Product Preview

Here is a video of the new Flambeau Storage products for 2014. They will be released at ICAST next week.

ICAST 2011 Coverage: Abu Revo MGX ICAST Winner for Best Reel

ICAST 2011 DAY 3: It's done but not over!

It's over but still not over. I'm speaking to Bernard Yong-Set, he's the one who designed the VMC Spin Shot and the Zero Twist Shot. The Spin Shot won the best new terminal tackle at ICAST and he is happy as punch. Its so funny, after three days of non-stop talking, we're still chatting about fishing. Bernard is on a role as I write.

Another strange thing about Vegas is the people you see. I'm sitting in the airport, 10 minutes ago and I just opened the lap top and this guy ask me to move over. As I look up, its Ish Monroe a Bassmaster Elite tournament angler. His phone was dying and he was looking for an outlet to charge up. Funny thing is that if I wanted to talk to him in a normal situation, I would have to attend a sports show or visit a Bassmaster tournament. When ICAST is on, there are celebrity anglers, company people and media everywhere.

It's 12:19pm eastern time, 9:13pm Vegas time, and I need some food. Only problem is that I am so tired I don't feel like eating and most of us have had so much meat. Steak three times in a row for me baby and it's finally taken its toll.

I have no energy to up-load anything.  So take care, good night if its time for you to go to bed and stay tuned. Videos, photos and strange stories from ICAST will be funnelling down.

ICAST 2011 DAY 3: Winding Down

Hey, in the media centre and trying not to fall asleep here. Its been a world wind tour and the heat, steaks, late nights and pure fishing talk has taken its toll on everyone. I have a super funny photo of JP De Rose (no relations) from WFN. Wait till you see it, it will explain the whole event.

Shot more video today. Dave Mercer doing Shimano, John Crews with Spro, Kelly Jordan in the Lucky Craft Booth, Mike Iaconelli in the Molix booth, all good stuff.

Shoot some more photos and it looks like a new minn kota trolling motor is coming my way. I need it to cut the weeds when I go back on Rice lake and Lake Scugog.

Flight doesn't leave till very late tonight. Once we hit the air it will be lights out. I might try to start some video editing, but I might be too messed up to make any progress.

Wait, I see Ish Monroe who I have to track down. Got to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ICAST 2011 DAY 2: Wow Again!

Super busy. As a fishing and tournament fan this place is like crack. So many people are floating around but the super pros have a swarm around them. Last night having dinner with the Thunder Mist Lure company brothers, I sat beside Zell Rowland and Tommy Biffle. Really cool.

Pure fishing won so many awards last night. I shot a lot of video with them on line, lures, Abu reels, and some Sebile lures.

Ike was around again and displayed a new way to rig his Havoc Devil Spear. Wait till you see the in-water tank demo. So deadly!

Just shot video with Brent Ehrler at the Lucky Craft booth. Looks great and Lucky Craft has some super new sizes for swimbaits.

Shin Fukae displayed new Gami stuff and if you like senkos, drop shotting or wacky rigging you'll love their stuff.

Rapala has a lot of new colours and Terminator redesigned their jig and spinnerbait line with a lot of off the hook colours.

TV star and legend, Larry Dahlberg showed me some wacky rigging for big muskies and walleye trolling using your POWER POLE. They have a new 10 foot model and changed all their hardware so rigging is much easier.

Shot some good video with Quantum reels. They have a new EXO reel and Smoke spinning reel that is really sexy.

Shot a video with Western star Chris Ricci. Cool baits.

Got to go and get a drink. This place being so hot will suck the life out of you without you noticing.

LATER!!

ICAST 2011 WOW!

HOLY COW! This place is so busy. Enjoying a cool drink at the Mustang booth right now. So many pros, so many products. Been shooting a lot of video and thousands of photos. Its still going on. Sorry no photos yet but yesterday I enjoyed a nice 22.5 hour day.

Really cool how many top Tv, media, pros, etc. are just beside you when you turn around. Had a great time with Jim and Al Linder. Shot some cool stuff with IKE and other top pros.

A lot of neat drop shot baits out there for 2012. Jackall has some super realistic baits. Photos will be coming.

Owner is now launching the Jika Rig but they change the name to Jig rig. They offer it in lead and tungsten. Funny, to see how my article might have helped promote the launch of a new product. They said that its getting a lot of attention.

Anyways, got to go and get more free food.

ICAST 2011 HERE I COME!

Flying out tomorrow to Vegas and it looks busy! Tuesday night has the new products showcase for the media and buyers. This is a section that people can get the very first glace at the new products in fishing. Really, really cool stuff.

Meeting up with Chris from Pure Fishing and Ray one of the main editor of Ontario OUT OF DOORS, for dinner and then getting ready for the show on Wednesday. Last year, I was shocked to see the place boiling at 8am. Really, it was so busy and the mix of people is so interesting. I bumped into one of my favourite Western anglers, John Murray and beside him were another 20 pro anglers and media people. I didn't even get in the door and I was pumped with the vibe.

What to expect? Well, a bit of everything. I have to meet companies for future articles coming out in Ontario OUT OF DOORS and other magazines. Last year, I picked up BASSMASTER and hopefully a few other magazines this year. So, that will keep me busy. I have a lot of meeting with the biggest companies such as: Rapala, Shimano, Loomis, Abu, Pure Fishing, Minn Kota, Team Diawa, Quantum, etc.. I'm really looking forward to seeing what is new from them.

I'm also looking forward to seeing what is new from Japan.  A few of the biggest companies are at the show and it should be so amazing. I have a meeting with Toshifumi Kikumoto of EverGreen International. He is a super cool cat along with being one of the best lure and rod designers ever to walk the planet. My Japanese is limited and I think his English is poor but who cares.

Another cool gang I will be chatting with is Molix. An Italian company I met with last year and will be having a few glasses of wine with. Luckily my Italian is much stronger than my Japanese. They are starting to sell in North America so you should look out for them.

I'm not planning on flooding my youtube site with countless videos when I come back. Expect some interesting and non-typical videos. I will be doing the junket videos about products so you'll not miss anything but expect to see a variety. You'll  have to wait and see that will come in the future. 

Take care and keep tuned in.

BYE!