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Clausen Forrest Wood Cup, Practice Day 1
Clausen weighs in on Day 1 of Three Rivers practice
by Joel Shangle
NWWildCountry.com
PITTSBURGH, Penn. - To say that Luke Clausen is looking forward to the 2009 Forrest Wood Cup is an understatement. And an overstatment.
You could say that it's the classic example of a love/hate relationship.
Clausen didn't pull any punches in the days leading up to practice week for the 2009 Cup on the Three Rivers of Pittsburgh, Penn. The Spokane native - who cashed a check for $500,000 when he won the Cup as a rookie in 2004 - has referred to the mix-and-match, every-technique-might-work reality of competing on the Ohio, Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers as "Junk fishing at its finest".
Welcome to the back deck of Clausen's Ranger Comanche for the first day of practice at the richest professional bass tournament in the world. It's a cloudy early evening in the Steel City, and Clausen's first day of practice has been every bit as challenging as he figured it would be.
“Two 12-inch keepers, four catfish, a sauger and a white bass,” Clausen says of the results of nearly a full day of pre-fishing on Saturday. “Everybody is talking about coming up here and catching a lot of smallmouth, but I haven’t caught many of them. I’m doing great on the trash fish, though.”
And so begins the mental marathon of grinding out four 12-hour practice days on a fishery that can be kindly described as “challenging” at its best. Heading into the 2009 Cup, most of the 77 professionals in the field are setting their sites on the lowest tournament-winning weight in the history of big-time bass fishing.
Clausen included.
“They say a local tournament around here, it’ll take 6 pounds over two days to win it,” he says. “I’m afraid (the Cup) is gonna be even worse. We’ll have 77 boats on it for four days before the tournament even gets started. It’s just one of those places where, if you get five bites a day, you better execute them. You could scratch around all day and not get a single bite.”
There’s some history to back that up. The 2005 Bassmaster Classic in Pittsburgh saw a steady procession of “0-0s” pile up on the leaderboard at Mellon Arena as big-name anglers like Jay Yelas, Gary Klein, Stacey King, Greg Hackney and Takahiro Omori blanked, more than half the anglers finished with less than 5 pounds for the tournament, and Kevin Van Dam bagged the smallest four-day winning weight in Classic history with 12 pounds 5 ounces. Big fish for that tournament was 2-15
Clausen finished 26th at that Classic with a two-day weight of 3.1 pounds.
“I think there were six of seven limits caught there the whole week, and most of there were caught in an area in downtown Pittsburgh that’s off-limits (for the 2009 Cup),” Clausen says. “Out of the top 10, eight guys where fishing downtown. ”
Three Rivers not very rivery: The Three Rivers can best be described as non-descript and sluggish, with very little classic bass structure and little to no current. That smallmouth fisheries where Clausen cut his teeth – the hard-current, and rocky rip-rap roadbeds of the Columbia and Snake Rivers – are figuratively a world away from the flaccid flows of the Three Rivers. The most obvious structure points – bridges – are already being pounded in practice, so Clausen doesn’t plan to spend much time on bridge patrol come tournament time.
“It’s hard to even get on a bridge, even if I wanted to get on one,” he says. “There are guys all over those things in practice. (Bridges) may play a factor, depending on what the pressure does and how fast those areas replenish. If it gets sunny, the bridges and barge tie-ups might be better, but they won’t be any good if it’s overcast and windy. If that happens, you’ll probably find (fish) more on the banks.”
That’s no guarantee, though. Clausen plans to spend a fair amount of time over the next three practice days trying to figure out a discernable pattern for smallmouth suspended in deep water in the middle of the rivers.
“I’m seeing fish come up right out in the middle of the river,” he says. “I guess that’s the golden question: if you don’t find any fish on a certain type of bank, where else do you go? Here, there’s so little (water movement), it’s hard to find fish right off the bottom, and the current doesn’t push them into the bank. So, what does a guy focus on for 8 hours to put himself in a position to win?”
Maintaining focus: Actually, the question is “what does a guy focus on for 12 hours of practice when he’s not catching any fish”? That, according to Clausen, is what might make or break the tournament for the majority of the 76 other pros competing for the big paycheck.
“That’s when a guy can lose focus – in practice, he’s getting one or two bites all day, he’s in the 10th to 14th hour of fishing and trying to stay focused on something that’s relevant,” Clausen says. “It’s going to be difficult, for sure. If a guy can figure out one little thing that gets five 12-inch bites a day, he’s going to be in good shape out here. If you can find a bank that has good numbers of fish, or a bait that you can come in behind other guys and catch fish on, that’s what you’re looking for (in practice).”
Clausen’s approach: Clausen’s natural fishing style is well-suited to big river and reservoir systems, where he’s accustomed to covering a lot of territory. While the Three Rivers’ fishing boundary is tiny compared to the thousands of square miles he’d cover on the Columbia, a run-and-gun approach will serve him well over the next three practice days as he tries to hone in on a pattern or a handful of locations he can bank on when the Cup kicks off next Thursday.
“We’re used to big bodies of water,” Clausen says. “I fish fast when I practice, trying to find something to hone in on. I’ll try to cover every bit of this area in practice. I’m sure I’ll go back up to where I fished in the 2005 Classic and I’ll take a look at the new stuff that’s open in the Allegheny. You have to try to look at everything.”
Regardless of where he fishes, Clausen will be reaching deep into his finesse bag. Because almost everything in the Three Rivers area is 12 inches or smaller, he’ll work with 1/8-ounce jigheads and 2-inch plastics as his main bait, and occasionally throw small spinnerbaits, crankbaits and buzzbaits. The challenge, though, is in giving the fish something big enough to see in stained water without over-powering them.
“Everything here is downsized,” Clausen confirms. “A 12-incher doesn’t have a very big mouth, and he doesn’t feed on very big prey. Almost everything I have is 2 inches and smaller. The only problem with that is that the water has some color. You can’t fish something that’s so small they can’t find the bait. Somebody here will catch a 3-pounder, but, you can’t focus on that. There are so few of those fish here, you can’t spend any time searching for them. If you catch one, you catch one.”
Challenges and fishery limitations aside, though, Clausen is looking forward to competing in his fourth Cup, which, he says, is up for grabs.
“All I know is that you better execute,” he repeats. “It’s real hard to tell what’s going to happen, but, small fish, no current, tough fishing … a guy can still win a million dollars.”
-JS
by Joel Shangle
NWWildCountry.com
PITTSBURGH, Penn. - To say that Luke Clausen is looking forward to the 2009 Forrest Wood Cup is an understatement. And an overstatment.
You could say that it's the classic example of a love/hate relationship.
Clausen didn't pull any punches in the days leading up to practice week for the 2009 Cup on the Three Rivers of Pittsburgh, Penn. The Spokane native - who cashed a check for $500,000 when he won the Cup as a rookie in 2004 - has referred to the mix-and-match, every-technique-might-work reality of competing on the Ohio, Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers as "Junk fishing at its finest".
Welcome to the back deck of Clausen's Ranger Comanche for the first day of practice at the richest professional bass tournament in the world. It's a cloudy early evening in the Steel City, and Clausen's first day of practice has been every bit as challenging as he figured it would be.
“Two 12-inch keepers, four catfish, a sauger and a white bass,” Clausen says of the results of nearly a full day of pre-fishing on Saturday. “Everybody is talking about coming up here and catching a lot of smallmouth, but I haven’t caught many of them. I’m doing great on the trash fish, though.”
And so begins the mental marathon of grinding out four 12-hour practice days on a fishery that can be kindly described as “challenging” at its best. Heading into the 2009 Cup, most of the 77 professionals in the field are setting their sites on the lowest tournament-winning weight in the history of big-time bass fishing.
Clausen included.
“They say a local tournament around here, it’ll take 6 pounds over two days to win it,” he says. “I’m afraid (the Cup) is gonna be even worse. We’ll have 77 boats on it for four days before the tournament even gets started. It’s just one of those places where, if you get five bites a day, you better execute them. You could scratch around all day and not get a single bite.”
There’s some history to back that up. The 2005 Bassmaster Classic in Pittsburgh saw a steady procession of “0-0s” pile up on the leaderboard at Mellon Arena as big-name anglers like Jay Yelas, Gary Klein, Stacey King, Greg Hackney and Takahiro Omori blanked, more than half the anglers finished with less than 5 pounds for the tournament, and Kevin Van Dam bagged the smallest four-day winning weight in Classic history with 12 pounds 5 ounces. Big fish for that tournament was 2-15
Clausen finished 26th at that Classic with a two-day weight of 3.1 pounds.
“I think there were six of seven limits caught there the whole week, and most of there were caught in an area in downtown Pittsburgh that’s off-limits (for the 2009 Cup),” Clausen says. “Out of the top 10, eight guys where fishing downtown. ”
Three Rivers not very rivery: The Three Rivers can best be described as non-descript and sluggish, with very little classic bass structure and little to no current. That smallmouth fisheries where Clausen cut his teeth – the hard-current, and rocky rip-rap roadbeds of the Columbia and Snake Rivers – are figuratively a world away from the flaccid flows of the Three Rivers. The most obvious structure points – bridges – are already being pounded in practice, so Clausen doesn’t plan to spend much time on bridge patrol come tournament time.
“It’s hard to even get on a bridge, even if I wanted to get on one,” he says. “There are guys all over those things in practice. (Bridges) may play a factor, depending on what the pressure does and how fast those areas replenish. If it gets sunny, the bridges and barge tie-ups might be better, but they won’t be any good if it’s overcast and windy. If that happens, you’ll probably find (fish) more on the banks.”
That’s no guarantee, though. Clausen plans to spend a fair amount of time over the next three practice days trying to figure out a discernable pattern for smallmouth suspended in deep water in the middle of the rivers.
“I’m seeing fish come up right out in the middle of the river,” he says. “I guess that’s the golden question: if you don’t find any fish on a certain type of bank, where else do you go? Here, there’s so little (water movement), it’s hard to find fish right off the bottom, and the current doesn’t push them into the bank. So, what does a guy focus on for 8 hours to put himself in a position to win?”
Maintaining focus: Actually, the question is “what does a guy focus on for 12 hours of practice when he’s not catching any fish”? That, according to Clausen, is what might make or break the tournament for the majority of the 76 other pros competing for the big paycheck.
“That’s when a guy can lose focus – in practice, he’s getting one or two bites all day, he’s in the 10th to 14th hour of fishing and trying to stay focused on something that’s relevant,” Clausen says. “It’s going to be difficult, for sure. If a guy can figure out one little thing that gets five 12-inch bites a day, he’s going to be in good shape out here. If you can find a bank that has good numbers of fish, or a bait that you can come in behind other guys and catch fish on, that’s what you’re looking for (in practice).”
Clausen’s approach: Clausen’s natural fishing style is well-suited to big river and reservoir systems, where he’s accustomed to covering a lot of territory. While the Three Rivers’ fishing boundary is tiny compared to the thousands of square miles he’d cover on the Columbia, a run-and-gun approach will serve him well over the next three practice days as he tries to hone in on a pattern or a handful of locations he can bank on when the Cup kicks off next Thursday.
“We’re used to big bodies of water,” Clausen says. “I fish fast when I practice, trying to find something to hone in on. I’ll try to cover every bit of this area in practice. I’m sure I’ll go back up to where I fished in the 2005 Classic and I’ll take a look at the new stuff that’s open in the Allegheny. You have to try to look at everything.”
Regardless of where he fishes, Clausen will be reaching deep into his finesse bag. Because almost everything in the Three Rivers area is 12 inches or smaller, he’ll work with 1/8-ounce jigheads and 2-inch plastics as his main bait, and occasionally throw small spinnerbaits, crankbaits and buzzbaits. The challenge, though, is in giving the fish something big enough to see in stained water without over-powering them.
“Everything here is downsized,” Clausen confirms. “A 12-incher doesn’t have a very big mouth, and he doesn’t feed on very big prey. Almost everything I have is 2 inches and smaller. The only problem with that is that the water has some color. You can’t fish something that’s so small they can’t find the bait. Somebody here will catch a 3-pounder, but, you can’t focus on that. There are so few of those fish here, you can’t spend any time searching for them. If you catch one, you catch one.”
Challenges and fishery limitations aside, though, Clausen is looking forward to competing in his fourth Cup, which, he says, is up for grabs.
“All I know is that you better execute,” he repeats. “It’s real hard to tell what’s going to happen, but, small fish, no current, tough fishing … a guy can still win a million dollars.”
-JS
Views: 34
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Keith Brooks on
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Thanks for the report... I was very shocked to see that FLW was going to Pittsburgh, seems like they would have learned something from the Classic that was held there. Pittsburh residents did not turn out to support the event and the fishing was awful. If we want more coverage and respect for the sport it would be better to have the events in a more angler friendly area, as well as a better fishery. I sure hope Luke figures it out, it could help get a little buzz going again locally.
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Permalink Reply by Tag Watson on
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Thank you for the update and excellent article, Joel. I'm probably in the minority here, but I actually find this venue pretty intriguing despite the lousy fishing. This is some of the most challenging bass fishing in the country during one of the toughest times of the year. What a great way to test the top professionals. I am excited to follow this tournament.
Thanks again, Joel! -
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Permalink Reply by Stroller4Life on
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Thanks for the write up. Your time on here is appreciated Joel.
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Permalink Reply by Eric DeLay on
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Oh yeah that will be super exciting. Watching those guys sling the one pound fish on board and weighing in a couple pounds a day.
I totally agree with Keith, I cannot understand why they put the big show on a crappy fishery unless the city won some sort of bidding war to host it.
Tag Watson said:Thank you for the update and excellent article, Joel. I'm probably in the minority here, but I actually find this venue pretty intriguing despite the lousy fishing. This is some of the most challenging bass fishing in the country during one of the toughest times of the year. What a great way to test the top professionals. I am excited to follow this tournament.
Thanks again, Joel! -
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Eric, you never cease to crack me up. Just to clarify, I don't think the fishing will be exciting but I am looking forward to following this tournament. Trust me, I even think Banks Lake is lame and Banks is like Lake Erie compared to this cesspool.
What intrigues me is the extreme challenge which all the anglers will face, from both a mental and fishing standpoint. It is an even playing field and my prediction is that the cream will still rise to the top.
Eric DeLay said:Oh yeah that will be super exciting. Watching those guys sling the one pound fish on board and weighing in a couple pounds a day.
I totally agree with Keith, I cannot understand why they put the big show on a crappy fishery unless the city won some sort of bidding war to host it.
Tag Watson said:Thank you for the update and excellent article, Joel. I'm probably in the minority here, but I actually find this venue pretty intriguing despite the lousy fishing. This is some of the most challenging bass fishing in the country during one of the toughest times of the year. What a great way to test the top professionals. I am excited to follow this tournament.
Thanks again, Joel! -
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Permalink Reply by Zach Chandler on
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Yeah, Delay would rather have them host it on a Bill Dance pond.
Tag Watson said:Eric, you never cease to crack me up. Just to clarify, I don't think the fishing will be exciting but I am looking forward to following this tournament. Trust me, I even think Banks Lake is lame and Banks is like Lake Erie compared to this cesspool.
What intrigues me is the extreme challenge which all the anglers will face, from both a mental and fishing standpoint. It is an even playing field and my prediction is that the cream will still rise to the top.
Eric DeLay said:Oh yeah that will be super exciting. Watching those guys sling the one pound fish on board and weighing in a couple pounds a day.
I totally agree with Keith, I cannot understand why they put the big show on a crappy fishery unless the city won some sort of bidding war to host it.
Tag Watson said:Thank you for the update and excellent article, Joel. I'm probably in the minority here, but I actually find this venue pretty intriguing despite the lousy fishing. This is some of the most challenging bass fishing in the country during one of the toughest times of the year. What a great way to test the top professionals. I am excited to follow this tournament.
Thanks again, Joel! -
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Permalink Reply by Joel Alinen on
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Thanks Joel,
Great stuff! It will be interesting to see who can put a pattern together and catch fish. Its definitely more fun to watch em catch big bags, but this will be a true test of their angling skills! I'm excited to see which of these guys can bring in their sack of five with that 2lb kicker=) -
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Permalink Reply by BigBass Dez on
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I cant wait to see what the weights are gonna look like on day # 4 , yep thats when most anglers will have already fished most of there good water and struggled to make to the final cut .. What will happen is that you will see 10 of the best guys hit the lake sunday morning and give it all they have on there best producing areas .. As a tourney angler myself this portion of the event is what will be the most interesting . Kinda like what taggy mentioned , putting your skills to the test in the worst situations, Last time i check those are the anglers that always figure the one missing factor that the rest of the field will miss out on .. Yeah we are not gonna see many "hogs" or many limits from the sound of things , but what you will see is your favorite pro angler pulling out his most confident lures searching for one bite at time .. Cant wait to see what the top 10 guys are gonna be using on day 4 ...My dad will get bored watch this ..lol but i will observing this with a much different state of mind .. "paying attention to detail" !!
DEZ "The Rookie" -
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Permalink Reply by Marc Marcantonio on
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This tournament is made to order for dropswimming with a 1/16 oz QuickDrop and a Basstrix Bait Fry or a Panic Minnow.
The guys who can handle light spinning tackle the best get my nod.
ciao,
Marc -
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I agree Tag, It will definatly be challenging and intriguing to follow. Not much different than the Jack and Jill at Banks this past weekend or what the guys will face at the tourney next weekend. Trying to find quality fish, and make evey bite count.
Tag Watson said:Thank you for the update and excellent article, Joel. I'm probably in the minority here, but I actually find this venue pretty intriguing despite the lousy fishing. This is some of the most challenging bass fishing in the country during one of the toughest times of the year. What a great way to test the top professionals. I am excited to follow this tournament.
Thanks again, Joel! -
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Permalink Reply by Ben Holten on
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Wow great write up... I loved the read.
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Permalink Reply by Zackery Shaff on
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I also agree with Tag. It would be brutally boring to actually fish it, but to watch the best of the best on TV in a condensed version will be interesting. I hope FLW actually shows something we can all learn from though. Their shows are usually pretty awful.
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