The WON Bass US Open is the biggest fishing tournament for any bass angler living in the western part of the USA. For over 40 years, the best anglers out west battled it out on Lake Mead; anglers that would include Bassmaster Classic winners Rick Clunn and the late Aaron Martens. Not only was the field of competition tough, so was the fishing.
Having been held on Lake Mead in Nevada since its inception, the fishing venue was changed for 2022 due to extremely low water levels. Known for its “difficult” fishing conditions, Mead would be replaced by Lake Mohave in Arizona. Though it was still on the Colorado River, the fishing on Mohave would bring one big change in that the weights needed to win would go up, making the event a slugfest.
Having finished a close 3rd in the 2023 edition of the US Open, Bassmaster Elite Series angler and California-native Bryant Smith couldn’t wait to come back for 2024 once the scales closed. During the 2023 event, Bryant felt that fishing on Mohave started to come together for him, helping in bringing extra motivation to get that coveted win this year.
Besides checking in on the occasional tournament result, Bryant did little pre-tournament work outside of some aerial map study. He felt that he would get the best information during the practice days of the event. Building on what he learned from the 2023 tournament, Bryant’s gameplan would be dropshotting for smallmouth bass. His soft plastic of choice was the Strike King Half Shell. Though largemouth could possibly bring a heavier creel, he felt that there wouldn’t be enough quality to last all 3 days of the event to string together a winning bag. After liking what he saw on his forward facing sonar, Bryant was ready for the event to start.
One thing that’s quite unique to the US Open is how weights are tallied. This format combines features from both single boater and team tournaments. Though there are 2 separate anglers in a boat, a professional and an amateur, each vying for the win in their division, the two must work with each other to put together the day’s weight. All anglers keep their daily weights and their cumulative weights across all competition days are used to determine the winners for both professional and amateur.
Day 1 started off pretty well for Bryant. Catching a solid bag within the first 2 hours, he and his amateur partner were able to surpass Bryant’s goal of 20 pounds a day, filling the livewells of the FXR20 with a catch of 22.14 pounds. This was just one hundredth of a pound (.01) from first place, probably the equivalent of a drop of water. This initial result helped to cement what Bryant was doing was the correct approach.
Keeping the goal of 20 pounds per day, Smith would head out to replicate what he did the day before. Things were a little slower but the result was similar to Day 1. Achieving the daily goal of 20 pounds a day, Bryant and his team brought 21.70 to the scales, taking the top spot of the tournament after two days of fishing with one more day to go.
Even though the event takes place in the early Fall, fish care was definitely a concern as water temperatures were still fairly high, with surface temperatures being over 80 degrees. Bryant and his team did unfortunately did get a dead fish penalty, losing half a pound. However, the Day 2 weight was enough to provide almost a 2 pound cushion over second place.
As the final day of competition started, Bryant did not let the weight penalty affect him too much as he knew that if he was able to catch his daily weight goal, everyone else would have to have the best day of the entire tournament to take a shot at the title. Though he felt the fishing would be just as good as the first 2 days, as any angler knows, Mother Nature has a way to make things a little more interesting.
After a really slow start with little to no action, Bryant noticed that weather conditions were significantly different than Days 1 and 2, which was probably affecting the fish. Making some minor adjustments and even having his amateur for that day mix in a spinnerbait, they were able to catch a limit. Day 3 would have Bryant work harder for the trophy as there were lesser quality bites to get. Not giving up, the small adjustments Bryant and his team made brought them a quality bag to end the competition with.
Heading to the weigh in, Bryant was confident that he had enough weight for the win. It became official with another 20 pound bag hitting the scales, well clear of second place and securing Smith the top step of the podium. This win not only made up for the close call in 2023 but also made Bryant’s dream of winning one of the biggest fishing tournaments a reality, making him one of the best anglers out west.
