The WON BASS U.S. Open bass tournament finished its annual run at Lake Mead in Nevada on Wednesday, but not before the ultra-hot weather sent 10 fishermen to the hospital with heat exhaustion symptoms. Tournament staff also uncovered a fisherman who allegedly placed large lead weights in the stomach of the bass that he brought to the scales.
According to a statement posted on the Western Outdoors News (the owner of WON BASS) Web site, Mike Hart of Winnetka was one of a handful of pros who weighed in three dead fish after the second day of competition. All were under suspicion the third day because when the dead fish were cleaned in order to be donated to charity, lead weights — commonly known as ring or torpedo sinkers rigged with a single hook to keep them in place — were found in the bellies of three dead bass.
According to the news release, Hart was the only one of the suspected bass pros who had dead fish and had moved into the money. When he brought his fish to the scales on Wednesday, tournament directors John Cassidy and Billy Egan felt what seemed to be weights in the fish.
Hart”s fish were inspected in front of law enforcement and Nevada Fish and Wildlife officials and lead weights were found in all of Hart”s fish. When confronted, Hart immediately left the scene at Callville Bay.
“Mike Hart is banned for life for presenting fish to the scales that had unnatural objects in their stomachs,” WON BASS Tournament Director Harvey Naslund said. “We plan on pressing charges against Mr. Hart and we will void any victories he has won in the past.”
Kudos goes to the WON BASS staff for uncovering the suspected cheating. By getting on the problem right away, the WON BASS tournament organization proves it won”t tolerate cheating or misbehavior in its tournaments.
On the local fishing scene, fishermen at Clear Lake are having to contend with very hot weather and slow fishing. Most of the guides report their clients are only catching from four to six bass for a full day on the lake. According to local guide Ross England, you have to be on the move and use a wide variety of lures to be successful.
For example, I fished from 7 a.m. to noon on Wednesday and put only two bass in the boat. I spoke with six other anglers and one had caught five fish, another caught two, and four others hadn”t caught a single fish. I did notice schools of small baitfish on the weed mats near the Lakeside County Park but there were no adult bass chasing them. I also saw quite a few crawdads clinging to the tules and several dead ones floating.
The Department of Fish and Game (DFG) did some electro-shocking in the south end of the lake on Wednesday and biologist Jay Rowan said most of the adult bass they electro-shocked were at the outer edges of the weed mats in about 4 feet of water. He said they shocked very few bass in the shallow water. He also said they saw several schools of silverside minnows.
The best fishing news is the catfish action. Overall the catfish action has been very good with even the bass fishermen reporting catching catfish on jigs. One of the top baits has been live crawdads.
No local waters were stocked with trout this week. The East Branch of the Russian River is scheduled to be stocked next week. Trout action at Upper Blue Lake is only rated fair with trollers having the best action. Bob Bridges of Lakeport took a trip to Indian Valley Reservoir earlier this week. He said the road going into the lake had been recently graded and was in good shape. Boats can be still launched at the ramp at the dam. He said that his was the only boat on the water.
