The Longest Run
Kiriyama Clobbers 25 Again, Smokes Martens By 8-05

Photo: BassFan Kota Kiriyama wanted to find something different, and made a longer run than anyone else in the field.

He gambled that the fabled Erie winds would allow him the run each day. He gambled that he'd have enough fishing time when he got there. He gambled that the wad of boats at Dunkirk would have to share too many fish. He gambled that he could continue to stick fish all day and they wouldn't run out. And he gambled that suspended fish could win.

In the end, every one of his gambles paid off and the man who left Japan 15 years ago and came to America to find out what he wanted to do – the same man who'd finished 2nd five different times in BASS competition and who fished with the terrible burden of a terminally ill father in Japan – walloped the heaviest bag caught in 2 years of Elite Series competition at Buffalo (25-09) and clinched his first-ever tour-level victory.

Nobody else came even close. The Dunkirk flotilla hit the 21-pound ceiling again today and couldn't touch Kiriyama. Martens came in with 20-12 and finished a distant 2nd, while Edwin Evers scaled 20-04 and finished 3rd.

John Murray, who didn't fish Dunkirk, hauled in 19-03 and finished 4th, while day-2 leader Mike Iaconelli finished 5th after he caught 18-06.

The win is redemption for Kiriyama in a way. He finished 2nd here last year to Evers. It's also some redemption, again in a way, for the sport, because it shows that thinking still goes hand-in-hand with gambling, and there are undiscovered techniques that can still win major events.

Since time immemorial, Lake Erie has been a bottom-based bite. Whether you drag, cast or drop, you're still fishing bottom. Murray finished 3rd last year on suspended fish, but Kota (the man credited with popularizing the dropshot in America) showed this time around what many of the walleye captains already know – the biggest smallmouths in the system are largely pelagic, and suspend in open water during the peak of summer.

It also represents the essence of the new breed of fisherman – one who pushes the presentation envelope with a combination of electronics, guts and just plain savvy.

Kota Elated

"This feels so good – I don't think I've ever felt this way," Kota said after the win.

"It was always a question, if I could win. I was always in 2nd place. I started wondering about (whether) I'd win one these things. I've had a lot of chances. And last year (at Buffalo), I just didn't do it."

He left his fishing areas early today – a mix of spots offshore near Barcelona and Dunkirk – and arrived back in Buffalo 45 minutes before check-in. He thought he had enough to win, but thought his 5-pounders were all 4-pounders.

"I just kept catching 5-pounders and 5-pounders all day long, so I thought they were 4-pounders," he said. "I caught maybe 15 5-pounders."

Photo: BassFan After five 2nd-place finishes, Kiriyama finally spanked the field and clinched the first significant win of his career.

His father was the one who told him to come to America 15 years ago to discover his future – and that future was cemented as reality today.

"I though about my dad a lot – for his memories that I win the tournament, and also I can tell him now for sure that I've found it – this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

"Buffalo is wonderful," he added. "it's the best smallmouth fishing in the world by far."

As noted, the key to his win was suspended fish. He decided early in practice that he wanted to find something different, since everybody knows the humps and shoals at Dunkirk now.

He fished depths from 30 to 90 feet, and used to dropshot – even for his suspended fish. He threw three types of Jackall baits. One, the Cross Tail Shad, has long been available. The two others are still in prototype stage. One's called the Crazy Ninja Minnow, the other's yet to be named.

He marinated them in Berkley Gulp! juice.

The full details of his winning pattern, plus pattern information for the other top finishers, will be posted soon.

2nd: Martens Happy

Aaron Martens was on a wad of Dunkirk fish, but he had to share them with Evers. And he had some lost time on Monday when he needed to make a repair at Dunkirk harbor. All told, he'll take the 2nd, but it should also be noted that although Kota's finished 2nd five times, Martens has been the runner-up nine times (three times at the Bassmaster Classic).

Martens has won twice, though.

"I feel good about my finish – there's not much I could have done," Martens said. "I needed a 29-pound bag today.

"Kota's awesome. I'm happy for him. I wanted him to win one."

Photo: BassFan Aaron Martens noted that if he had it to do over, he'd have made a long run like Kiriyama did.

3rd: Evers Missed A Monster

When asked how he felt about where he finished this week, Evers responded in a straightforward manner.

"I'm disappointed – every time you don't win, you're disappointed," he said. "I felt like I was (on winning fish). I just had a lot of company. When you're sharing fish like that – I don't know."

This week, he had to deal with being last year's winner and part of that is having others around you.

"It was a huge factor," he said. "My waypoints were there on the bottom (of the TV last year). Everybody pulled right up to it. They didn't even idle, they pulled straight to it. That hurt a little bit."

He weighed 20-04 today and felt he could've improved on that.

"I hooked one fish today that was bigger than any smallmouth I've ever hooked in my life," he added. "It was a whole different class of fish. I never did see it but it was big.
"It's a phenomenal lake. I hope everybody takes care of it."

4th: Murray Thrilled

Murray finished 3rd here last year, but was on new water this week and it produced his second 4th-place finish of the season.

Photo: BassFan Evers shared water and noted he didn't have his winning spot form last year to himself.

He didn't make the huge runs like the Top-3 finishers did, but he was on good fish and averaged nearly 20 pounds a day.

"I was in similar areas but I was a mile off of one spot and I was probably 5 miles off another spot," he added. "It was the same basic formula, just different spots."

5th: Mission Accomplished For Iaconelli

Iaconelli came to New York knowing he needed two solid finishes to secure his spot in next year's Classic.

His showing this week likely did that job, which takes come pressure off heading to Oneida Lake.

"I've put myself in a position where I probably need to catch one bass and that's a good feeling," he said.

Today, he was able to fish with more precision, but it led to a 17-06 catch, his smallest of the tournament.

"Today was actually the first day I could use my trolling motor," he noted. "The other 3 days, I had to use a drift sock to move around. It was a great week. Regardless of what the wind did, the fish bit. It was pretty awesome.

"This is the kind of place I want on the schedule every year. It's phenomenal. I did lose a few today, but anytime you're catching 30 to 40 fish a day and they all look like that, that's fun."

6th: Faircloth Closes Strong

Todd Faircloth feels like he missed an opportunity for the win on day 3 when he weighed 15-05. He bounced back with 21-14 today, his best sack of the week, and turned a 16-point deficit in the Angler of the Year race into a 21-point lead over Kevin VanDam.

"My goal was to make the Top 12 and I did that so I'm happy with that," Faircloth said. "I feel like the outcome yesterday should've been a lot better. I was around the fish to have another 20-pound bag. I feel like I made some bad decisions yesterday, but all in all, it was a good week. I'm real pleased."

With the standings so tight in the AOY race, he's going to approach it like a 0-0 tie.

"That's pretty much how you have to do it," he added. "As close as the points are, it's definitely going to come down to Oneida and I'm in a position to do it. That's all I can ask for."

7th: Klein Nearly Satisfied

One of Gary Klein's trademark sayings is that you can never be satisfied unless you win. But he hinted that he was pretty close to satisfied with this win.

He weighed 18-04, finished 9th, and moved up to 21st in the points. That takes a lot of pressure off him next week at Oneida when it comes to Classic qualification.

"This was a good event," he said. "I feel I salvaged a good finish after a bad decision the first day. I know now that even if I fished (my spot) all day on Thursday, I still wasn't on the fish to win. I wasn't on the big ones."

He added that he caught 70% of his fish dropshotting a 3-inch Berkley Gulp! Alive Leech.

8th: Grigsby Made Up For Poor Practice

Shaw Grigsby had perhaps the worst practice of his long career this week.

"It was really, really tough," he said. "When you go out on Lake Erie and catch two fish on one day, you're struggling."

But he rallied nicely and averaged more than 18 pounds per day to record his 50th career Top-10 finish.

"I was extremely blessed – it was a real Jesus thing this week," he added. "There was a lot of wind blowing on this spot and I couldn't catch a thing on the second day and I only had like 8 pounds in the livewell and I said, 'I have to make one more pass.'

"So I crashed on up and when I got there, I said, 'Look at this. I can do this with my trolling motor.' It just slicked off. I dropped the trolling motor and pitched on one of the rockpiles and caught a 5-pounder. I drifted down the bank, cranked up and ran back up and dropped again and caught a 4 1/2. When I ran back, thinking I could get three, it was like 3- or 4-footers again. That's the way my week went."

He came to New York in 33rd place in the AOY race and he moved all the way up to 25th.

"I'm working to get into the Bassmaster Classic," he added. "You just work as hard as you can to get the points and it worked out real well."

9th: Delong Had Late Flurry

Glenn Delong loves fishing Lake Erie. It's his home water – he's from Ohio – and he was one of the few who had trouble handling the wave action this week.

However, the lake wasn't showing him a whole lot of love today until late in the day. He caught 17-14 to close with 73-03 and earn his second Top-10 finish.

"It's a little slackish," he said of his final weight. "I went to three of my primary spots and I absolutely caught nothing. I left and went to this one spot that's real deep – 45 to 50 foot of water. I'd caught one fish there in practice. It was a 5-14 and I was saving it. I went there and smoked 'em.

"Late in the day, I went to one other spot that was the same depth and I caught a 5-02 on the very last cast (using a 1-ounce tube)."

His goal this week was simple: Make it to today. He dropshotted the whole tournament with Powel rods and a 3-inch Berkley Gulp! Fry and a 5-inch Gulp! Alive Jumbo Leech (both in green-pumpkin) on 8-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon.

"I fish the lake and I'm very used to this type of fishing," he added. "The waves don't bother me. It's just one of those deals you look forward to and I've been looking forward to this for a long time. I just came up a little bit short."

10th: Reed Had Better Day

Matt Reed didn't have a real good day Saturday when an 11-11 bag took him out of contention. He bounced back with a 16-11 stringer today to grab a Top-10 finish.

"I caught a bunch of fish today," he noted. "I just didn't get any big bites. You always would love to win, but I had to make the Top 12."

He finished 18th here a year ago, so he was thrilled to improve upon that.

"I like it (here)," he added. "I love structure fishing and I'm not really a dropshotter by nature, but I love to structure fish. These fish – you find them on your electronics and sit over them and catch them. It's like a video game."

11th: Morris Shared Fish With Evers

Rick Morris had his best finish of the year this week despite nearly sinking on day 3 and enduring some long, rough rides back from Dunkirk.

"Me and Edwin fished the exact same spot," he said. "Today, it was a rough ride down. Then it got slick and then the wind switched to the West and it made for a terrible ride in.

"I'm ecstatic. I'm as happy as can be. I knew I didn't have a shot to win today. I was trying to hold my position and get every point I could get."

Notable

> Day 4 stats – 12 anglers, 12 limits.

> The conditions were so rough at times that Grigsby used his big motor to hold position. Per BASS rules, he had to remain seated while the big motor was running. "That Mercury OptiMax makes a great trolling motor," he noted.

> Ike told a screaming crowd, estimated at 2500 people: "Buffalo's the best smallmouth fishery in the world!"

> The funniest quote at the weigh-in came from Rick Morris, who noted his back was so beat up from the rides that he had to soak in the hot tub each night. "Are there any single women out there? I need a massage," he said to the crowd.

> Morris estimated that he and Evers took 165 pounds of bass off a single Dunkirk hump.

Day 4 (Final) Standings

1. Kotaro Kiriyama -- Moody, AL -- 20, 93-06 -- 310 $114,500
Day 1: 5, 20-15 -- Day 2: 5, 21-14 -- Day 3: 5, 25-00 -- Day 4: 5, 25-09

2. Aaron Martens -- Leeds, AL -- 20, 85-01 -- 295 -- $30,000
Day 1: 5, 22-00 -- Day 2: 5, 20-11 -- Day 3: 5, 21-10 -- Day 4: 5, 20-12

3. Edwin Evers -- Talala, OK -- 20, 84-08 -- 290 -- $25,000
Day 1: 5, 21-03 -- Day 2: 5, 21-11 -- Day 3: 5, 21-06 -- Day 4: 5, 20-04

4. John Murray -- Phoenix, AZ -- 20, 79-14 -- 285 -- $18,000
Day 1: 5, 20-05 -- Day 2: 5, 21-03 -- Day 3: 5, 19-03 -- Day 4: 5, 19-03

5. Michael Iaconelli -- Runnemede, NJ -- 20, 79-07 -- 285 -- $18,000
Day 1: 5, 21-06 -- Day 2: 5, 22-15 -- Day 3: 5, 17-12 -- Day 4: 5, 17-06

6. Todd Faircloth -- Jasper, TX -- 20, 77-11 -- 276 -- $16,000
Day 1: 5, 20-01 -- Day 2: 5, 20-07 -- Day 3: 5, 15-05 -- Day 4: 5, 21-14

7. Gary Klein -- Weatherford, TX -- 20, 73-10 -- 272 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 16-15 -- Day 2: 5, 19-09 -- Day 3: 5, 18-14 -- Day 4: 5, 18-04

8. Shaw E Grigsby -- Gainesville, FL -- 20, 73-08 -- 268 -- $14,500
Day 1: 5, 18-11 -- Day 2: 5, 20-01 -- Day 3: 5, 17-01 -- Day 4: 5, 17-11

9. Glenn Delong -- Bellville, OH -- 20, 73-03 -- 264 -- $14,000
Day 1: 5, 19-08 -- Day 2: 5, 16-11 -- Day 3: 5, 19-02 -- Day 4: 5, 17-14

10. Matt Reed -- Madisonville, TX -- 20, 71-12 -- 265 -- $15,500
Day 1: 5, 23-03 -- Day 2: 5, 20-03 -- Day 3: 5, 11-11 -- Day 4: 5, 16-11

11. Rick Morris -- Virginia Beach, VA -- 20, 71-01 -- 257 -- $12,500
Day 1: 5, 19-07 -- Day 2: 5, 18-11 -- Day 3: 5, 21-04 -- Day 4: 5, 11-11

12. Greg Hackney -- Gonzales, LA -- 20, 70-04 -- 254 -- $12,300
Day 1: 5, 18-09 -- Day 2: 5, 16-13 -- Day 3: 5, 19-10 -- Day 4: 5, 15-04

Big Bass

> Day 4 -- Kotaro Kiriyama -- Moody, AL -- 05-08 -- $500
> Day 4 -- Todd Faircloth -- Jasper, TX -- 05-08 -- $500
> Day 3 -- Kotaro Kiriyama -- Moody, AL -- 05-15 -- $1,000
> Day 2 -- Elton Luce Jr. -- Brookeland, TX -- 05-13 -- $1,000
> Day 1 -- Matt Reed -- Madisonville, TX -- 05-10 -- $1,000