Pirch Wins 2nd U.S. Open, Clunn Finishes 3rd

A two-time U.S. Open winner and legend in the sport almost clinched another U.S. Open crown at Lake Mead, but western young gun Cliff Pirch rose to the occasion and claimed a second U.S. Open title of his own today.

Pirch began day 3 well back in 8th place and a little less than 2 1/2 pounds behind then-leader Bink Desaro. Surprisingly, a 10.90-pound bag today pushed Pirch up to the winner's spot, where he edged runner-up Dick Watson by a scant half-pound margin.

Here's a look at how the final Top 10 shook out:

1. Cliff Pirch -- Payson, AZ -- 31.44
2. Dick Watson -- Alta Loma, CA -- 30.98
3. Rick Clunn -- Ava, MO -- 30.05
4. Kevin Johnson -- Valencia, CA -- 29.90
5. Morizo Shimizu -- Osaka, Japan -- 29.72
6. John Weisfuss -- Oxnard, CA -- 29.40
7. Bink Desaro -- Boise, ID -- 28.85
8. Wade Strelic -- El Cajon, CA -- 28.06
9. John Murray -- Phoenix, AZ -- 28.02
10. Sean Stafford -- Fairfield, CA -- 27.81

Pirch Surprised

Pirch, one of just a few Arizona anglers to ever sustain a career at the pro level, remains most successful in the west, with now two U.S. Open victories and a Western FLW Series win to his credit.

His previous U.S. Open win came in 2007.

"It's just exciting," Pirch said shortly after the unofficial results were posted. "Coming in today, I didn't even really expect to win. But boy, what a blessing.

"To the western guys, the U.S. Open is like the Super Bowl of the West. It's a big deal for us western guys. There's this big divide between Texas and the West, where guys either stay to the east or west. This event is the western guys and like I said, I'm pretty excited. It hasn't even really hit me yet. I thought I'd probably move up a few spots, but I really didn't expect to win."

The U.S. Open features a shared-weight format where the co-angler and pro combine their five best. Pirch got help from his co-angler today, he said, and there wasn't a single fish or moment he can point to that clinched it for him. Instead, "every fish really counted," he said.

"I caught a big one pretty early, but really I was just trying to make what I could out of it. I had several things go wrong with losing some fish over the last couple of days, and I thought, 'Well, that'll probably be the difference.' I'm amazed that (11 pounds) held out today."

Interestingly, Pirch said his focus leading up to this week had been on the Forrest Wood Cup. He fishes the FLW Outdoors National Guard team, and the Cup offers a $500,000-plus payout.

But that changed when he arrived in Las Vegas for the U.S. Open, which he noted had always been a good event for him. "When you're from the West, you can't miss the U.S. Open. I always come out and try to support it. I want to be here and support it."

He described his pattern as "total junk-fishing." He caught fish on a worm, topwater, crankbait, spinnerbait, jig and Texas-rig. He yanked a few fish out of the Vegas Wash, but concentrated mainly on the lower basin. "I was just kind of running around and finding grass pockets and rock shade," he said.

He was awarded $40,000 cash plus a fully rigged Nitro boat. full details of his winning pattern will be posted soon.

Hart Leaves the Scene

WON Bass released a statement tonight that said the league had banned Mike Hart from WON Bass competition for life, voided all his previous wins and will press charges in connection with an alleged cheating incident over the course of the 3-day tournament.

Below is WON Bass's statement in its entirety.

Statement From WON Bass

A Southern California angler has been banned from all Western Outdoor News tournaments for life after he was caught bringing "salted" bass to the scales of the 2010 U.S. Open at Lake Mead, Nevada.

Mike Hart of Winnetka, Calif., was one of a handful of pros who had three dead fish to their name 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.

Hart was the only one on the list who had moved into the money and when he brought his fish to the scales today (Wed., July 21) tournament directors John Cassidy and Billy Egan felt what seemed to indicate weights. Hart's fish were taken immediately to be inspected in front of law-enforcement and Nevada Fish and Wildlife officials and lead weights were found in all of the fish Hart presented. 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," said WON BASS tournament director Harvey Naslund. "We plan on pressing charges against Mr. Hart and we will void any victories he has had in any past WON Bass events."

Photo: WON Bass

Here are photos of the weights removed from the stomach of a bass allegedly presented by Mike Hart at today's weigh-in.

The Hart name is known to almost all Southern California tournament anglers.

Hart, in tandem with partner John "Zanko" Viazanko, have torn up the Southern California fishing scene over the past several years. This year, the duo won six of the seven events in the WON Bass Southern California Teams division. Competitions were held at Castaic and Pyramid. The year before, the duo won four of the seven Southern California WON Bass team events.

Over in National Bass West, Hart and Viazanko won three of this year's six events in the Southwest division. Additionally, Hart and partner Aaron Fischinger won a National Bass West Friends of Castaic benefit tournament in May of this year.

Notably, there were reports of a fish cage found by anglers in Pyramid Lake in April of this year.

Prior to teaming with Zanko, Hart fished with big-bass specialist Bill Siemantel. Siemantel told BassFan tonight that he hasn't fished with Hart as a partner for at least 3 years. Siemantel now fishes with Troy Lindner, son of legendary angler Al Lindner.

"In team tournaments when I fished with Mike for a few years, we did very well," Siemantel said. "We won the K-Frog truck down at Diamond Valley and we fished very well together. In all the years I fished with Mike, I never saw anything that would tarnish his reputation. That being said, I've not fished with Mike or been around Mike in the last 3 years."

Carol Martens, mother of Aaron Martens and a California tournament angler herself, noted to BassFan: "What does this disturbing and shocking discovery mean for all of us who've been giving him our team-tournament money at almost every tournament for a couple of years now?"

Today's events marked the second major cheating scandal in the past year. In April, Texas angler Robby Rose pled guilty to charges that he cheated at the 2009 Ray Hubbard Bud Light Trail Big Bass Tournament. He was sentenced to 15 days in jail and 5 years probation.

According to the Rockwall County District Attorney's office, Rose admitted that he inserted a 1-pound lead weight into a fish he'd caught. The fish was weighed by tournament officials. First place in the event was a new Legend bass boat, valued at $55,000.

In comparison, 1st place at the U.S. Open is regularly valued at approximately $100,000.

There's not yet an indication as to whether Hart will be criminally charged in Nevada, although Nevada law-enforcement officials were present today. Additionally, Lake Mead is a border water with major portions in Arizona, which could mean that if officials feel Hart committed fraud, and crossed state lines with his boat at any time in the event, he possibly could be charged at the federal level.

BassFan will continue to track this story and report further developments.