HENDERSON, NV - It was perhaps the toughest bass fishing in the 20 years of the U.S. OPEN bass tournaments, but when the final weights were tallied it was a familiar name at the top of the Pro list of 169 anglers on Lake Mead - Mike Folkestad of Yorba Linda, CA - winning his second straight WON BASS Miller High Life U.S. OPEN.
Every angler found it a tough grind to post limits and Folkestad moved from third place on the second round to the top spot with only 4 bass totaling 5.71 pounds. That gave him the title with only 22.56 pounds after winning last year with 29 pounds.
First place in the Pro Division includes $50,000 cash, a Ranger 518VX bass boat and a Ford F-150 truck. The boat and trailer package features a Mercury 175 Optimax outboard, Lowrance depth finders, Trojan batteries and MotorGuide trolling motor. First place is worth more than $115,000.
Second round leader Roy Hawk of Salt Lake City, UT, slipped to 9th place with only 1 bass, but still held onto the tournament's biggest bass, 5.57 pounds on the first round to win the "Big Bass Award" from Forrest L. Wood, founder of Ranger Boats - a special Signature Edition of a Ranger 175VS with a Mercury 90 horsepower engine, Lowrance Electronics, MotorGuide trolling motor and Trojan batteries - a package valued at $20,000. He also won an additional $6,500 in big fish and big stringer cash prizes.
Second place in the Pro division went to Mark Tyler of Concord, CA, with 22.46 pounds, while third went to Mike Baldwin of Mohave Valley, AZ, with 21.19 pounds.
The AAA division title went to Murph McBride of Pioche, NV, with a 26.01 pound total, earning him $10,000, while Rick Melead of Yorba Linda, CA took second at $5,000 with 23.02 pounds.
The heavy stringer of round 3 earned $2,500 each for Pro Keith Espe of Heber, AZ, and AAA Brian Burt of Bakersfield, CA, with 8.97 pounds for 5 bass.
The five anglers winning $2,000 each for big fish awards on round 3 included: Don Payne of Modesto, 4.35; Bob Ward of Henderson, NV, 3.92; Byron Velvick of Boulder City, NV, 3.40; Rick Reynolds, Sr. of Riverside, 3.35; and Pete Marino of Ontario, CA, 3.28.
| Event Details | Results |
|---|---|
| Circuit | Won Bass |
| Location | Lake Mead |
| Event Date | 2002-09-05 |
| Entries: | 169 |
| Total Paid Out: | $57,150.00 |
| Place | Pro Angler | Fish | Weight | Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Murphy Mcbride | 15 | 26.06 | $10,000.00 |
| 2 | Rick Melead | 15 | 23.02 | $5,000.00 |
| 3 | Donald Duffey | 15 | 20.75 | $4,000.00 |
| 4 | Mike Bird | 12 | 20.65 | $3,000.00 |
| 5 | Robert Nicholson | 14 | 20.49 | $2,500.00 |
| 6 | Victor Cunningham | 15 | 19.83 | $2,000.00 |
| 7 | Chris Payne | 13 | 19.56 | $1,500.00 |
| 8 | Shinji Sato | 15 | 19.45 | $1,300.00 |
| 9 | Aaron Haring | 13 | 19.30 | $1,200.00 |
| 10 | Tim Barrett | 13 | 19.21 | $1,000.00 |
| 11 | Brian Burt | 13 | 18.44 | $3,250.00 |
| 12 | Danny Peluso | 12 | 18.36 | $750.00 |
| 13 | Robert A Hardy | 13 | 18.17 | $750.00 |
| 14 | Robert Urchike | 15 | 18.04 | $750.00 |
| 15 | David Todd | 11 | 18.03 | $750.00 |
| 16 | DeLynn Davies | 13 | 17.70 | $600.00 |
| 17 | Dean Yamagata | 13 | 17.51 | $600.00 |
| 18 | Real Andrews | 15 | 17.48 | $600.00 |
| 19 | Melissa Young | 11 | 17.42 | $600.00 |
| 20 | Mike Tafoya | 9 | 17.36 | $600.00 |
| 21 | Don Spencer | 13 | 17.26 | $600.00 |
| 22 | Ed Cummings | 13 | 16.97 | $600.00 |
| 23 | Arnold Avalos | 11 | 16.89 | $600.00 |
| 24 | Mike Clark | 13 | 16.88 | $600.00 |
| 25 | Ben Gross | 12 | 16.86 | $600.00 |
| 26 | Rudy Bolivar | 14 | 16.60 | $600.00 |
| 27 | Damon Admire | 11 | 16.59 | $3,100.00 |
| 28 | Louis Marietta | 12 | 16.43 | $600.00 |
| 28 | George Thiel | 11 | 16.43 | $600.00 |
| 30 | Joe Ochoa | 10 | 16.41 | $0.00 |
| 31 | Darin Markarian | 11 | 16.40 | $0.00 |
| 32 | Jason Chang | 12 | 16.01 | $0.00 |
| 33 | Melanie McBride | 11 | 15.93 | $0.00 |
| 34 | Dan Christy | 12 | 15.84 | $0.00 |
| 35 | Todd Holverson | 14 | 15.78 | $0.00 |
| 35 | Wayne Dubois | 10 | 15.78 | $0.00 |
| 37 | Brad Young | 13 | 15.65 | $0.00 |
| 38 | John Preston | 13 | 15.50 | $0.00 |
| 39 | Patrick S Donoho Jr | 11 | 15.46 | $0.00 |
| 40 | Tom Varden | 12 | 15.32 | $0.00 |
| 41 | Bill Gurner | 12 | 15.25 | $0.00 |
| 42 | Paul M Williams | 11 | 15.21 | $0.00 |
| 42 | Masahiro Koizumi | 13 | 15.21 | $0.00 |
| 44 | Steve Rametta | 10 | 15.03 | $0.00 |
| 45 | Jason Hackerd | 10 | 15.02 | $0.00 |
| 46 | Kirk Beardsley | 11 | 14.99 | $0.00 |
| 47 | Al Gamble | 13 | 14.89 | $0.00 |
| 48 | Bob Cagle | 11 | 14.87 | $0.00 |
| 49 | Kiyoshi Fujiwara | 10 | 14.82 | $0.00 |
| 50 | Makoto Ohata | 10 | 14.77 | $0.00 |
| 51 | Emilio Mijares | 12 | 14.74 | $0.00 |
| 52 | Brian Brewer | 11 | 14.70 | $0.00 |
| 53 | Naoyuki Honda | 10 | 14.67 | $0.00 |
| 53 | Matthew Pesin | 9 | 14.67 | $0.00 |
| 55 | Joe Uribe, Sr. | 12 | 14.59 | $0.00 |
| 56 | Ray Vella | 11 | 14.56 | $0.00 |
| 57 | Shinji Oshima | 10 | 14.48 | $0.00 |
| 58 | Charles Huffman | 10 | 14.46 | $0.00 |
| 59 | Neil Ken Kruck | 10 | 14.43 | $0.00 |
| 60 | Timothy A Myers | 8 | 14.38 | $0.00 |
| 61 | Cathi Brittenham | 10 | 14.36 | $0.00 |
| 62 | Randy Estrada | 7 | 14.30 | $2,500.00 |
| 63 | Geoffrey Mao | 10 | 14.20 | $0.00 |
| 64 | David Sims | 11 | 13.94 | $0.00 |
| 65 | Toshiyuki Kaku | 11 | 13.93 | $0.00 |
| 66 | Ted Nguyen | 7 | 13.81 | $0.00 |
| 67 | Grady Garrison | 10 | 13.77 | $0.00 |
| 68 | Jun Nomoto | 9 | 13.76 | $0.00 |
| 69 | Allen Maynard | 11 | 13.61 | $0.00 |
| 70 | Jim Cicchi | 10 | 13.59 | $0.00 |
| 71 | Alan Bongio | 8 | 13.50 | $0.00 |
| 72 | Paul Siegel | 11 | 13.38 | $0.00 |
| 73 | Tom Cilluffo | 10 | 13.35 | $0.00 |
| 74 | Oscar Delgadillo, Sr | 11 | 13.34 | $0.00 |
| 75 | Craig Kraft | 11 | 13.25 | $0.00 |
| 75 | Bill McGuigan | 10 | 13.25 | $0.00 |
| 75 | Al Bradshaw | 12 | 13.25 | $0.00 |
| 78 | Steve Carter | 9 | 13.22 | $0.00 |
| 79 | Shinji Okano | 11 | 13.19 | $0.00 |
| 80 | Hideki Maeda | 11 | 13.02 | $0.00 |
| 81 | Candy Comer | 10 | 13.01 | $0.00 |
| 82 | Steve Smith | 9 | 12.99 | $0.00 |
| 83 | Craig Dinsdale | 8 | 12.92 | $0.00 |
| 83 | Rick Engelhardt | 9 | 12.92 | $0.00 |
| 85 | Mike Hawkins | 9 | 12.89 | $0.00 |
| 86 | George Banker | 9 | 12.61 | $0.00 |
| 87 | Bill Bishop | 11 | 12.60 | $0.00 |
| 88 | Dave Turner | 9 | 12.55 | $0.00 |
| 89 | Izz Byrd | 8 | 12.53 | $0.00 |
| 90 | Kim Bain | 10 | 12.51 | $0.00 |
| 91 | Steve Watson | 10 | 12.26 | $0.00 |
| 92 | James Hundley | 10 | 12.16 | $0.00 |
| 93 | Hiroyuki Mori | 11 | 11.89 | $0.00 |
| 94 | Stoney Stone | 8 | 11.74 | $0.00 |
| 95 | Daryl Dempsey | 9 | 11.57 | $0.00 |
| 96 | John Chapman | 7 | 11.44 | $0.00 |
| 97 | Toshihiro Ishiguro | 7 | 11.42 | $0.00 |
| 98 | John Biddulph | 8 | 11.38 | $0.00 |
| 99 | Glenn Morey | 8 | 11.27 | $0.00 |
| 100 | Liz Jones | 8 | 11.24 | $0.00 |
| 101 | Yoshi Yuki | 7 | 11.19 | $0.00 |
| 102 | Rick Hillis | 10 | 11.16 | $0.00 |
| 103 | Thomas Elliott | 8 | 11.12 | $0.00 |
| 104 | Frank Young | 10 | 11.07 | $0.00 |
| 105 | Jon Strelic | 9 | 11.05 | $0.00 |
| 106 | LC Hatch | 10 | 11.00 | $0.00 |
| 107 | Pat Reddy | 8 | 10.82 | $0.00 |
| 108 | Michael Free | 8 | 10.78 | $0.00 |
| 109 | David Kemper | 9 | 10.77 | $0.00 |
| 110 | Paul Reutlinger | 8 | 10.75 | $0.00 |
| 111 | Leonard Thorpe | 7 | 10.70 | $0.00 |
| 112 | Oscar E Delgadillo, Jr | 8 | 10.53 | $0.00 |
| 113 | Kurt Howard | 9 | 10.46 | $0.00 |
| 114 | Yumiko Ishikawa | 7 | 10.34 | $0.00 |
| 115 | Tyler Brinks | 6 | 10.32 | $0.00 |
| 116 | Hitoshi Odagiri | 9 | 10.31 | $0.00 |
| 117 | Dale Merry | 7 | 10.23 | $2,000.00 |
| 118 | Lonnie Hix | 6 | 10.21 | $0.00 |
| 119 | Bob Kiser | 5 | 10.20 | $0.00 |
| 120 | Mitch Mitcheltree | 8 | 9.84 | $0.00 |
| 121 | Michael Guerrero | 9 | 9.83 | $0.00 |
| 122 | Debra Cunningham | 5 | 9.64 | $0.00 |
| 123 | Tim Compise | 7 | 9.51 | $0.00 |
| 124 | Yuichi Yamane | 8 | 9.33 | $0.00 |
| 125 | Mike Lovelle | 8 | 9.20 | $0.00 |
| 126 | James Gross | 8 | 9.19 | $0.00 |
| 127 | Hiroyuki Nagata | 6 | 9.08 | $0.00 |
| 128 | Richard Carpenter | 7 | 8.90 | $0.00 |
| 129 | Raphael Samuel | 6 | 8.86 | $0.00 |
| 130 | Jimmy Jones | 7 | 8.83 | $0.00 |
| 131 | Michael McLernon | 6 | 8.81 | $0.00 |
| 132 | Jun Yada | 7 | 8.80 | $0.00 |
| 133 | Jim Noble | 5 | 8.70 | $2,000.00 |
| 134 | Yoshihiro Ejima | 7 | 8.58 | $0.00 |
| 135 | Masahiro Okubo | 7 | 8.50 | $0.00 |
| 136 | James Pena | 7 | 8.49 | $0.00 |
| 137 | Clayton Rich | 6 | 8.43 | $0.00 |
| 138 | John Silk | 7 | 8.38 | $0.00 |
| 139 | Pete Marino | 5 | 8.20 | $2,000.00 |
| 140 | Todd Herman | 6 | 7.88 | $0.00 |
| 141 | Terry Varden | 6 | 7.76 | $0.00 |
| 142 | David Bruce | 7 | 7.60 | $0.00 |
| 143 | Mika Suzuki | 7 | 7.59 | $0.00 |
| 144 | Bruce Hardy | 8 | 7.58 | $0.00 |
| 145 | Megumi Takagi | 7 | 7.51 | $0.00 |
| 146 | Harvey Naslund | 6 | 7.46 | $0.00 |
| 147 | Ronald Cross | 6 | 7.43 | $0.00 |
| 148 | Hiroshi Ejima | 4 | 7.38 | $0.00 |
| 148 | Edgar Uyema | 7 | 7.38 | $0.00 |
| 150 | Stephen Foster | 5 | 7.23 | $0.00 |
| 151 | George Malarsie | 6 | 7.00 | $0.00 |
| 152 | Keith Ferlanie | 6 | 6.97 | $0.00 |
| 153 | Randy Bruno | 6 | 6.94 | $0.00 |
| 154 | Jason Caine | 6 | 6.78 | $0.00 |
| 155 | Kenta Kaneko | 4 | 6.67 | $0.00 |
| 156 | David Albrecht | 6 | 6.32 | $0.00 |
| 157 | Tim Demecs | 5 | 6.26 | $0.00 |
| 158 | Lance Dudley | 4 | 5.55 | $0.00 |
| 159 | Jamie Shaw | 4 | 5.31 | $0.00 |
| 160 | Bryan O Lutz | 4 | 5.16 | $0.00 |
| 161 | Bob Ingersoll | 4 | 5.13 | $0.00 |
| 162 | Jeff Larson | 4 | 5.02 | $0.00 |
| 163 | Rick Minor | 3 | 4.77 | $0.00 |
| 164 | Tatsuo Goto | 4 | 4.65 | $0.00 |
| 165 | Junichi Katori | 4 | 4.43 | $0.00 |
| 166 | Mike Guerra | 3 | 3.67 | $0.00 |
| 167 | John Senterfitt | 2 | 3.22 | $0.00 |
| 168 | Robert W Holder, Jr | 2 | 2.85 | $0.00 |
| 169 | Terry Stark | 2 | 2.40 | $0.00 |
