Cody Steckel in second at 38th Event from Lake Mead

by Dan O’Sullivan

Las Vegas, Nev. – October 12, 2020 – Any time the anglers converge on Callville Bay marina and the waters of Lake Mead for the WON Bass U.S. Open, anything can happen. It is not unusual to find extreme weather conditions and tough fishing as the norm for the event. In the case of the 2020 Bass Cat Boats / Mercury WON Bass U.S. Open, the event was welcomed with Chamber of Commerce weather and the usual tough bite.

While most anglers want wind and waves to trigger the bass bite, high skies and slick conditions were the canvas for the field to begin applying the strokes that would become the portrait that is each WON Bass U.S. Open.

When conditions slick off, anglers can try to force the bite they found in practice or fall back to something that requires a little more deftness. That is precisely that day one leader Tom Nokes and AAA his partner Luke Spreitzer chose to do. The pair produced a stellar 12.69-pound limit to take the day one lead of the 2020 Bass Cat Boats / Mercury WON Bass U.S. Open

The pair reported trying to run aggressive patterns fist thing this morning, but when the fish didn’t respond, they hunkered down. “We went to our water and the fish weren’t responding to our presentations early, so we turned to dropshotting, and they bit,” said Nokes. “We were able to cull a couple of fish later in the day and expand on my area, so I feel like I have something to go on going forward.”

Not to be outdone, pro Cody Steckel and his AAA partner Clara Ricabal put 11.44 pounds on the scales at Callville Bay to finish the day in second place. Steckel said that it could have been better. “I kind of expected to have a decent day with the practice I had and saw some fish that would have made today very interesting,” he said. “I caught everything fairly close to takeoff, and on plastics, so I think I’ll be able to continue event in the conditions.

Robert Maddox and his AAA Partner Christopher Dix brought 11.18 pounds to the scales to finish the day in third place, they were followed in fourth place by Carl Limerick and Len Scinto with 10.82 pounds, and rounding out the top five was the team of John Stewart and Kyle Charles with 10.63 pounds.