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2005 Bassmaster Classic: Pittsburgh, PA Day One: The first day of the Classic ended with many anglers wondering what strategies they needed to use to catch larger fish or ANY fish for that mattter. Jimmy Mize from Arkansas manager the largest bag on Friday with 6 pounds and 2 ounces followed by Aaron Martens and Stacey King tied at 5 pounds and 1 ounce. Rounding out the top five are Preston Clark from Florida at 4 pounds 14 ounces and Kevin Van Dam with 4 pounds and 11 ounces. For those who targeted largemouth bass on the Ohio the day turned into a practice day. Dean Rojas said he started the day out competing but after a few hours with no results he spent the rest of the day learning what he needed to do for the next day of the tournament. Dave Palmer from Roseburg, Oregon said that he would target smallmouth bass Saturday in hopes of catching some fish he can put in his live well. Other anglers who fished with smaller baits seemed to fare better and some came to the weigh-in with limits or near limits. But all the fish are small, in the 1-1.5 pound range. Only two fish over two pounds were caught Friday by Kevin Van Dam (2.14) and Stacey King (2.14). The winner of the Greatest Angler of all Time debate, Rick Clunn, came in with an empty live well but had this to say about the difficulty of fishing this water: "If no one limits I can blame the water; but if just one person limits I have to blame myself." The fish are there as Gary Klein and Aaron Martens showed by catching over 50 fish between them. Most of these fish, however, were smaller than the 12 inch minimum. But for Clunn this is good news: "Something had to spawn all those small fish." On day two this field of anglers will be looking for the breeders of the brood they were catching Friday. For some, a big fish is what they'll need to save themselves from being eliminated after the cut to 25 on Saturday. Day Two: (6pm) A marriage proposal, a "lunker" weighing 1 pound 15 ounces, a PETA protest, and a top five field shaping up to be one of the closest and lightest Classics in years. Andre Moore brought his girlfriend, Kim Bain, onto the stage during his weigh-in and asked her to marry her Saturday; Jeff Reynolds took the lead for the day in the Big Bass for day two with his 1unker bass; PETA protestors handed out pamphlets that claim that fish feel pain and that hooking fish in the mouth is like "dentistry without Novacain, drilling into exposed nerves" and that fish intelligence is greater than we typically think of; and less than 16 ounces separate the top four anglers so far today (Aaron Martens, 9'01''; Mike Iaconellii, 8'03''; Kevin Van Dam, 8'02''; and Jeff Reynolds, 8'01'') -- maybe PETA is right about fish intelligence. Less than 21 ounces separates the top five pack (rounding out that pack so far is Scott Rook with 7'15''. The sixth place angler so far, Gerald Swindle, falls only 3 ounces below that at 7'12''. Time will tell if that pack stays this tight today but with most of the anglers weighed in, it looks good for an extremely exciting finish on Sunday. Day Three: (4pm) The final weigh-in has just begun and Kevin Van Dam is the one to watch as he is bringing back a limit of bass. With Jeff Reynolds blanking today and Aaron Martens keeping only three fish out of eleven today, Van Dam is perched on the edge of his second Classic victory. But the day isn't over yet and there is still Mike Iaconnelli with three of eleven fish to weigh in as well Gerald Swindle with four fish to weigh. And it is the Classic so anything can still happen. We'll post another update later in the weigh in. (7pm) It's over and Kevin Van Dam squeaked out a 6 ounce victory over Aaron Martens for his second Classic victory. Aaron was obviously frustrated at another close loss but his fishing intellect is going to carry him into many victories in the future. The hottest angler in the world right now, Van Dam, won his third major tournament in a row (two previous Elite 50 tournaments prior to the 2005 Classic) with a three-day total of 12 pounds and 15 ounces in front of a Sunday weigh-in crowd of 13,413 BASS fans. This was the lightest Classic ever. The previous lightest classic was in 1987 when George Cochran won with 15-05 (he finished 4th this year). It was also one of the narrowest margins of victory. Van Dam and Martens were separated by a mere 6 ounces tying for the fifth narrowest margin of victory set in 1988 by Guido Hibdon. In so many ways this Classic was one of the toughest in decades. Rounding out the top five finish are Gerald Swindle (11-13), George Cochran (11-10), and Micheal Iaconnelli (11-5). The Junior Bassmaster Championship was won by Scott Gettings (15-18 year old group) who fished with Jimmy Mize and Joey Nania (11-14 year old group) who was partnered with Kevin Van Dam. Big Bass for Day Three was won by Edwin Evers (1-15) who also closed the Day Three competition out with an impressive bag (for these waters) of 4 bass that weighed in at 6-02. Overall the 2005 Classic featured only 8 limits during the three day run. Catch all the interviews with the anglers on tonight's Rod and Reel Radio show. Video Clips:
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