Havasu story

LAKE HAVASU CITY, AZ. - Dave Mitchell, the local pro who owns and operates Sweetwater Tackle, used his jigs and soft baits to put together two good days on Lake Havasu and claimed the title on Sunday in the WON BASS Miller High Life Tour.

Mitchell, who has been fishing tournaments for more than two decades and moved to Lake Havasu from Riverside several years ago, had days of 14.75 and 11.75 pounds to accumulate 26.50 pounds and win the championship and the Ranger 518VX bass boat with a Mercury outboard, Exide Stowaway batteries, MotorGuide trolling motor and Lowrance Electronics.

"The key was that I didn't pre-fish on the spots I was going to fish in the tournament," said Mitchell. "These fish at Havasu just don't like the pressure and when you catch them in practice they usually won't bite again at tournament time."

Steve Davies of North Edwards had his highest finish on the Tour with 25.66 pounds in second place and won $5,500. Third place in the Pro division was taken by Cary Serklew of San Juan Capistrano with 25.02 pounds, good for a payday of $4,500.

While Mitchell is a Ranger boat owner, he was not registered in the Ranger Cup program, but that award of $500 went to fourth place finisher Gabe Bolivar of Ramona, last year's champion, who had 29.43 pounds. Gabe also had the top stringer of the day and the top bass of the day in the Miller High Life Daily Double. All totaled, Bolivar went home with $7,000! The second largest bass of the day earned $500 AAA angler Daniel Vachon of Lakeside with a 4.33 pounder.
In fifth spot for the tournament was Eric Brewer of Nuevo with 24.76 for $3,000. Winnings of $2,000 went to sixth place with Bill Case of Orange weighing 23.98 pounds.

In the AAA division, the championship went to David Kemper of Tempe, AZ, with 27.84 pounds, winning $1,250. Second place went to Doug Engh of Valencia with 24.46 pounds for $1,000. Third was taken by George Thiel of Upland with 23.88 pounds and $800 in prize money. The fishing was not as good as on the first day of the tournament, with only a couple dozen limits and much lighter weights overall. There were just over 400 bass weighed on Sunday.

On the first day, Mitchell was paired with Larry White of Peoria, AZ, on the first round as the pair moved into the lead with a limit totaling 14.75 pounds. Tossing Mitchell's Sweetwater Jigs, the two anglers included White's 3.86 pounder in the stringer as they captured the top stringer of the day.

In second place was the pairing of Bill Case of Orange and Lajos Draviczki of Placentia, who had 14.29 pounds including the day's largest bass, a 5.25 pounder that won $1,500 for Draviczki in the Miller High Life Daily Double.

Steve Davies held third spot with 14.19 pounds as he and AAA Jim Hundley of Temecula checked in with their limit. As expected, it was generally good fishing posted by the field of anglers, as light breezes and overcast skies kept the temperatures in the 80s in the morning but gave way the clearer skies in the afternoon as temperatures rose into the high 90s. The anglers weighed in a total of 515 bass over the 13-inch minimum size with 510 of the fish released after the weigh-in. The fish averaged 2.05 pounds each. Anglers in every boat had fish to weigh and 81 of the top 88 pairings had limits of 5 bass.

In the option pools for the top stringer of the day, Byron Velvick of Boulder City, NV was in 12th place overall but had the top Pro stringer, while Matt Pesin of Long Beach was 4th overall but first in the AAA stringer option at 13.12 pounds while fishing with Eric Brewer of Nuevo. Second place in the Miller High Life Daily Double was Jim Sleight of Jamul with a 5.07 pounder, which earned him the $500 bonus for the day.