Cliff Pirch moves to the front of the U.S. Open
LAS VEGAS--The second day of the 25th edition of the U.S. Open on Lake Mead saw Cliff Pirch of Payson, Arizona surge into the lead. His two-day total of 21.67 pounds gave him a 3-pound cushion over second place. If he can hold on, he stands to win the $150,000 top prize.
With no winds to cool down the 103 degree desert temperatures, nonetheless, the field produced similar sacks to the first day and tightened the field behind Pirch, who weighed in 10.22 pounds on Tuesday.
"I'm around a lot of fish," said Pirch who fished solo for the second straight day. "It was better wind direction," he said. "It started out of the West and switched to the South. I fished the west-facing and then south-facing banks today."
First day leader Jamie Cyphers of Cedar City, Utah moved up one spot to second place with a sack weighing 7.89 pounds and a total of 18.51 pounds. "It was tougher today," said Cyphers. "We had a lot of bites, but smaller fish."
Still, he feels he still has a chance to pull this one out. "I've got two areas that have bigger fish. I lost another good one today, but I could make one lucky cast to move up."
Andy Jackson of Boulder City, Nev. Holds down third spot with 18.42 pounds, while Mitch Southern of San Bernardino jumped all the way to fourth place from 54th place with 11.11 pounds on the day, but was mum about his day. He has 17.43 pounds.
Fifth place went to Jim Wells of Fruitland, Idaho, who moved up from 37th place with 10.31 pounds today for a total of 17.30 pounds. Sixth place is held Shaun Bailey of Lake Havasu City with a total of 18.84 pounds after weighing 9.60 pounds.
Three-time Open winner Mike Folkestad added 9.61 pounds today and closed to 7th place with a total of 16.84 pounds. "The fish were biting today," he said noting he had "24 keepers" on the day. "I'm not doing anything different, the fish were biting shallow today."
Rounding out the top 10 spots were Brian Grier of Salinas in eighth place with 16.55 pounds; Mark Dotterer of Scottsdale, Ariz. in 9th with 15.97 pounds and in 10th, Leon Knight of Tehachapi, Calif. with15.95 pounds.
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