Kota Kiriyama Sacks 93 Pounds of Smallmouth......Earns His First Elite Series Win

 Story By Brent Conway - Photos by Mark Jeffreys and Matt Pangrac 

Buffalo, NY – With just five full fishing days left in the 2008 Elite Series season, Sunday morning’s launch at the Empire Chase was strictly business as all 12 remaining anglers were focused on what lay ahead. For some, it was a punishing 60 mile run to Dunkirk or beyond, while others were fishing relatively close to launch, needing to make up some serious ground on the leader.

The tournament this week went just about as predicted with lots of wind, serious waves, and tons of smallmouth. Practice began with high winds on Monday, which went flat on Tuesday, only to return to full force winds again by Wednesday. This created a very unstable practice for many who simply opted to focus on areas of the lake that wouldn’t require making a long run.

Others, like Day Two leader Mike Iaconelli, opted to practice in lieu of the wind but set out to find areas where he could fish regardless of which direction the wind blew. Still others in the Top 12 ran to areas of Erie where they’d been successful before. Edwin Evers, last year’s Empire Chase winner, and Kotaro Kiryama, who finished the 2007 event in second place, both went back to the exact same waters.

Aaron Martens was over eight pounds away from catching the Silent Ninja, weighing 20-12 Sunday to give him a four-day total weight of 85-1. Edwin Evers ended the week in third place, weighing 20-4 on the final day for a total weight of 84-8.

In fourth place was Arizona’s John Murray, who brought 19-3 to the stage Sunday to boost his four-day total weight to 79-14. Mike Iaconelli ended the week in fifth with 79-7 after bringing in 17-6, and Todd Faircloth, now in control of the Toyota Tundra Angler of the Year Race, rounded out the Super Six with 77-11 by bagging 21-14 Sunday.

1st Place: Kotaro Kiriyama
Kota Kiriyama has a well-deserved nickname as “The Silent Ninja” because he has the ability to sneak up from behind and do serious damage. Last year at this same event, Kota came from outside the Top 12 on the second day of the tournament to secure a spot in Sunday’s final round, and came within five pounds of taking home a win.

This year, fishing the same water and bait as 2007, the goal for Kota was a win, both for his career and for his ailing father back home in Japan. “My father is responsible for me being here and doing what I love,” he explained. “I wanted this win for my career, but I wanted him to see me win at this level before he passes away too.

“All day long I kept thinking that my father must be watching and would be worried if I was catching them or not. I was very happy to come to the stage and weigh my fish because I knew that he was watching and was very proud.”

Kota explained that over the final two days of the tournament, his fish moved from one day to the next. He was able to pinpoint the reason that they moved, which aided him in finding them the next day. “Rather than graphing structure I focused on graphing the bait,” he explained. “Structure is good to, but without the bait you won’t have any fish.

“I would find the structure first and then start graphing away from the structure to find the bait – and figure out where they were moving to – and then find the bigger fish.”

To get the win, however, Kota had to endure an extremely long run in brutal conditions – something that he certainly didn’t take lightly. “I have a very tough and well-built boat, so I was never really worried about the equipment,” he said. “I did take extra precaution with my trolling motor though and kept four straps on it as opposed to the one that most people have. 

“I knew that the service crews were available should I have a motor problem, but if you lose a trolling motor you are basically out of luck. That was something that I wasn’t willing to risk, so I made sure to take the waves very gently and have my trolling motor strapped down as well as I could.”

With the trophy in hand, Kota allowed himself a moment to reflect on his win. “It’s just wonderful,” he said. “I’ve never won at this level, so it gives me a lot of confidence. I’ve been doing very well this year, but this really gives me a boost to get to the next level to be able to have a plan and run it flawlessly.”

Key to the win: “Without a doubt it was the spot that I fished. Saturday I had over four hours to fish, but on Thursday I had less than an hour. You can see that even with the limited time I had to work with, I was still able to catch them well. That’s a result of the spot.”

2nd Place: Aaron Martens
Aaron Martens has begrudgingly earned a reputation for being in second place more than any one else. While that may not be true statistically, one thing is certain: he always seems to be in the middle of the action. Going out Sunday morning knowing that to catch Kiriyama he would have to climb a mountain, he was hoping, at the least, that the fish would cooperate so he’d have a chance. 

“The fishing was better for numbers, but I just didn’t get the quality bites I needed today,” he said. “There are literally hundreds of fish out there so catching them is never really a problem, but getting the right fish is the struggle. I threw back three or four 20-pound bags today I know.” 

Aaron pointed out that the absence of six-pounders in his boat’s live well wasn’t because he wasn’t around them either. “The spot I fished this week has so many five- and six-pound fish swimming around that it would make you sick,” he said. “The problem is that most times the more aggressive fish are usually the 2 to 3 pounders that bite first. 

Martens stayed in the 45 to 50 foot range all week, dropshotting a Robo Worm with a ¾-ounce Tungsten weigh and seven-pound Sun line fluorocarbon. “I’m pretty sure that (the Robo Worm) is the best worm for this lake,” he said. “I had three spinning rods on the deck, but I really only ever used the one with the Rob Worm set up.”

Looking back on the week, Martens feels like wasted time may have been his undoing. “I had some motor problems the first day, but I can’t do anything about that,” he said. “I spent maybe a little too much time a few times this week looking for fish. I’m just thankful that my trolling motor worked every time I got there this week.”

3rd Place: Edwin Evers
Last year, Edwin Evers came to Erie and showed the world what true arcade-style bass fishing is all about. This week, he used his Lowrance electronics and drop shot rig to be a player from day one of the tournament. “I probably excel the most when I’m able to use my electronics,” he said. “I have a real good understanding of my electronics and how best to use them in order to maximize my ability to connect with these schools of smallmouth.” 

As a result of his gaming lesson on Erie in ’07, Evers found that his winning spot was no longer a secret as he had no less than five other competitor boats on his water. “I had two main spots this week,” he said. “I never actually made it to the exact spot that I won on because of the other boats. 

“There were a couple of other little key areas just off of it that I found, but I had to share them with Aaron Martens and Rick Morris. 

With well over 160 pounds of smallmouth coming off the two spots between three anglers over the week, it’s not doubt that the spots Evers (and company) had were special. “The key is finding the little rock piles where bait is gathered up,” Evers said. 
“The one key area that I fished last year was about 500- to 600-yards away from where I fished this year.

“Finding areas where the bait will gather up out on the fringes puts you in business.”

4th Place: John Murray
Coming out of the west, John Murray may not have a lot of experience on Erie-sized waters, but he makes up for it through his understanding of deepwater structure fishing. “When I don’t have to make a cast shallower than 30 feet, I’m pretty happy,” he said. “That’s how it was here all week long. I just love this place.” 

I started where I’ve always started and lost one four-and-a-half-pounder and then caught two or three little ones,” he said. “It was just a strange deal so I moved to another spot and someone had pulled in there too. I was able to get back in there and finish out my limit. I was on the cusp of having a really bad day, but thankfully I was able to get over it.

Like all but a few, Murray revealed (to no surprise) that he was dropshotting a Gulp Leech this week. “I spent all week dropshotting Gulp products on eight-pound green fluorocarbon line,” he said. “Anytime you have smallmouths, Gulp products will outperform anything.”

Murray explained that he upgraded his hook size in order to ensure a higher hook-to-boat ratio. “I only lost two fish all week long,” he said. “I like to think it’s because of the bigger hook, but it might be that it was just a confidence thing too. Either way, I just knew that with as hard as these fish fight, I wanted to have the odds in my favor as much as possible.”

Looking back on the week, Murray explained that there wouldn’t be much he would change if he could. “The last day of practice, I went to Dunkirk and I wish now that I wouldn’t have done that,” he said. “If you look at what Iaconelli was able to do just fishing right out here in front of the weigh-in, you have to ask yourself if running all over the lake is really worth it. In the end though, I fell like I maximized my fishing time as well as I could have.”

5th Place: Mike Iaconelli
Mike Iaconelli came to Buffalo with the goal of earning a spot inside the Top 50 in order to secure a spot in the Classic. To ensure a spot in Saturday’s field, he opted to work hard in practice finding enough areas that, regardless of which direction the wind blew from, he’d be able to fish unhindered. “I fished all week long within sight of downtown Buffalo,” he explained. 

“I practiced on each shore in order to have water regardless of which way the wind blew. The north shore really paid off today when the wind changed directions and I’m glad that I put in the work during practice. 

Ike explained that 90% of his fish this week came on the drop shot. “The Tru-Tungsten finesse worm rigged wacky style was key for me this week because it accounted for a lot of my bigger fish,” he said. “Of course, the Berkley Gulp Leech was key too. It’s just the workhorse on Erie. I caught so many fish this week with that combination. It was just incredible!”

Much was said this week about the brutal runs that the anglers were making – all the broken trolling-motor mounts, swamped engines, and sore backs. Ike, on the other hand, was fishing within 10 minutes of leaving the launch each day. “Staying close by was critical in my success this week,” he said. “I know without a doubt that I was around the winning school of fish, I just wasn’t able to capitalize on the right bites.”

In retrospect, Ike said that he had a great week and wouldn’t change a thing. “The tournament just exceeded all my expectations,” he said. “I’m pumped to be able to come in here with a tournament to go and have the kind of week like I did. It’s just awesome and makes me real happy.”

6th Place: Todd Faircloth
Texas pro Todd Faircloth is one of only two anglers who has cashed a check in each of the 10 events of 2008, so to say he’s consistent would be an understatement. That consistency had earned him second place in the TTAOY race coming into the week – problem was VanDam was in first and this week would be about smallmouth, which KVD is a master at catching.

Seemingly paying no attention to the hype, Faircloth went out and fished as consistent as he has all week and earned a top six finish to take control of the tight points race. Were it not for a slight misstep Saturday, it would have likely been a top three finish. “I wish I had Saturday to do over,” he said. “I kind of stumbled and made some decisions to fish water that I hadn’t fished.” 

Wanting to make the most of his opportunity to further distance himself from the most dangerous man in bass fishing, Todd swung for the fences Sunday. “Today I just sort of ground it out on my two best spots and was able to put together my best limit of the week,” he said. “I want to have a little cushion at Oneida because I know that it will, once again, be all about the smallmouth.

“It was pretty rough on me today though because the fish just weren’t cooperating. I just had to keep grinding around. I did catch a limit off my first spot, but they were all pretty small.”

Todd revealed a little-known strategy many Elite anglers employ at Erie. “If it wasn’t over two-and-a-half- to three-pounds I wouldn’t even put it in the live well,” he said. “When you’re dealing with ounces, with as tight as the weights are here, you can’t mess around with anything less than that. The worst thing would be to have one of those little fish in the box and have it go belly up. Then you’re stuck with it.”

Unlike many in the field this week, Faircloth wasn’t fishing Berkley Gulp. “I caught every one of my fish this week on a Yamamoto Shad Shake worm in Natural Shad on six- and eight-pound Seguar fluorocarbon,” he revealed. “To me, the natural shad color of this bait represents the Goby that these smallmouths feed on so much better.” 

Now that this tournament is in the books, Todd is able to focus on next week’s final event at Oneida but he’s very conscious of how easy it is to let the pressure he’s under get to him. “I got a little rattled out there yesterday when I wasn’t catching them like I should have been,” he said. “I was able to remind myself that it’s just fishing and was able to put my head down and stay with it.”

7th Place: Gary Klein
Final-Day Thoughts: “Today was a lot of fun, but I didn’t get the big bites I needed. I fished the same water as I’ve been fishing all week and had a lot of bites but wasn’t able to get the big ones when it mattered most.”

8th Place: Shaw Grigsby
Final-Day Thoughts: “I think the first drop of the day I caught my biggest fish of the day. So it started off pretty good, but wasn’t able to get any quality bites after that. Usually, I would get five to eight quality bites a day. Today I had one.

9th Place: Glenn Delong
Final-Day Thoughts: “Today was real slow. I actually didn’t have a limit until about 2:00. I went out to one of my deep spots with a ledge on it and the screen just lit up. I made one drift and was able to finish out my limit. I caught one big fish on a one-ounce tube and watched him smoke it on the graph. It was so cool.”

Bait of Choice: 3-inch Berkley Fry Gulp

Biggest Challenge: “Day Two was my weak point this week. The biggest thing that day was that I didn’t get to any of my stuff. Everything I fished was close to home because my motor wouldn’t go over 1200 rpm.”

Key to the Week: “I learned so much the first three days of the tournament that I was able to use today. That’s the key in a four-day tournament. You have to be able to capitalize on what you’ve learned from one day to the next.

Week in Review: “Re-qualifying for next year has been a big issue for me coming into this event, and I knew that I had to have a good showing. At the end of the day, I’m really pleased with my performance this week.”

10th Place: Matt Reed
Final-Day Thoughts: “The weather on the final day was okay. There was a little chop out there today, and the fact is that if it doesn’t blow at least a little bit the fish won’t bite. I caught a lot of fish, but never had a big bite.”

Week in Review: “I’m really happy with how the tournament went, but I wish that I wouldn’t have stumbled. Still, I feel like I did about everything I could do to get myself in shape for the Classic, and that was one of my primary goals this week.”

11th Place: Rick Morris
Final-Day Thoughts: “Today was good because I made it back, but getting out there was pretty rough. The fish weren’t biting in this north wind, so that’s pretty much how it went. Long story short, at 1:00 I had one little fish. I managed to catch four more little swimmers, but at least I finished in the Top 12.”

12th Place: Greg Hackney
Final-Day Thoughts: “I was a little worried yesterday because four big bites pretty much made the day. I caught a bunch of fish today, but only had one of them big ones.”

Bait of Choice: StrikeKing 3-inch 3X finesse worm

DAY THREE STANDINGS