By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

Josh Bertrand often uses baseball analogies to describe scenarios in tournament fishing. He called the WON Bass U.S. Open's move from water-depleted Lake Mead down the Colorado River to Lake Mohave "a fastball right down the middle" for him.

With the ability to focus on smallmouth bass exclusively, Bertrand led wire-to-wire en route to winning the most prestigious event in the West. Partially due to his lofty regard for the 40-year-old tournament, he pegged the victory as the pinnacle of his career to date.

It was his first win since the Bassmaster Elite Series event at the St. Lawrence River in 2018 and his first Top-10 showing since 2020.

"The last 2 years (on the MLF Bass Pro Tour) I've had really consistent seasons, finishing in the 20s in the points and making REDCREST, but when you don't get close to winning there's a lot that's unfulfilled," the Arizona resident said. "I've been really anxious, if not to win, then to at least threaten a couple times. I had some close calls in 2020, but the all the 20s and 30s I've had the last 2 years don't really do the job.

"That, along with how much I care about this tournament in general, make this the best thing I've accomplished in fishing. I was a lot more nervous going into the last day with the lead than I'd ever been before. Winning a regular-season event is a huge deal, but there's eight of those a year. This tournament is once a year and when you get that close, you don't want to lose it."

Tailor-Made Venue

Bertrand had visited Lake Mohave, which sits at the southern tip of Nevada along the border with Arizona, just once before. He made a 2-day trip in July after it was announced that the tournament would have to be relocated from Mead, where water levels are at historic lows.

Mohave may not be home to more smallmouth than Mead, but the size of the typical fish at Mohave is several steps above.

"Mead has more fish in it and you can get more bites there in a day," he said. "This lake, in my opinion, has a really good balance of bait and bass. The bass are so much bigger on average – you can catch 6-inch smallmouth at Mead all day, but it's hard to catch a 2-pounder."

The tournament had a summertime feel to it, with extremely warm air temperatures and no wind to speak of. The latter condition is exceedingly rare on desert lakes in October.

Bertrand, along with his AAA partners, caught stringers that weighed 23.45, 20.34 and 17.99 pounds for a 61.78 total. He hedged out runner-up Spencer Shuffield to top the Pro division.

He employed a dropshot rig to catch fish at depths ranging from 20 to 45 feet in the mid-lake region. He said there was no specific key depth due to different water coloring in various places.

"I caught some shallow fish in practice just because I wanted to be ready in case it got windy or something like that," he said. "If it had gotten windy, the tournament might've been a whole different story."

He caught about a dozen keepers on each of the first 2 days, laying off of his fish fairly early on both days, and then perhaps nine of the final day. Most came from rocky cover, some were relating to deep grass and a few were keyed in on bait.

"The last day was much harder, probably due to the pressure from me and other boats," he said. "The water level was falling – if the tournament had been 3 weeks ago before they started dropping it, there would've been tules, grass and a shocking amount of wood to fish. With the water coming down 8 to 10 feet, I felt like it was pulling those fish off the bank."

Gear Notes

> Dropshot gear: 6'10" Abu Garcia Pro Series Josh Bertrand Dropshot Rod, size 30 Abu Garcia Revo MGX spinning reel, 8-pound Berkley X5 Braid (main line), 6-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon (leader), 3/8-ounce Bass Pro Shops XPS Tungsten Finesse Dropshot Weight (cylindrical), No. 1 Berkley Fusion19 Drop Shot Hook, Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Flat Worm (green pumpkin).

> He used the brown back and black colors of the Flat Worm to catch a few fish on the final day.

> He relied heavily on Garmin LiveScope forward-facing sonar. "It was big-time. There were times when you could catch one just casting, but I was glued to it the whole time. The new LVS34 transducer is amazing."