Big one doesn’t get away for Arizonans Jayson Kissleburg and Dean Rojas at Fish and Chips Tournament

By ED GODFREY, Outdoors Editor, egodfrey@opubco.com Comments 0
Published: October 25, 2009

NORMAN – All of the bites on Arbuckle Lake on Friday and Saturday were small. All but one.

Winning team Jayson Kisselburg, left, and Dean Rojas hold up their catch at the Fish and Chips Bass Tournament weigh-in at Riverwind Casino. Photo by Jaconna Aguirre, The Oklahoman

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The 9.82-pound largemouth bass caught by Lake Havasu, Ariz., angler Jayson Kissleburg on Friday weighed more than the second-place sack that day.

That lunker propelled Kisselburg, who fishes the FLW series, and his partner, fellow Lake Havasu resident and BASS Elite Series angler Dean Rojas, to victory Saturday on the bass fishing side in the "Fish and Chips” tournament, sponsored by Riverwind Casino.

The Rojas-Kisselburg team’s two-day total of 21.74 pounds on seven fish bested five-time BASS Angler of the Year Kevin VanDam and his partner, Lance Peck of Tulsa, by more than two pounds to grab the top prize of $20,000.

Norman’s Gary Giudice and Kenyon Hill, another Elite Series pro, finished third with 17.34 pounds. The teams were allowed to check in four fish each day.

Kisselburg’s near 10-pounder, caught on a tube, was more than four pounds heavier than any other bass caught during the two-day tournament.

"It helped a lot,” Kisselburg said of the tourney’s only big fish. "Some guys are complaining about the fishing, but the cold front really messed things up.”

Kisselburg and Rojas concentrated on fishing shallow, and the big bite came in 2 to 3 feet of water.

"We found some stained water and just went shallow,” Kisselburg said. "Dean likes to throw the frog, so in practice he threw the frog and I flipped and that’s how we found our pattern. We just took our flipping sticks and went to work.”

The 9.28-pounder was caught in clearer water, Kisselburg said

"We heard there were big fish in Arbuckle and we caught a 5-pounder in practice, but we didn’t expect to catch the 9.82,” he said. "It shocked us.”

Rojas and Kisselburg had more than a 6-pound lead on Hill and Giudice after Friday then held off a charge from VanDam and Peck, who brought the biggest sack to the stage on Saturday, 11.64 pounds.

"We had to catch them today, too,” Kisselburg said. "You got Kevin VanDam and all of these big-time pros here, they catch ’em.”

VanDam said he covered a lot of area on Arbuckle Lake Saturday looking for bites.

"I think it’s got a lot of fish in it,” said the two-time Bassmaster Classic champion. "I think we hit it at kind of a tough time with the lake coming up and getting dirty. I think it threw a lot of guys off.”

Rojas said the Arbuckle tournament had the feel of an Elite Series event.

"You got 25 of the guys here who fish the Elite tour. They are no slouches and we were fishing against locals who fish the lake all of the time. So if you put those two together, it’s quite a field.”

Rojas and Kisselburg now have a chance at an additional $30,000.

The poker side of the event begins today at 11 a.m. at Riverwind with a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament.

The winning poker team earns $20,0000. Another $10,000 goes to the anglers with the highest score in the bass fishing and poker tournaments combined.