Entry 122-5
Mark Rose Goes Head-to-Head With Classic Champ Omori
Why the Priorities?
Editor's Note: Strike King Pro Team member, Mark Rose, won $16,000 at the FLW Championship in Birmingham, Alabama, in August, 2004. However, in one of the most-significant events at the championship, Rose was pitted against Takahiro Omori, who had won the 2004 Bassmaster Classic only a few weeks earlier. Omori was riding high, since he was the first Japanese angler to win the Classic and had won one of the biggest purses in competitive fishing. At the FLW tournament, Omori was fishing for $1/2 million. We wondered what Rose's game plan was to defeat the latest Bass Classic Master's champion and asked him to tell us his winning strategy.
SK: Mark, you said that three F's controlled your life - your faith, your family and fishing. Why do you keep the F's in this order?
Rose: My faith is important to me, my family is important to me, and my fishing is important to me. But I've seen a lot of families break up when fishermen put their fishing ahead of their families or ahead of their faith. If I lose my faith or my family and become the best fishermen the world has ever seen, then what have I gained? Now I'm not saying that some of the greatest fishermen forget about their faith or their families because they don't. However, for me to be the very best fisherman that I can be, I know I'll to work a whole lot harder than I'm working now. I have a 6-year old and a wife I really care about having time with and am just not willing to give up that time with my family right now to be as good a fishermen as I may can become.
SK: Mark, do you always recommend that an angler try and catch a limit first if he's fishing a tournament?
Rose: Getting a limit first is a good rule of thumb. However, you have to know when to break the rule to take advantage of opportunities. For instance, you may find some really big bass biting right at first light. If you're going to catch some, you've got to fish top-water lures early to try and get that big fish bite first before you worry about your limit of bass. Another time you don't go for the limit first is when you have a tidal situation. Maybe you've found big fish biting when the tide starts coming in or going out. So when you're facing the tidal situation, regardless of how many fish you have in the boat when that tide moves and those bigger bass go on a feeding spree, you have to try and catch those bigger bass. So even though I believe in consistency in catching a limit every day that I fish, there are certain days, times and tournaments where I don't try and get the limit before I try and get the big bass. I just want to make sure that regardless of when I get the limit that before the day is over, I always try and get the limit. I never suggest that a bass fisherman lock himself into a game plan where he can't take advantage of changes in weather, tide and/or fishing conditions. When you have an opportunity to catch a big fish, then no matter how many fish you have in the boat, you take advantage of that opportunity. Just try and make sure you come in with a bag of fish.
SK: When you go for an early top-water bite the first hour or two of a tournament, what lure will you be using?
Rose: I either like a 1/4-ounce top-water Strike King buzzbait or the Spit-N-King.
SK: Are you doing anything special on that buzzbait?
Rose: Yes, I am. I take the buzzbait apart, and I scrub the ends of my blades with sandpaper. Then I bend the pop rivets out a little bit toward the blade and rough it up with sandpaper. Then I pour a little bit of vinegar on both the pop rivets and the blades to give the buzzbait a rusty squeaky sound that I believe really causes the bass to come up on top and take it better.
SK: What's the secret to fishing a Spit-N-King?
Rose: The real secret to fishing a Spit-N-King is knowing when to fish it how. For instance, in the spring of the year I will chug this bait, stop it, let it sit for a minute and then chug the bait again. But later on in the summer and the early fall, I'll keep this bait really moving fast because that's the time of year when bass are chasing a bait and want a faster-moving bait. Another thing to remember is the Spit-N-King is most effective when bass are pulling to the outer edge of the cover, like when water's falling and they want to hit on top but they want to hit out away from the cover. When the water's rising, and the bass are closer to the cover, then your buzzbait will be the most productive lure to fish.
SK: If you only can pick one lure to fish anywhere in the country at any time of the year to catch a limit of bass, what will that lure be and why?
Rose: I'd either want a Series 1 or a Series 3 Strike King crankbait in the fire-tiger color. That color can resemble a crawfish, a bluegill or a shad, and you can fish that color successfully in many different water colors. Either the Series 1 or the Series 3 will also catch a wide variety of bass. You can catch a 5-pound bass on either one those two lures, or you may take a 12-inch bass. Those two lures will catch largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass, and they have caught plenty of limits for me.
SK: Mark, with the expense of travel, entry fees and all the other expenses required to be a tournament bass fisherman, how can you make it just on tournament winnings?
Rose: You can't. You have to have sponsors to help.
SK: How do you view your sponsors?
Rose: I feel like I am a part of the company and a salesman for the company and that I have ownership in the company. I try and do for my sponsors what I'd do for that company if I owned it. For example, with Strike King, I'm anxious to prove that the Strike King lures are the best lures on the market. I believe they are, and that's why I fish them in tournaments, tell all my friends about them and tell the public why I believe in them. If someone else starts talking about another bait, I try and explain why I think Strike King Lures are the best. I always mention that part of the reason I consider the Strike King lures to be so good is because the company asks us pros for input into the lures that Strike King builds. The Strike King folks listen to our suggestions, ask us to help them design lures and make them better. Too, they always want us to fish their lures and see how we can improve on them. Therefore the pros Strike King sponsors are as much a part of their company as anyone else in their company.
