BOARDMAN, Ore. – Conrad Demecs of Phoenix, Ariz. brought a five-fish limit of 19.62 to the scales on Champion Sunday to claim his first win at the final regular season stop of the BAM Pro Tour at the Columbia River presented by the Boardman Chamber of Commerce / Boardman Parks and Recreation.
Closing out 2024, the victory earned Demecs a total payback of $12,930 and pushed him up into the 3rd place position in the Pro Tour’s inaugural Angler of the Year (AOY) standings.
“The wind helped today, big time,” said Demecs. “I hadn’t been able to throw the A-rig the last two days because it’s been dead calm, bluebird skies. I had to throw a jig-headed minnow (the first two days) or a walking bait when we had a little ripple. The wind (today) allowed me to pull out some other baits to attract their attention.”
After adding 16.38 for Day Two to his 18.49 on Day One, Demecs went into the final day of fishing with a two-day total of 34.87 and 31 scorable bass. He qualified by weight and ended Day Two in 7th place, prior to the zero-ing out of the top-10 field cut. He was confident that his location could hold for Day Three.
“I had one area that had some big ones and if I could figure out how to catch ‘em, I knew I could potentially have that 18 – 20-pound bag,” he explained.
Demecs employed four baits for his weigh fish, which included an A-rig on an Alpha Angler Wide Glide mated to a Daiwa Tatula 150 on 18-pound Sunline Fluorocarbon with 3/8-ounce heads on a mini rig with mini blades and 3.3 Keitechs.
“My big kicker was on a walking bait that would get them to come up and explode,” he shared. “I fished it on an Alpha Angler Top Hammer with 40-pound braid on a Daiwa Tatula SV. I also fished a jig headed minnow with an Alpha angler DSR and a Daiwa Exist with 10-pound braid to a 6-pound leader, an Owner Range Roller 5-gram head with a 4- and 5-inch deps Sakamata Shad.”
Overall Day Three on the water was perfect for Demecs. He had all his weight within 45 minutes.
“It was just one after the other,” he recalled. “My execution was 100 percent which was huge and on crazy smallmouth that is hard to do.”
The event boosted Demecs 288 points in the AOY placement, with Martinez earning 91, Almanor 92, and 105 at Columbia River. His total put him four points behind Ish Monroe’s 292 for the runner-up position and Colby Pearson’s 306 points for the 2024 AOY honor.
Conrad Demecs also won the $500 Bass Boat Technologies as the highest placing anger running BBT mounts.
Jason Hickey won both Garmin contingencies as the highest placing angler running exclusive Garmin electronics and the Garmin Force trolling motor.
By Jody Only
2024 AOY POINTS STANDINGS
Top-10 BAM Pro Tour Columbia River Final
Place Angler Big Fish Day 3 Weight Place Winnings Big Fish $ BBT Garmin Total Payout
1 Conrad Demecs 19.62 $12,430 $500.00 $12,930.00
2 Jason Hickey 19.22 $5,525 $500.00 $6,025.00
3 Jake Boomer 19.21 $5,064 $5,064.00
4 Karl Okerman 18.94 $4,604 $4,604.00
5 Colby Pearson 17.94 $4,143 $4,143.00
6 Ish Monroe 16.35 $3,683 $3,683.00
7 Bill O’Shinn 15.59 $2,762 $2,762.00
8 Greg Gutierrez 15.44 $2,762 $2,762.00
9 Hayden Lee 15.26 $2,532 $2,532.00
10 Nicholas Cloutier 5.69 11.55 $2,532 $725.00 $3,257.00
BAM Pro Tour Columbia River Day One Full Results
BAM Pro Tour Columbia River Day Two Full Results
Note: BAM Pro Tour anglers are ranked in the Pro Tour events by both biggest five fish limit and numbers of scorable bass caught. First place is held by the angler with five biggest bass and second place is the highest keeper count. The standings then continue to alternate by weight/numbers. Anglers ranked by weight are denoted with an asterisk. Field will be cut at end of Day Two. All weights are zeroed to start the final day on Championship Sunday.
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By Jody Only
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