Attracting a lot of attention from anglers all over the United States, the WON BASS US Open is one of the most prestigious fishing tournaments in the country. Many anglers have this tournament atop their bucket list of trophies to put on the shelf. For Berkley and Abu Garcia Pro Josh Bertrand, he has finally notched such an achievement and added another major accolade to his trophy case. His approach and method of winning was impressive in a stacked and crowded field on Lake Mohave.
With a final weight of almost 62-pounds over three days of competition, almost two pounds ahead of second place, Bertrand capitalized on specific bite windows with the help of Berkley PowerBait MaxScent to earn his first WON BASS US Open trophy.
“This event is one a lot of top-tier anglers chase and want to win in their fishing career. It’s pretty special for me to take this one home having grown up in the region where this tournament was born and it feels like a home win.” said Bertrand.
Having confidence in a bait does a lot for an angler, especially mentally. That bait for Bertrand is the Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Flat Worm – a bait that has taken the fishing world by storm. Since the team at Berkley Labs introduced it, it has become a staple for any angler that finesse fishes.
“Whenever you can take a bait, deadstick it around fish and get bit, it’s a bait that is easy to rely heavily on – for me that is the Berkley Flat Worm.” said Bertrand. “What the team at Berkley Labs has done with PowerBait MaxScent is incredible, and it has given us anglers so much confidence knowing our bait is sitting there and constantly leaving a scent trail for fish to pick up on. I can’t tell you how many times I have caught fish while letting my bait sit in place, and that is credit to the science behind the MaxScent scent dispersion technology.”
Paired with his signature series Abu Garcia Pro Series “Josh Bertrand” Dropshot rod and Abu Garcia Revo MGX spinning reel, Bertrand rigged his Berkley Flat Worm on a Berkley Fusion19 Dropshot hook with 8-pound Berkley X5 braid mainline and two-foot leader of 6-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon. His key to success was taking this setup and running as many areas on Lake Mohave as he could throughout the tournament day.
“Being able to cover so much water with one setup was really clutch for me. Each day got more difficult to get bites, so the key was having a large number of spots to run and not worrying about having to cycle through different baits,” said Bertrand. “Having one setup that caught fish when I pulled up to a spot allowed me to efficiently run-and-gun around Lake Mohave and put myself around as many fish as possible.”
With Bertrand’s win, it adds another notch in the professional tournament win column for Berkley’s PowerBait MaxScent technology. Created by the team at Berkley Labs, it has been responsible for many anglers’ success and installed more confidence for anglers every time they’re on the water. It’s safe to say if Bertrand continues to have MaxScent tied on the end of his line, he will need to make more room in his trophy case.
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