Clifford Pirch’s 87th-place finish on Day 1 is a reminder of what a mental game this is. The 42-year-old Payson, Ariz., pro has already proven today that he’s been on the potentially winning fish this week, having caught almost 15 pounds by 7:30 a.m. So what happened on Day 1, when he totaled only 7 pounds, 10 ounces?
“I lost a couple of fish, and I really kind of lost my mind,” Pirch said. “I started making bad decisions, lost some fish and it went from bad to worse throughout the day.
“It was one of my top three all-time bad days on the Elite Series, as far as just not being able to hold my mind together. I lost about six fish in a row, and it was falling apart. I lost them in crazy ways. I got my line hung up in equipment on one. Another one jumped off about a foot-and-a-half from my hand. I just fell apart.”
It would have been easy to write-off this tournament after a day like that. But all credit to Pirch, nicknamed “The Golden Ram” by Elite Series emcee Dave Mercer, for coming back like a beast. With 18-4 on Day 2, Pirch moved from 87th to 18th place. He jumped to sixth yesterday with 19-9, the heaviest bag of the day and the third best of the tournament so far.
Pirch’s top Elite Series finish is a second-place performance at Arizona’s Lake Havasu in 2015. It will be difficult to top that today, considering Mark Daniels Jr. held a 10-pound, 15-ounce lead over him at takeoff. But if Pirch matches his runnerup finish in 2015, it will be a notable lesson in, a) the mental aspect of this sport, and, b) overcoming adversity.