Entry 122-1
Mark Rose Goes Head-to-Head With Classic Champ Omori
Mark Rose Goes Head to Head Against the Newest Classic Champion Takahiro Omori
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: What did you know about Takahiro Omori before fishing against him?
Rose: I knew I had my work cut out for me. I'd fished against Omori for five years on the BASS tour events. He's a really good fisherman and has learned a lot about the American way of bass fishing. In the August 2004 FLW Championship, I knew he'd just won the 2004 Bassmaster Classic and had a lot of confidence and money in his pocket. I also knew that he was a really hard worker and an astute student of the sport of bass fishing. He and I had camped out at campgrounds together when we'd gone to bass-fishing tournaments.
SK: How well did you know Takahiro?
Rose: I knew him fairly well, but you have to remember when he first started fishing professionally he didn't speak any English. He's gotten better now, but he's still somewhat shy and at times can be hard to understand. At the FLW Championship, I got to know him a little better. We picked at each other and became better friends. He's really a nice guy as well as a great fisherman, and I believe he'll be a good ambassador in the sport of bass fishing not only in this country but also in Japan.
SK: Did you and Takahiro fish together?
Rose: No. He fished in one boat, and I fished in another. Even though we compete against each other, in this type of tournament, we fish in two separate boats.
