Pittsburgh ? The fishing on the Ohio, Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in the Citgo Bassmaster Classic might be even tougher than originally predicted.

“This is the worst fishery in America, hands down,” 2002 Classic champion Jay Yelas said.

The 47 anglers who qualified for the 35th Classic had five days of practice in June. Wednesday was their lone practice day this week. The tournament runs Friday through today.

“I didn’t see anything (Wednesday) that was much different than before,” said Yelas, of Tyler, Texas. “I’ve got a little area that I’ve been fishing, and I looked to see if I could find anything else where I could get bit.”

Defending Classic champion Takahiro Omori of Emory, Texas, was down about his chances of becoming only the second man to win back-to-back titles.

Besides a lack of fish, the majority of the bass the anglers have caught have been smaller than the 12-inch minimum size limit.

“I think 10 pounds (for three days) could win,” Omori said. “If you catch (a daily limit of) five fish, they could weigh 3 pounds.

Professional angler Michael Iaconelli of Runnemede, N.J., lands a bass on the Monongahela River on the first day of the Bassmaster Classic. Iaconelli fished Friday near Clairton, Pa.

“In five days of fishing 12 hours a day, I caught only three keepers. My biggest was a 21â2-pound largemouth. (Wednesday) I had two keepers, one largemouth and one smallmouth. The largemouth was 11â2 pounds. That’s a big fish here.”

“I think you have to make 2,000 casts to try to catch a limit,” said 2003 champ Mike Iaconelli of Runnemede, N.J., only half-jokingly. “It’s brutal. It’s tough conditions. There’s no other way to put it. I had about 10 bites (Wednesday). I set the hook on two of them, two smallmouths, both keepers.

“This is going to be the kind of tournament where you have to do a lot of running and hit multiple spots. And you have to pace yourself: Leave fish biting, and fish conservatively. If I have five keepers and my five weigh between 6 and 8 pounds, I’m leaving.”

Veteran pro Larry Nixon of Bee Branch, Ark., knows something about tough fishing conditions. He won the 1983 Classic on the Ohio River out of Cincinnati with a three-day weight of 18 pounds, 1 ounce, the second-lightest in Classic history.

Although he said the river in Pittsburgh “ain’t nothing like” the river in Cincinnati, he expects the results to be similar.

“I don’t know what to think of this place,” Nixon said, “whether it’ll take 12 pounds to win or 14 or 17. I don’t think it’ll take much to win.”

Veteran bass fisherman Rick Clunn of Ava, Mo., the only four-time Bassmaster Classic Champion, waits for the start of the first day of competition Friday at Point State Park in downtown Pittsburgh.

What it will take, Nixon said, was the ability to concentrate and stay focused despite the lack of bites.

“It’s more a mental thing, knowing it’s not going to take a lot,” he said. “Be there on the last day and hopefully have enough on the last day to win. When I won, I knew it was going to be tough. I just knuckled down and caught everything that bit me.”

Toyota Rookie of the Year Dave Wolak of Warrior Run, Pa., a five-hour drive from Pittsburgh, predicted that 12-17 total pounds could win the Classic. He expects daily limits to weigh 5 or 6 pounds, “but somebody will catch a 10- or 11-pound stringer.”

“In this tournament, we’re all shooting for five fish a day. Five legal fish,” Wolak said. “We all know that it’ll put us in the hunt. We may not win, but it’ll put us in the hunt.”