If largemouth bass could talk – especially those in Payson, Ariz. – they might tell you that Clifford Pirch isn’t even necessarily the best fisherman in his own family.
“We’ve fished together before,” said Alicia Pirch with a wry smile a few minutes after she calmly dropped her husband’s $125,000 winner’s check from his FLW Wal-Mart Tour victory on Lake Chickamauga into her purse Sunday evening.
“Let’s just say Clifford’s a very competitive person.”
Whether or not he can always out-fish his wife, Pirch – and why couldn’t his last name have been spelled P-e-r-c-h? – has been competitive enough over his seven years on the world’s biggest fishing tour to reel in nearly $650,000 in prize money. He’s won a couple of U.S. Opens and several smaller tournaments. But never before had he hooked a six-figure winner’s check.
“It couldn’t have come at a better time,” said Alicia, who sells real estate back in Payson when she isn’t taking care of the couple’s daughters Kailee Grace (8) and Kassidy Joy (5).