“When you put yourself in contention to win, you don’t even want to think about second,” Reese said. “Tournament fishing is no different than any other sport – we play to win. I was really excited to be fishing for a win the final day, and was looking forward to going head to head with Kevin Van Dam. I thought if I could beat him today, I could beat the best in the world.”

“More often than not, he beats me, so I had a bit of redemption today…but second place still hurts,” Reese continued. “You don’t get too many opportunities to win a Bassmaster Classic.”

Reese didn’t let it slip through his fingers though, as he performed to the best of his abilities. According to him, he fished well and has no regrets.

“Boyd (Duckett) just flat out beat me,” Reese said. “When you catch a six-and-a-half-pounder on the final day of competition, on this lake, and in this tournament, things are probably going to go your way.”

For most of the tournament, Reese was fishing a Chigger Craw in green pumpkin with a half-ounce sinker, 25-pound fluorocarbon and a flipping stick. He also caught one of his keepers this weekend on his new bait from Lucky Craft, the SKT Mini.

S.K.T.Mini MR Length: 2" Weight: 3/8oz	S.K.T. Mini DR Length: 2" Weight: 3/8oz

“I grew up power fishing and being on the bank is how I like to fish,” Reese explained. “I saw the timber and the lay downs at this lake and thought this was a no-brainer. You can fish as many lay downs as you can in one day, and that’s exactly what I did the first day. It did, however, take a little longer to figure out the positioning of the fish and that changed from day to day. The one constant though, was you had to be on the main current to get the bites you wanted.”

Fishing for the first time on Lay Lake was Lucky Craft pro staff member Takahiro Omori. Before the off-limits period, Omori spent twelve days on the lake to figure out what his game plan should be for the Classic.

“This was my first time on this lake, so I wanted to spend as much time on it as I could,” Omori said. “The fish were schooling then which is totally different from what they are doing now.”

During the three-day practice a week before the tournament, Omori found the fish. Even thought the weather was extreme, he was catching 13 pounds a day, mostly largemouth. Throwing a popular Lucky Craft crankbait was Omori’s key to success.

Omori didn’t re-visit the fish he found during the three-day practice on Wednesday (BASS’ official practice day). He went to other locations trying to expand on what he was fishing, but couldn’t seem to put anything else together.

On day one, Omori had all five of his keepers by 8:30 am, and that was pretty much the extent of his day. With 10 pounds, 10 ounces on day one, Omori went six hours without a bite.

“That killed me mentally,” Omori said. “The first couple of hours after I had my limit, I was trying to catch a big fish to cull up. I tried five or six different baits, but my main lure was still the RC 2.5. Three of my keepers came from flipping boat docks, and two came on the Lucky Craft crankbait.”

As the water cleared, the bite changed and Omori tried to adapt.

“We had more rain during practice and the water was much muddier on the bank,” Omori said. “I could tell all the spots I had been fishing cleared up and the fish went deeper. They weren’t showing up where I like to catch fish. Once you get to the deeper spots, the water temperature is only about 49 degrees and the fish aren’t very aggressive.”

Omori caught a total of 19 pounds, 11 ounces over two days of competition, putting him in 36th. He only had on thing to say about Lay Lake…

“I hope we don’t come back.”

Jordon was fishing everything he could – from points and mouths of pockets to anything with standing timber. According to the Texas native, the fish were suspending really well and he just knew it was going to be a great tournament.

“All of those fish were between three and five pounds and I could catch them at will on a wacky worm,” Jordon said. “I had my hooks turned over, so I just played tug-o-war with them. I could see them all in two feet of water or less, as they swam up and down the edges of the grass. I don’t know what the deal was really, but all I did know what that there were 100 bass in the back of this creek and, as far as I knew, no one else had seen it. I thought I could catch 20 – 25 pounds right there.”

However, things didn’t turn out exactly as Jordon expected. When he arrived at his spot on Friday, the first day of the tournament, the fish were gone. Thinking it may be more of a mid-day deal, Jordon left and ran around a bit, looking for another area to catch some keepers.

“As 1:00 pm rolled around, I think I only had one or two fish,” Jordon said. “I ran out to some main lake points and starting throwing a jerkbait, but I couldn’t get them to bite. I figured the largemouth went deeper, so I put on the Pointer 100 DD (Pearl Ayu) and started catching them. I caught about ten to 15 in about 45 minutes, but they just weren’t the size I needed. They were much smaller than they were in practice.”

Weighing in 9 pounds, 8 ounces on day one made it hard for Jordon to catch up on day two, and with the fish in his honey hole gone, Jordon had to swing for the fences on Saturday.

“I was fishing some really heavy stuff flipping and caught one that was almost four pounds,” Jordon said. “I just needed four more like that one – but that was about all I found on day two. I caught two small ones after that to give me almost seven pounds.”

Jordon gave several Lucky Craft lures a try this weekend, including the Pointers and Slender Pointers. He also threw the new swimbait some, just trying it out to see the action.

“If the sun would have come out a bit and it would have been a little warmer, I think the fish would have smoke it (the swimbait),” Jordon said. “I watched it swim and it sure looked good (color – Chartreuse Shad). I am going to be throwing that big time in Amistad.”

On the second day of practice, Swindle went down river, but was facing a huge cold front. It started snowing in the morning and there were tornadoes the night before. With the wind chill factor around 19 degrees, Swindle still caught about thirteen pounds – a consistent total, but still no real pattern to rely on.

The story was about the same during the third day of practice, but when Wednesday’s official practice rolled around, Swindle went up river, fishing the current, and it led him to his game plan.

“It was a long battle all day long in the current,” Swindle began. “I went up there to cast a jig, but ended up casting a tube instead, which I normally don’t do in the current. I had to go with a half-ounce weight, instead of the 3/8-ounce weight I started with. It may seem like a subtle change, but I immediately started catching them. Come to find out, my bait wasn’t staying down, and that has to happen to catch fish in the current. It has to drag the bottom or the fish won’t bite it.”

Once the bite was on, Swindle caught a limit in about 45 minutes and knew he had a pattern. After catching his limit, he only had ten pounds, until landing a five-pounder flipping a tube. With an hour and a half left to fish, Swindle made a 45-minute run to the lower part of the lake to check another area. On his second cast, he caught another five-pounder on a Lucky Craft Flash Minnow 110 (Aurora Ghost Golden Shiner), but it straightened out his hooks and he lost it right at the boat.

Swindle brought in 14 pounds, 10 ounces on day one, putting him in ninth place going in to Saturday.

“I went down the river first and caught two small ones on Saturday, then went back up the river to grind it out,” Swindle said. “I was really struggling and didn’t have a limit until 1:45 pm. I fished down to the last second and took off running. I made it down quicker than I thought, so I picked up the spinning rod and fished this pipe that discharges hot water. I caught a five-pounder with one minute left to fish.”

Swindle would have had enough weight to take him into day three, but a decision by Trip Weldon left Swindle stunned and disqualified. Penalized for unsafe boating, Swindle lost his chance to fish for $500,000 and a Classic win in his home waters.

“I made a mistake,” Swindle said in a press conference after he announced his disqualification to a full arena. “Trip’s decision is that I was wrong and I’ll take it as I was wrong.”

Swindle’s split-second decision to run a gap between fellow angler Randy Howell and his camera boat cost him a spot in Sunday’s top 25. As seen on video, Swindle let out of the throttle and put his hands in the air as to ask Randy what he should do. Howell waved him on, so he let out of the throttle, lined the boat up with the gap and went through.

“According to Trip (Weldon), the correct decision would have been to shut down and idle,” Swindle said. “At no time did I feel like somebody’s life was in jeopardy or I wouldn’t have done it. I apologize and I wasn’t trying to cheat or get any unfair advantage. I’ve wanted this for ten years. I’ve always wanted to fish the Classic in Birmingham and I really wanted to win at home.”

It wasn’t just another tournament to Swindle, and this gives him more momentum to push through and work harder than ever until he wins one.