Lucky Craft’s Gerald Swindle Finishes
10th on High Rock Lake

GREENSBORO, N.C. (May 21, 2007) – High Rock Lake hosted the second annual Bassmaster American tournament, presented by Advance Auto Parts, and the world’s best anglers fished for their chance at $250,000.

The first of three Major tournaments this year, the Bassmaster American memorializes bass angler Bryan Kerchal, the former Classic winner tragically killed just months after his champion’s toast. Fifty-one anglers competed in this four-day tournament, and the lakes were not at all too kind. The first two days were spent on High Rock Lake, where all 51 anglers battled it out.

After the weights were tallied on day two, weights were cleared and the top 12 anglers made their way to Lake Townsend to fish a six-hole course set up only for them. The top 12 had the lake all to themselves, sharing it with no spectator boats and no local fisherman – for the first time in BASS history.

Lucky Craft’s Gerald Swindle was the only pro staff member to fish day three on difficult Lake Townsend, the largest of Greensboro’s municipal reservoirs. He made it through a grueling practice on High Rock Lake and found a pattern he thought he could stick with for the tournament.

“Practice was very different,” Swindle said. “I was really looking for the shad spawn, and I was throwing a spinnerbait and the RC 1.5. I was square-lip cranking, really trying to find that shad spawn bite – but I just couldn’t do it. I looked and looked, and it never happened. I ended up going to the bushes where I finally started getting bites. I found the key was in the backs of creeks, pitching shallow bushes with a Zoom Trick Worm. I was fishing something straight with light line. I just couldn’t get anything else going.”

No one could figure out how such a difference in biting action could occur between Wednesday’s practice and the first day of the tournament – but Swindle had a small theory.

“Practice was difficult,” Swindle added. “You couldn’t get any bites at all. It got a little cool Wednesday night and maybe the shad quit spawning as hard as they had been. Maybe the shad weren’t running in the morning, and the bass didn’t have anything to eat. It could have been as simple as that, but we really never know for sure.”

When the tournament began, Swindle decided he’d stick with the only pattern he was able to find in practice. It worked for him as he brought in 17 pounds, 2 ounces on day one and 12 pounds, 9 ounces on day two. Making the top 12 cut, Swindle sat in 5th going into day three to fish the new lake. He wasn’t able to bring much out of it, but he wasn’t alone.

“I’m extremely frustrated I could only bring in 2 pounds today,” Swindle said. “I tried everything today, but nothing was coming back on it. I deep cranked, shallow cranked – you name it, I tried it. I had one bite all day and I weighed him in. That fish came sight fishing a finesse worm.”

After a tough day three for all and only missing the cut by less than a pound, Swindle ended the week in 10th with a day three weight of 2 pounds, 1 ounce. Next up for Swindle and the Lucky Craft pro staff is the Blue Ridge Brawl on Smith Mountain Lake (Va.).

“I have two weeks at home, and I am going to camp and enjoy it,” said a tired Swindle. “The we have Smith Mountain [Lake]. I’ve never been there before, but I’ve heard it is a boat dock lake, and I like fishing docks. I really don’t do anything special to prepare for a place I’ve never been. I’ll just go in and fish and see what I can find.”

Fellow pro staff member Skeet Reese was no exception to the rule – practice was tough for him, too.

“My first day of practice, I spent 14 hours on the water and had one keeper bite,” Reese said. “That was a long day. I spent 12 hours on the water on day two [of practice] and still only had one keeper bite. I wasn’t shaking fish off; they just weren’t biting. The third day I fished for six hours, and I caught two keepers and shook two off. I thought ‘Woo, I’m on ‘em’”.

Reese probably had 15 rods out this week and tried everything in his tackle box. However, the only bites he was able to get came on soft plastics. On the last day of practice, Reese found the key to the bites he was able to get.

“Fishing rock on points was where I had the bites, so that’s what I did yesterday,” Reese said. “I ran a bunch of rock just casting a jig and a little worm around. I caught a limit fairly early on Thursday, so I went pre-fishing for the rest of the day. I went to places I’d never been before and those are the spots where I caught my fish.”

Reese was fishing shallow, up in pockets, lay-downs and wood and caught fish everywhere he went on Thursday. It was the complete opposite of practice. Reese didn’t know if he was having a glory day or if everyone was finding the same results. Once back to the weigh-in location, he found everyone was catching them on day one.

“It was so weird,” Reese said, chuckling. “A lot of us talked about how a lake could be so tough in practice and then just turn around on the very next day. I’ve never seen a lake do this before. I’ve never seen it be that tough and then, like turning on a light switch, be so good. It was like a good magic trick – I was in awe.”

After weighing in 15 pounds on day one, Reese was sitting comfortably in 8th. But day two didn’t turn out as well for the California resident.

“Today [Friday] I didn’t fish for the real shallow fish because I didn’t think they’d replenish themselves,” Reese explained. “I found that they did because the guys caught them shallow. I decided to stay out and fish rock points in about two to four feet of water. I had five keepers all day and jumped one off. I would love to be fishing tomorrow, but if not I’m just hoping to make the top 25 and get a check.”

Reese did exactly that, finishing his tournament Friday in 24th. Bringing in 9 pounds Friday for a total two-day weight of 24 pounds, 10 ounces, Reese was frustrated, but glad to finish as high as he did, especially with such a difficult practice.

Along with fellow pro staff member Swindle, Reese’s next tournament is Smith Mountain Lake. Like Swindle, Reese has never been to the Virginia lake, but he has a different approach to his preparation.

“I don’t even know what the lake looks like,” Reese concluded. “[When I go to a new lake] I usually get a map when I get there and break it down. I’ll figure out what the fish should be doing this time of year.

Just outside the top 25 was Lucky Craft’s Takahiro Omori. He didn’t find practice as difficult as some, but I still wasn’t extremely confident going into the tournament.

“I caught six or seven keepers a day in practice and the biggest fish was probably four pounds,” Omori began. “I thought it was an okay practice. I was mainly cranking [with the RC 2.5 in Chartreuse Shad] around points and boat docks, and I would also occasionally throw around some lay-downs.”

On day one, Omori weighed in five fish for a total of 11 pounds. He caught 8 pounds in the morning and felt really good – until check-in.

“Everyone said they caught them really good,” said a frustrated Omori. “A lot of guys had around 15 pounds or more. I thought I had a good day, but they had more weight that I did.”

Omori’s goal for day one was 10 pounds, so he exceeded his own expectations – as did the rest of the field. Omori was disappointed because he really thought it caught the fish he needed.

RC 0.5 Length:1-3/4” Weight:1/4oz

RC 1.5 Length:2” Weight:1/2oz

RC 2.5 Length:2-3/4” Weight:1/2oz

RC 3.5 Length:3-1/4” Weight:3/4oz

400	401	402	403	404	405	406	407	408	409	410
White Shad	Purple Shad	Copper Green Shad	Copper Perch	Chartreuse Perch	Purple Perch	Blue Bream	Bull Bream	MS MJ American Shad	Pearl Green Shad	MS Ghost Minnow

“I don’t think I would do anything differently,” Omori continued. “I fished good, but I must have picked the wrong area. I was fishing inside creeks on some points and boat docks and was around a lot of shad.

“I caught fish and saw fish, so I’m really disappointed. I caught what I thought I needed. It’s frustrating because this is the type of lake that I like.”

Omori caught 12 pounds on day two and finished in 29th with a total two-day weight of 23 pounds.

Finishing his week in 43rd was Lucky Craft’s Kelly Jordon who, much like the other Elite anglers in N.C., thought practice was really tough. He was, however, able to find something worthwhile before the tournament actually began.

“I only had one keeper bite on the first day of practice,” Jordon began. “Everyone I talked to said it was slow. On Tuesday, I changed some stuff up and had several keeper bites – maybe eight or nine – and then found a few more spots on Wednesday. I was pretty excited about it going into the tournament. I found some fish guarding frye [like bed fish] and saw a couple four and five pounders.”

Jordon had a limit by 7:30 am on the first day of competition and was surprised, because he knew how tough he thought it was going to be to catch limits.

“I thought I was going to be lucky to catch two or three in the morning,” Jordon explained. “That wasn’t the case. I should have figured everyone was catching them. I caught them twice as good as I thought I was going to.”

Jordon was fishing mid-lake in a location called Second Creek. According to the Texas resident, the shad were spawning on the banks, but unlike Lake Guntersville (Ala.), there was no grass, so they were spawning on any riprap banks or chunk rock. Most of Jordon’s fish came on a spinnerbait or buzzbait in the backs of pockets on riprap banks.

Weighing in 10 pounds, 2 ounces on day one, Jordon knew he’d have to pick it up a bit on Friday to make the cut. On day two, Jordon wanted to revisit his spinnerbait bite, but several people were already sitting in his areas, forcing him to scramble a bit to find a new location.

Jordon caught a few small keepers that were guarding frye but needed to find those big ones to have a chance to fish on day three. It was all or nothing, so Jordon focused on the big frye guarders he found on day one.

“The five pounder was in the same spot where I had found him the day before,” Jordon said. “I thought if I could catch a couple of those, I’d be doing great. He [the fish] had been there for three days, but I just could not get him to bite. I had the bites to have 17 pounds today but broke off a few and lost some. I got hung up on those big ones, because I knew if I could catch those, I’d be fine. It was kind of like playing cards – I was all in on those couple big fish. It was pretty frustrating.”

Weighing in 6 pounds, 6 ounces on day two, Jordon finished in 43rd. After a few weeks off, he also heads to Smith Mountain Lake – and much like his fellow teammates, he has never fished it.

“I’ve done some research on it,” Jordon concluded. “I think the weights might be tiny, but guys with spinning rods might do really well. Hopefully it will be a dock-fishing tournament, and I’m also hoping for a good topwater bite with the Lucky Craft Gunfish. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”