Much like fellow Lucky Craft pro staff member Reese, Gerald Swindle’s practice didn’t give him much to depend on during the tournament. With extreme winds the first day, he couldn’t do much navigating but ventured out to look for sight fish in some protected areas.

“I couldn’t get out on the main lake and fish with schooling fish the first day of practice,” Swindle said, hinting at the wind. “I couldn’t even try and locate them, so when it laid down a bit the second day of practice, I tried but couldn’t really find them then either. I was fishing topwater and crankbaits and even fished a lot of areas I fished last year, where I knew they should be.”

After failing to get anything going in practice, Swindle knew if he wanted to catch anything, he’d have to be looking at them.

“The first day of the tournament, I went sight fishing using a dropshot,” Swindle explained. “The key to sight fishing is to realize how easily spooked the fish are. A lot of people give up on them because they’re really crazy, but I really had to take my time and fish little bitty stuff. I caught 13 or so fish doing that the first day, but eventually they started running out.”

Swindle ended up scrambling a bit, catching a few fish on beds, but at the end of the day had to try and figure out a new way to catch them. After weighing in a decent bag on day one, he knew he would have to try something different if he wanted to make the top 50.

“I knew there had to be a way [to catch them],” Swindle said. “I saw some shad moving into some areas, so I took the Lucky Craft Flat Mini DR (Chartreuse Shad), the same one I threw here last year, and caught a four and a half pounder. I caught two on a Gunfish 115 (MS MJ Herring) chasing shad, and those fish pretty much gave me the bulk of my weight on day two.”

Swindle duplicated his weight from day one, weighing in another 13 pound, 9 ounce bag that put him in 21st and had him fishing on day three. He again visited the areas he found on day two, but according to Swindle, it was really slow.

“I messed around and finally caught a couple on the DR and a few on beds, but the limit was small,” Swindle said. “Around 1:30 pm, I started using the Lucky Craft Gunfish 115 on some points and culled everything I had. It was a challenge every day to go out and do that, but it seemed to be the key.”

According to Swindle, he had to work the Gunfish really fast and make long casts across shallow points, which was really exhausting.

“When I was working it fast, the only problem was they didn’t seem to eat it as good,” Swindle explained. “Usually when you can slow it down and let the fish hone in on it, it works better, but I couldn’t get them to bite at all this week if it was slow, so I had to go real fast.”

Swindle ended his day Saturday in 27th with a three-day weight of 38 pounds, 3 ounces. He was never on the fish to win, but after such a challenging practice, he looks at his tournament on Clarks Hill as a good accomplishment.

“I didn’t make the big cut here and that’s unfortunate,” Swindle said, “but I only lost two fish in three days, so I really didn’t have a bad tournament. I have to look at a top 30 finish as an accomplishment. The competitor in me obviously wants to win every one, but common sense says if you can’t get the bites, you can’t win. I do think I’m fishing better mentally, and I am very focused. I really felt like I was in the zone today – as good as I’ve been since I won Angler of the Year.”

Next on the agenda for Swindle is fishing Lake Guntersville in Alabama, his home state. He believes it will be another sight fishing tournament and plans to carry his momentum and focus with him into the next tournament.

“Maybe I will have an advantage because I know some areas to look at, but with this weather getting prettier, a lot of things could start happening,” Swindle said. “We could even see a Gunfish bite down there, too. It’s my time of year, and I like it like this. It wasn’t in the cards for me in Georgia, but I’m looking forward to Guntersville. Keeping your confidence up is the key.”

Because of the winds, Jordon said he wasn’t able to do much in practice the first day, but said he did find some bed fish and thought that would be key.

“I sight fished a little bit in practice and found some nice areas, but when I went there on the first day of the tournament, they were all gone,” Jordon began. “I punted on that and ran around, throwing topwater. I didn’t catch any fish on the Lucky Craft Gunfish but that’s what I used to locate the fish. I’d throw it out and they’d come up to it, so I knew they were there. Then I’d slow down with a swimbait and was able to catch a few.”

Jordon brought in 9 pounds, 10 ounces on Thursday and sat in 58th, just outside the cut, going into day two. However, he was able to make some adjustments on Friday and bring in 13 pounds, 14 ounces, which put him in the cut to fish on Saturday.

“I found some schools of fish and had almost 14 pounds yesterday,” Jordon said. “I had 20 pounds of bites but missed several of them, so I was really excited to come back out and try it today (Saturday). But when I got there, those fish just wouldn’t bite. I started on those fish but didn’t have anything for the first two or three hours, so I decided to come back in and go sight fishing. I caught a five pounder and a couple more fish a little smaller. That’s when I decided to go back out and try for the bigger fish.”

Jordon went back out to try for those fish around 11 am but by 2 pm, he knew he should have stayed on the bank. With about four minutes to go, he had a five pounder hit his fluke but miss, and Jordon tried everything to get that one last fish in the boat.

“After he hit and missed my fluke the first time, I threw the swimbait back in there and had another one hit and miss it too,” Jordon explained. “So I threw it back in one more time and caught one about a pound and a half – probably the smallest fish in the place. I only had 12 minutes until check-in and it was an 11-minute boat ride, so I threw my stuff down and came in.”

Jordon brought in 11 pounds, 11 ounces after his disappointing battle, but finished his week in 35th with a total of 35 pounds, 3 ounces – not a bad finish for having such a bad practice.

“I went way up river fishing around trees and stumps with a spinnerbait,” Omori explained. “I caught five little ones, came all the way back down the river and started throwing the Lucky Craft Gunfish 115 (Ghost Minnow) and the Slender Pointer 97 (Table Rock Shad). I ended up catching most of my fish on a spinnerbait, but was able to bring in one fish on the Slender Pointer.”

Omori found most of his fish in an area with a lot of moving striper, which didn’t work in his favor.

“I caught big striper this week, but that hurts because when those big striper are in the area, it seems like they eat all the shad and push the bass out,” Omori explained. “Friday morning, I had two striper in my best area and knew something was wrong. I came back this afternoon and had the same thing going on – it was just really bad luck. I was depending on that spot, so after I found the striper, I was struggling and had to look all over the lake to find another place.”

After three tough tournaments in a row on Clarks Hill, Omori hopes not to come back for a while, but is looking forward to fishing Lake Guntersville next week.

“I like Guntersville,” Omori concluded. “There is a lot of hydrilla and milfoil, and I think Guntersville is one of the best lakes in the country. I’m really looking forward to it, and I think it will be a topwater tournament, with some Lucky Craft Gunfish and Sammys.”

“It was phenomenal,” Stone began. “I found a couple places where I thought I might be able to win the tournament and I haven’t had that feeling in a while. I’ve been on this lake enough to know what I need to look for. I made seven casts in a row on two different places and caught fish on all seven casts – the place was just loaded with three and four pound fish.”

On the second day of practice, Stone changed ends of the lake and didn’t see much he liked. Going into the third day of practice, he found a backup location because not having one last year really hurt.

“I had a couple good areas going into the tournament and eliminated a lot of the lake,” Stone said. “I even had some stuff as a backup. I had a lot to do. I came into this tournament really believing I could finish strong and that’s what really hurts the most.”

Stone’s tournament didn’t go as well as practice. Thursday, he fished his two primary areas, but according to Stone, the mistake he made was staying on them too long waiting for fish to show up.

“Every time I’d get ready to leave, I’d get a bite,” Stone said. “I had three different times the first day, where I’d catch a 13-incher but there would be a four pounder with it. In other words, somehow or another, the small fish would eat the bait and the big one would be chasing the bait and the fish back to the boat.”

On day one, Stone had to fish his backup water to finish his limit. Culling several times, Stone ended Thursday with 7 pounds, 11 ounces, never getting that big bite.

Stone wasn’t as patient on day two, catching a limit in about an hour. He saw some decent fish but only stayed in the area until 9 am when he decided it was time to run the water looking for bigger fish.

“The key on all these places I was fishing was long, sloping flat points with clay and rock mixed,” Stone explained. “Key depths seemed to be anywhere from six inches to four feet. I was throwing topwater – stuff I could work really fast, throw a long way and make these fish react and bite. It was a pattern I could run all over the lake.”

According to Stone, he was throwing the Lucky Craft Gunfish 115 (Aurora Black and MS American Shad), which mimicked the blue back herring.

“You could throw it a mile,” Stone said of the Gunfish 115. “Sometimes you can see fish breaking in front of you, so you need something you can cast a long way. I don’t know of any other lure out there equal to the 115. It walks like a Lucky Craft Sammy and spits like a G-Splash. There are certain days when the fish want a subtle walk, certain days when they want a pop and then days when they want both. You can’t throw two lures at once and that’s why the Gunfish is the perfect lure.”

After catching his limit early on day two and running around fishing new water, Stone had a nice four-to-five pound fish jump over his bait. The same thing occurred 20 yards later. Stone couldn’t catch a break and weighed in 9 pounds, 12 ounces on day two, for a two-day total of 17 pounds, 7 ounces finishing in 84th.

“The sad thing is today I probably caught 12 or 13 keepers,” Stone said. “I know guys who had 15 or 16 pounds yesterday and only had five bites all day. I’m catching the fire out of them and come in with 7-11 on day one and 9-12 today - it sort of sums up my year so far. I look back on it and want to be critical of myself, but I have to be careful not to try and fix something that’s not broken. Every tournament this year, I’ve caught limits and culled fish, multiple times.”

Stone is disappointed as he now faces the realization that he will not be fishing the Major tournament on High Rock Lake in his home state.

“That’s one of the main tournaments I felt I had a very good chance to win,” Stone concluded. “I have so much history on that lake and at that time of year. That’s just part of it though. I have to keep telling myself I have much more fishing left to do. The key to success out here is to have a really good short-term memory. If you have a good tournament, forget it. If you have a bad tournament, forget it. You’re only as good as the tournament you’re fishing right now.”