Lucky Craft’s Kelly Jordon Finishes 5th at Sooner Run
Jordon found success with Lucky Craft Flat CB D-20 |
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>>>Kelly Jordon |
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Texas resident Kelly Jordon was happy with his top-five finish, especially after the unsuccessful first day he had on the lake, bringing in 11 pounds, 11 ounces. “I had a terrible first day and would have loved to be able to re-do that one,” Jordon began. “But I adjusted and ended up making a pretty good run at it. I’m tickled to death.” Going into the tournament, Jordon expected a deep bite. After practicing for several days and seeing how muddy the water had become, he was crushed and lost all confidence in the deep fish. “I could see a mud line on my graph down around 15 feet,” Jordon explained. “I knew I couldn’t fish deeper than that, so I keyed in on water around 10 to 15 feet deep, and that was still muddy. Even the clear parts were muddy.” Obviously disappointed by the conditions of the lake, Jordon had a few decisions to make. He wasn’t sure if the fish would be able to see his bait well enough if he fished too deep, so he toyed with the decision to forego the deep bite altogether and fish a different style.
“I knew the fish were biting a jig and a Carolina rig a little,” Jordon said. “I also knew there was some shallow fishing going on, flipping the willows and bushes. So I figured I’d flip willows in the morning and go deep in the afternoon. However, the first day I lost some pretty good ones fishing shallow. I went out deeper and caught a bunch of little ones. I was dumbfounded, so I finally decided to pull out the Lucky Craft [Flat CB] D-20.” According to Jordon, on his first cast with the deep-diving crankbait, he caught a 3-pounder and knew he should have been fishing it all day. After veering from his plan, Jordon had some ground to make up after day one. And make up ground he did, bringing in a 22-pound, 5-ounce bag on day two and a 16-pound, 1-ounce sack on day three, putting him in the top 12 fishing on Sunday. Fishing on the main lake, Jordon found a couple of ledges and had to fish uphill to get the bass to bite the Lucky Craft crankbait. “Most of the fish I found were in 10 – 20 feet of water, with a couple actually suspended in about 18 feet,” Jordon said. “I had to come up the ledge and bang the inside of the drop to get them to bite. I would throw deep and pull it up to the top, and as soon as I’d get close to the top end and make contact with the bottom, they’d take it.”
After another successful tournament, finishing 5th with a total four-day weight of 70 pounds, 11 ounces, Jordon is ready to tackle the next stop on the tournament trail – Lake Champlain. “I think it’s going to be fun,” Jordon concluded. “I imagine I’ll be fishing for largemouths again, and I imagine I’ll get it done with a flipping stick in my hand. I’ll definitely be swinging for the fences.”
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>>>Skeet Reese |
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“Every time I went shallow, I was getting bites,” Reese began. “With the conditions we had – high water with good color – it was suppose to be a good flipping tournament. On the third day of practice, I flipped some more and found a few more areas. I was thinking flipping bushes and trees would be the ticket because I never got on a crankbait bite at all when I tried it the first day of practice. So I committed to staying shallow and finding flip fish.” He stuck with it on Thursday, but after weighing in 14 pounds, 4 ounces and finding himself in 49th, Reese knew he would have to do something different on day two if he wanted to stay in it. “I got lucky on the first day and caught a 5 pounder,” Reese explained. “I switched it up on Friday and started throwing a crankbait, fishing a lot of water and grinding it out. I was never able to catch a fish. I finally moved back up on the banks and caught around 10 pounds. I jumped off a 3-1/2 pounder and broke off another one. Those two fish would probably have put me in the top 50 and could have given me a chance to redeem myself on Saturday.”
Reese wasn’t able to find much of a pattern on Grand Lake and finished on Friday with a two-day total of 23 pounds, 3 ounces. With frustration already set in, Reese tried to keep things in perspective. “The places I pulled up on for the crankbait bite were just the wrong locations,” Reese said. “The fish weren’t positioned there. They were very area specific for that bite. The flip bite was spread out all across the lake, and I caught them, but they were the little ones. “I am extremely frustrated,” Reese continued. “I know I am still in good shape, but by my standards and after the way I’ve been fishing, it was definitely a let down.” Although disappointed, Reese plans to put the past in the past and look forward to Lake Champlain, his next stop on the tournament trail and his chance to take over once again. “You have to commit to what you want to fish for on Lake Champlain,” Reese concluded. “I know historically you have to catch largemouth on this lake to win. I’m going to spend two days looking for them and one day looking for smallmouth. I’m not going to fish conservative. I feel like, to have a good tournament there, you have to catch 17 to 18 pounds or better.”
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>>>Takahiro Omori |
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“I started with topwater, but ended up throwing the Lucky Craft D-20,” Omori began. “It seems like any time I pick up something that runs deeper than 10 feet, I have a bad week.” Not sure what to think of his tournament this weekend, Omori did mention how different the lake was compared to last year. “It was high and muddy, and I was catching a lot of keeper fish, but never had anything bigger than 3 pounds,” Omori said. I think people were catching them both shallow and deep, and that’s what really frustrates me.” When asked what he would have done differently this time around, Omori didn’t miss a beat. He knew exactly what it would be. “I would have stayed in water less than 5 feet deep all week,” Omori said. “Instead of trying to fish both ends, I should have stayed in shallow water, flipping around willow trees and bushes.” Hindsight is always 20-20, so instead of dwelling on the past, the Texas resident has to put this tournament away and set his sights on the Northern Run. “Lake Champlain is going to be cool,” Omori concluded. “It’s a good lake, but it can go both ways, too. I know I need to forget about Grand Lake and think positive going into this next tournament.” Omori finished his week on Friday in 71st with a two-day total of 24 pounds, 15 ounces.
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>>>Gerald Swindle |
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“I’ve come to Grove twice now, and I leave just as confused this time as I did last time,” Swindle began. “I swore on my life if I ever came back to Grand Lake, I would never fish on the bank again. But I sure did it again – I couldn’t stay away.” After bringing in 13 pounds, 6 ounces on day one, Swindle knew that wasn’t good enough on this lake. He decided to try to change it up on day two and leave those bushes alone. “The problem here is you can catch these fish too many different ways,” Swindle explained. “I was catching them on the BDS 4, the RC 1.5, the G-Splash, the Gunfish and the D-20. It just didn’t matter… The only problem was I couldn’t catch any of the big ones.” After throwing an array of Lucky Craft lures and bringing fish in on all of them, Swindle knew it was possible, but couldn’t seem to land the big ones. He brought in a 10-pound, 8-ounce bag on day two, leaving him tied for 82nd with a two-day total of 23 pounds, 14 ounces. Swindle knows he has to go to Lake Champlain and fish hard, potentially using a fishing style he will have to mentally prepare for beforehand.
“I have to catch them there [Lake Champlain],” Swindle concluded. “I’ve dug myself a hole and I have to fish hard. That’s the bottom line. I think it’s going to be a good jerking tournament, but I still think for me to go up there and win, I am going to have to fish slow. I might as well get that in my mind right now. I’m going to have to drag a tube or dropshot. I risk losing too many fish jerking. While fishing slow, I might not get as many bites, but when they do come, they could be quality.”
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