“This lake was really a grind for me,” Reese said. “I stumbled upon a spot yesterday [Friday] with some potential, and I had a lot of big fish follow my bait. I did catch a couple good fish.”

After weighing in 19 pounds, 5 ounces on Friday, Reese decided to go back to the same location on day two.

“I went there this morning [Saturday] and caught a 5-pounder and one small fish, and that was it,” Reese said. “The fish weren’t following or chasing anymore, so I bounced around and found some other similar areas. Every fish I weighed in this week came on a swimbait.”

Admitting he tried other baits but nothing else seemed to work, Reese struggled but was glad to bring in a total of 41 pounds, 10 ounces and finish 20th on Lake Amistad.

“I grinded to catch what I caught, so I feel like I had a decent finish,” Reese said. “The sun had to get up and get warmer for the fish to get up in the tree tops, and that’s the only time I was really able to catch them. Now it’s off to the next one.”

“The last two times I’ve been here, I’ve weighed in 25 pounds or more,” Omori said. “I had two big ones come off on the first day and ended up bringing in 18 pounds, 5 ounces. If I would have caught those two big ones, I would have had a much better weight on Friday.”

With another big fish jumping off on Saturday, Omori knew his chances of making the cut and fishing Sunday were growing dimmer by the minute.

“I had another 6-pounder jump off today,” said Omori, who weighed in 23 pounds, 5 ounces on Saturday. “If you make those types of mistakes, your tournament is over. I fished well, but I was around a lot of big fish and just couldn’t get them in the boat.”

“I had 17 pounds and some change on Friday, and that was only good enough for 49th,” Jordon said. “They’ve been dropping the lake about 6 inches a day, so it seemed to drop like a rock. I really think that hurt some guys’ patterns, especially the sight-fishing pattern. Some guys found ledges with some fish on them in deeper water, but I didn’t look out there because I was having too much fun on the bank.”

Jordon caught 15 pounds on Saturday and was frustrated because he was around big fish, but couldn’t seem to get them to bite despite his successful patterns.

“I was catching them on a swimbait mostly,” Jordon said. “I was backing that up by throwing some plastics, too. I had a strong pattern today [Saturday] shallow cranking the Lucky Craft BDS 3 in the Tennessee Shad color. That’s how I caught all my fish today. I did catch a 4-pounder but just didn’t have enough of those bigger fish to have a really good bag.”

Finishing tied for 68th was Lucky Craft’s Marty Stone, who had a mixed practice as well as mixed emotions about Lake Amistad.

“I’d catch big numbers, around 70 fish a day, with a few big ones here and there,” Stone said. “The first day, after a mixed practice and a cancellation, I thought I was going to be able to catch them using the Lucky Craft Slender Pointer 112 and 127, as well as the Pointer 100 DD in the deeper water. I threw them all day long and had 13 pounds. I never even had an opportunity for the big ones.”

Stone knew he had to change his philosophy for fishing Amistad going into day two. Knowing he’d have to fish deeper or throw a swimbait, he believes he made the right choice for this unpredictable lake and learned some valuable lessons along the way.

“I’m not a swimbait fisherman, so for me to catch 17 pounds is a big accomplishment,” Stone admitted. “I needed one more bite to have a good check. I might have salvaged some points, and I also know I’m leaving here with some knowledge I didn’t have before. It’s a good lake, but I had to change the way I think about this place. I’m looking forward to coming back again, because I let it slip away from me on Friday.”

On day one, while Stone was throwing the Pointer series’ of Lucky Craft baits, he was using the Blue Gill colors. He could get a bite with the Ghost Minnow color, but admitted something made him switch and try the Blue Gill – which was a successful switch.

“Every cast, I was either taking a fish off or at least having something follow it to the boat,” Stone said. “They liked that Blue Gill pattern. When the wind went from south to north and the fish quit biting the jerkbait, I was able to slow down and fish the swimbait. I do think, however, if I would have slowed down with the jerkbait, letting it sit longer on the pause, I still might have been able to catch them that way, too.”

According to Alabama resident, Gerald Swindle, his tournament didn’t go as he intended. In practice, he was burning a swimbait over shallow cover – in 15-to 18-feet of water. He had some really good bites, but a two-day total of 25 pounds, 5 ounces left him in 95th-place when the tournament was complete.

“I was really struggling, even with some of the good bites I had,” Swindle said. “I never practice real slow or deep, and when I did, I couldn’t catch them. Looking back, I flailed around aimlessly out there both days.”

With 11 pounds going into day two, Swindle had a feeling he wouldn’t be fishing on Sunday. However, he still wanted to catch a bigger bag and move up in the standings. He went out with a different plan in mind, but both his lack of success and the achievements of his co-angler left him scratching his head.

“I went out on Saturday with swimbaits and jerkbaits,” Swindle said. “Every time I thought I had something going, my partner [co-angler] would catch a big one on something different. I was spinning my wheels trying to figure out what to throw. I ended up catching my 14-pound, 5-ounce bag on the Lucky Craft Slender Pointer 127 in Shrimp Brown. My partner schooled me on the Pointer 128, though. It looks like the big baits were key.”

Swindle still wonders where he went wrong, but admits he had a “bad finish and will have to learn to slow down on bodies of water like Amistad.”

Finishing in 107th was Lucky Craft’s new member, Casey Ashley with a two-day total of 21 pounds, 10 ounces. Ashley had a good day one throwing a swimbait and bringing in 19 pounds, 14 ounces.

“I was throwing the swimbait in the morning,” Ashley said. “I had a big fish follow it out, so I went back about five minutes later with a Senko and she bit. She weighed 7 pounds, so that fish gave me my 19 pounds on day one. I also caught a few fish on a Lucky Craft Pointer 128, but most of them came on a football jig.”

After a successful day one, Ashley started Saturday with the same technique but couldn’t seem to get a bite.

“Things didn’t go my way,” Ashley said. “My co-angler had 18 pounds, so we were around big fish. I just couldn’t get anything going.”

According to the South Carolina native, the fish on Lake Amistad this year were in a different stage than in 2007. There were more pre-spawn fish last year and anglers were able to fish for them on ledges. Ashley was able to do what he likes best last year – throw a jig – and said the fish were scattered this year and it was more of a post spawn pattern.

Ashley will leave this tournament in Texas and is looking forward to fishing Clarks Hill in a few weeks.

“This year, we are going to hit it just right,” Ashley said. “Last year, when we fished Clarks Hill, we were a week or so too early. The blue back herring hadn’t moved up yet, and the fish were behind. The week after we were there was really good. I believe the topwater bite this year will be phenomenal, and I think the Lucky Craft Gunfish 115 will be key. That bait in Ghost Minnow mimics the herring as close as anything you can find.”