Tournament Standings
		Pl.		Team Lucky Craft
		14		Skeet Reese
		17		Takahiro Omori
		26		Gerald Swindle
		27		Marty Stone
		38		Kelly Jordon
		73		Casey Ashley

DECATUR, Ala. (June 11, 2008) – Six Lucky Craft pros descended on Decatur, Ala., last week for the 2008 Southern Challenge. Wheeler Lake, the second largest lake in Alabama, proved tough for some, but five Lucky Craft pros found their way to the top 50.

“Overall for Lake Wheeler, I couldn’t be much happier,” Reese said. “To come out of here with a solid finish and salvaging some points is great. I can’t ask for more than that. I did have the chance to have a much better week than I did, but I’m still really happy with the outcome.”

Reese was penalized for fish care on day one, but still managed to weigh in 15 pounds, 15 ounces. Then on Friday and Saturday, Reese lost some key fish that could have given him another 4 or 5 pounds. All in all, however, Reese’s 14th-place finish was enough to bring a smile to his face.

“I can always look back on a tournament and see how I could have done better,” Reese said. “But to come off of Wheeler [Lake] with a solid finish is great. I was dreading coming here, and it has been on my mind all season. I’ve never had a good finish here, so I’m pleased with 14th.”

It was a crankbait week for Reese on Wheeler Lake, as he threw the Lucky Craft Flat CB D-20 (Chartreuse Light Blue and Citrus Shad) and some others throughout the week.

“The whole deal was you had to burn the crankbaits,” Reese said. “I fished them pretty fast on 10-pound fluorocarbon on my glass rod. I don’t think I ever fully understood this lake before. Depending on what time of year you come, things change, too. Understanding Lake Guntersville and my experiences there over the past 10 years helped me here, and I realized I couldn’t beat the bank like I did in the past.”

Reese believes the next tournament, the Bluegrass Brawl on Kentucky Lake, will be won on outside structure. He plans to throw the Flat CB D-20 again using the same color. Planning on having three rods on his deck, Reese’s plan of action will be to use a crankbait, a jig and a 10-inch worm.

“The last four or five years I’ve fished this lake, I’ve been in the top 40 or so,” Omori said. “This week is as close as I’ve ever been to the top 12. I needed this finish because I’m close to not making the Classic. This helped, and I need to do well the rest of the year and move up in the points.”

Omori finished 17th on Wheeler with a three-day total of 40 pounds, 15 ounces and was fishing the Lucky Craft RC 1.5 (Copper Green Shad) around milfoil and riprap in 2 to 5 feet of water.

“I would throw the RC 1.5 or a Carolina rig,” Omori said. “Those were my two main baits. I was fishing around the [popular] Decatur Flats, fishing shallow water all weekend.”

Admitting he experienced a mental breakdown here, for the first time in his career, Omori had to push through the hardship to pull out a good finish.

“Before the meeting on Wednesday, after two days in the heat, I felt like I didn’t have any good patterns or areas,” Omori said. “I had to work on my tackle on Wednesday evening to get ready for the first day of the tournament. I couldn’t even do that – I didn’t feel like doing anything. But in this world and in this sport, you have to be mentally tough.”

Omori pushed through, finished his tackle and had a good weekend, bring in 13 pounds, 8 ounces on day one, 14 pounds, 9 ounces on day two and 12 pounds, 14 ounces on day three.

When asked about Kentucky Lake, Omori believes the fish will be deeper, in more of a summer pattern.

“The Flat CB D-20 might be key there,” Omori said. “I am more of shallow crankbait fisherman, but I think I’ll have to fish deep crankbaits in shad colors on Kentucky Lake. I’ve never had a top-10 finish on this lake, but I’m keeping a positive attitude and hoping to have a good tournament there. I need it.”

“Practice went well here,” Swindle began. “I never thought I found the mother-load, but I did get on a good grass bite the last morning of practice throwing the Lucky Craft LVR D-7 (Chartreuse Shad). I threw the Flat CB MR a little too, but it seemed like the lipless was going to be the ticket for me.”

On day one, Swindle caught a limit first thing in the morning with

a frog and then changed locations to fish the Decatur Flats. He brought in 14 pounds, 2 ounces on Thursday and was sitting in a good position going into the second day of the tournament. However, when Friday rolled around, things didn’t gel together as well as he would have liked.

“I fished some of the same areas I fished on day one, but could never get it going,” Swindle said. “I had one about 5 pounds right at the boat when it tore the split ring in half and pulled the hook right off my bait.”

Swindle weighed in 9 pounds on Friday and knew he’d have to change some things going into day three.

“The first bite I got on Saturday jumped off, and I refused to have another day like that,” Swindle said. “I picked up a ZOOM Speed Worm and threw it in the grass. I caught a 2-1/2-pounder and then a 5-pounder, so I knew that was going to be the deal on Saturday. It didn’t last long though, and that bite was over by 8 a.m.”

Still managing to bring in 15 pounds, 2 ounces on day three, even after his bite quit early, Swindle had a three-day total of 38 pounds, 4 ounces; enough for 26th.

“It’s not the tournament I wanted on Wheeler, but I’ll take it,” Swindle said. “I have to go on to Kentucky Lake and fish with confidence to be successful. I hope it’s going to be an offshore bite there, and I hope to throw the Flat CB D-20. Last time I fished Kentucky Lake, I finished 16th, I’m ready.”

Lucky Craft’s Marty Stone finished tied with Timmy Horton for 27th with a three-day total of 38 pounds, 3 ounces. Much like teammate Swindle, day two was the drawback to his successful tournament.

“It was a good event all-in-all,” Stone said. “Yesterday [Friday] was pretty tough, but conservatively I caught 75 fish a day. I had five different places I fished today that when I left them, the fish were still biting. I also had three consecutive places where I caught fish on 20 consecutive casts.”

Day one was special for Stone as he fished shallow with spinnerbaits and chatterbait while also flipping docks. He had a small limit of about 7 pounds, but went to his crankbait area and caught fish 25 consecutive casts. Stone brought in a 16-pound, 10-ounce limit on day one.

With only 8 pounds, and 5 ounces on day two, Stone knew he’d need a strong day three to rebound. After fishing by himself all weekend, he was able to bring in 13 pounds, 4 ounces on Saturday to finish 27th.

Stone was fishing in 5 to 6 feet of water cranking a Flat CB DR most of the time (Chartreuse Light Blue), and the North Carolina native was happy about fishing a “fun and clean tournament.”

Kelly Jordon admitted he was never able to find the fish to put him in the top 12, but he feels he had a good tournament.

“The first day, I fished deep by the dam and caught plenty of bass, but they were all small,” Jordon explained. “Every cast, I’d bring in 1-pounders. It was fun, but fun doesn’t cut it when you walk across the weigh-in stage and everyone has pretty big weights. I was in 71st after day one.”

Jordon decided to change things up on day two after weighing in a 9-pound, 3-ounce bag Thursday. Being a deep-structure fisherman, that’s what Jordon wanted to do, but it didn’t pan out for him.

“I was able to move up a little bit on Friday [with 13 pounds, 9 ounces] and make up some ground today [Saturday],” Jordon said. “I don’t think I cranked enough. I did throw the RC 2.5 a little bit and later this afternoon, I threw the Flat CB DR (Chartreuse Rootbeer). I was fishing clumpy grass in five to seven feet of water and found the bigger bites came on the cranks.”

Hindsight is 20-20, and Jordon is still pleased with his 38th-place finish. He weighed in a total three-day weight of 35 pounds, 8 ounces. Jordon now has his sights set on the deep structure he hopes to fish on Kentucky Lake.

“Cranking, jigging, big worms, spoons and swimbaits could be key on Kentucky Lake,” Jordon said. “If you can get them on big crankbaits, it’s going to play a big factor. The key will be finding the areas holding those big fish. You just have to make the right moves at the right times and find something out of the way that no one else has seen.”

“Everything I caught was on two points on a jig,” Ashley said. “I was fishing an area that dropped from 10 to 14 feet. I could also catch 12-inch fish in the bushes all day long, but I couldn’t get the big ones to bite.”

Most of Ashley’s fish came on a 7/16-ounce finesse jig. Admitting he didn’t want to fish the popular Decatur Flats because of all the traffic, Ashley explained his need to fish alone.

“Fishing around a bunch of people is a mental thing for me,” Ashley said. “I’ve never been able to fish around a lot of people. I don’t like to do it, because I like to be all by myself. It doesn’t always work out when I do that though, and I see now I should have fished those flats. I will have to force myself to fish in the crowd next time.”

Ashley knew the flats might be key to a good finish on Wheeler Lake, and did fish them on day two for about 30 minutes. However, he never was able to find that key bite. Ashley brought in 9 pounds, 2 ounces on day one and 9 pounds, 15 ounces on day two.

The South Carolina native has never been to Kentucky Lake but has heard it’s a cranking lake and plans to fish ledges with a Lucky Craft Flat CB D-20.

“Deep cranking isn’t my strong point, but from what I hear, anyone can do it out there,” Ashley said. “And again, from what I hear, you have to unless you’re going to fish the bushes and they’ll put you in the top 50, at best. That’s not what I want. I’m going to stay out on those deep ledges and fish with crankbaits, big worms and a jig and try to find the big ones.