Stone Finish in Top Five
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| 2 | Skeet Reese | |
| 38 | Gerald Swindle | |
| 48 | Kelly Jordon | |
| 54 | Casey Ashley | |
| 65 | Takahiro Omori |
LAKE GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. (May 13, 2009) - Six Lucky Craft pros competed in the fifth regular season Bassmaster Elite Series tournament this past weekend. With heavy currents on Lake Guntersville working in their favor, two Lucky Craft pros finished in the top five.
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Weights were heavier than expected on Lake Guntersville, and Lucky Craft's Skeet Reese knew it would take a big bag every day to make the top 12. He used various baits throughout the weekend, but the RC 2.5 proved faithful for him as he worked to bring in those big weights. "I was fishing on a main river ledge, fishing tops of shallow humps in about 4 feet of water," Reese explained. "On the final two days, every fish I caught came on the RC 2.5." Reese was fishing the RC 2.5 on a 7-foot, medium-action rod with 15-pound fluorocarbon and a high-speed Revo reel. He chose the reel because it allowed him to fish much faster without having too much torque and drag. With more power in the handle, it made crankbait fishing much easier. |
With a 25-pound, 9-ounce bag on day one and 24 pounds, 14 ounces on day two, Reese was in good position going into the third day. He weighed in 26 pounds, 2 ounces on Saturday, which allowed him to make the cut and fish on the final day.
Reese rallied on Sunday, bringing in his biggest bag of the week at 27 pounds, 11 ounces. Knowing it was Aaron's [Martens] tournament to win, Reese found himself in an 11-man battle for second place. "It was pretty much a one-man show for first," Reese said. "The way I look at it, I won the 11-man tournament." |
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With a total four-day weight of 104 pounds, 4 ounces, this was a ‘better-than-average' tournament for many on Lake Guntersville. According to Reese, this was his best experience on this lake, and he believes it has a lot to do with the current that showed up this week.
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"The current, from all the rain they've had here recently, was definitely a contributing factor to the big weights we saw," Reese explained. "Anytime you have current flowing through the lake, the fish will bite. Current positions the fish, and they become more active instead of just sitting in a stagnant water situation. The current pushes them to certain spots and brings the food to them."
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Overall, Reese was happy with his finish, but as always, he was fishing to win. With high expectations, Reese would have been more excited if this finish would have allowed him to take over the points race, but he still sits a mere five points behind Kevin Van Dam. Reese is looking forward to an opportunity to take control of the Angler of the Year race in a few weeks on Kentucky Lake.
"We're going out of a new location in Kentucky this time, so that's going to change where a lot of people fish," Reese said. "I think it's going to be good - not as good as Guntersville - but not too far off. I think the winning weight could easily be around 100 pounds."
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Lucky Craft's Gerald Swindle had a consistent tournament, bringing in 20 pounds, 9 ounces on day one and 21 pounds on both day two and day three. He started his morning on day one fishing the shad spawn for the first two or three hours of low light with a chatterbait.
In the afternoons, after the morning bite had disappeared, Swindle threw the RC 2.5 and the RC 2.5 DD in Copper Shad. As the day progressed, he would crank more of the outside grass areas, mixing it up between the crankbaits and the chatterbait. Day two and day three were similar as Swindle tried some of his morning chatterbait areas, but to no avail. On day two, he switched to a 1/2-ounce spinnerbait in the morning, but he still didn't have much success, so he moved to some riprap areas and threw the RC 2.5 DD on 12-pound fluorocarbon. He caught nearly 70 fish and weighed in 21 pounds. |
All in all, Swindle was consistently bringing in good weights, but with the way things were shaping up on Lake Guntersville, good wasn't quite good enough. "I didn't fish a bad tournament at all, and I honestly never thought it was going to take that much weight to do well," Swindle admitted. "I had almost 21 pounds on day one and honestly thought I was in good position. Had I known, I would have stayed on those fish and caught one or two more big ones. I was trying to save the good stuff for later on and I thought I was being smart … but come to find out, I was being dumb." |
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Swindle ended his week on Saturday in 38th with a total three-day weight of 62 pounds, 9 ounces.
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Lucky Craft's Kelly Jordon finished in 48th with a total three-day weight of 58 pounds, 7 ounces. He was fishing shallow with a spinnerbait, the Lucky Craft BDS 3 (Pearl Ayu) and the Lucky Craft Flat CB D-20 (Pearl Ayu and Splatterback). On day one, Jordon fished shallow early with the spinnerbait, a chatterbait and the BDS 3. In the afternoon, he switched to deeper areas with the D-20 and various other crankbaits. Fishing shallow early and deep in the afternoon was his main pattern throughout the tournament. Jordon had a shot at a big stringer on Thursday, but he lost three of his biggest fish and was only able to weigh in 20 pounds, 5 ounces. |
"That was really frustrating," Jordon said. "I lost one 5-pounder and two that weighed 6 pounds or so. They just jumped a few times and came off, and it was one of those really frustrating days. I haven't lost that many fish on a tournament day in my whole career. I probably caught 40 fish in one spot, but probably lost 60 to 80."
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After a frustrating day one, Jordon rebounded on day two with a five-fish stringer weighing 26 pounds, 14 ounces. He fished shallow humps, grass and shell beds with the BDS 3 and deeper ledges with the D-20.
"I was burning the BDS 3 through the grass, banging it off stumps and shallow bald spots where there was no grass," Jordon said. "I was using a 7-foot, heavy-action rod with a high-speed reel and 17-pound fluorocarbon. With the D-20, I was coming in contact with the bottom and the ledges on underwater points. I used a 7-foot, medium-action rod with 12-pound fluorocarbon."
With a lack of current on day three, Jordon wasn't able to bring in the weights he hoped for. After all was said and done on Saturday, he weighed in 11 pounds, 4 ounces. He scrambled around all day but without a heavy current, the fish he hoped to catch never materialized.
"I am disappointed with the finish," Jordon said. "I thought I could move up, but Saturday was just one of those days for me. I learned a lot about current this week. I always knew it played a huge factor, but I never knew it would make that huge of a difference in a tournament. It went from all to nothing, all because of the current, or lack thereof. But I learned from it, and now I have to leave it behind and move on."
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Casey Ashley found it hard to believe that he could bring in 40 pounds and 13 ounces and still finish 54th. But that's what happened for the South Carolina native, as he weighed in 19 pounds, 3 ounces on day one and 21 pounds, 10 pounces on day two. Ashley was throwing a spinnerbait on shallow grass each morning, trying to run around and hit as many places as he could. After the sun came up, he would throw a Lucky Craft Flat CB DR on edges of grass in about 8- to 9-feet of water. Using a 7-foot, medium-action rod, a Revo reel and 15-pound fluorocarbon, Ashley stuck with his pattern for both tournament days. He was disappointed with the 54th-place finish, but he was able to look at the bright side. |
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"I had one little spot that had boats all over it in the morning, but as the sun came up, the boats left and I was able to catch them cranking on that spot," Ashley said. "I was fishing edges of a grass flat around hydrilla mostly, but had some areas where I could bounce it off of shells and rocks." |
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"I only dropped two places in the points, so that's not too bad," Ashley said. "I'm sitting in 21st now, so I'm glad that worked out the way it did. I have only missed three cuts this year, and I've only missed them by less than a pound each time. I missed the top 50 at Amistad by 8 ounces, missed it at Smith Mountain Lake by just under a pound, and now here on Guntersville. I'll have to fix that." The next stop of the 2009 season, Kentucky Lake, is an unfriendly reminder of a tournament gone awry. "It [Kentucky Lake] kicked my butt last time, but I learned a lot so I'm going to go out there and try to figure out once again. It's probably going to be a cranking tournament again. That's what I'm going to try anyway." |
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Much like his fellow teammates, Lucky Craft's Takahiro Omori was shocked that his 19- and 18-pound bags didn't push him into the top 50. According to Omori, in the last five years, 19 or 20 pounds would have put him in the top 10, easily. This year was a different story. Omori caught most of his fish on a chatterbait, fishing around the outside edges of milfoil using a 7-foot cranking rod with 20-pound fluorocarbon. He was catching 3- and 4-pounders, and thought he was having a good day, until the day one weigh-in when he noticed the bags were bigger than he expected. "I was just in the wrong areas, I guess," Omori said. "I thought it was a good day on Lake Guntersville if you could bring in 19 pounds, but I realized, this week, 19 pounds was a bad day. I totally misjudged the areas and the size of fish I needed to catch." |
Omori weighed in 19 pounds, 12 ounces on day one and 18 pounds, 10 ounces on day two for a two-day total weight of 38 pounds, 6 ounces. He finished in 65th.
"I am really disappointed this week," Omori said. "I'm so mad, I spent three more days practicing for next year. But I know, all in all, that's just part of fishing, so I have to move on, put this behind me and get ready for Kentucky Lake."
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