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| Reese continues one of the incredible runs on the tour in decades |
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Winning appears to be growing on Skeet like moss on a tree – slowly but surely – as he picked up his second victory and fifth Top 5 finish this season in five Bassmaster Elite Series tournaments. It’s an astounding run of success: Two wins, a second-place and two fifth-place finishes. The second-place finish came at the season-opening California Delta where he lost by just one ounce. But that began one of the most incredible runs on the tour in decades. |
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Skeet’s daily weights at Guntersville were 29- 3, 24-1, 21-10 and 25-15 on the final day, when conditions changed enough that he decided to “just go fishing.” Often when anglers are on a roll, those three little words can spell disaster for other competitors. It did on Guntersville because Skeet was relaxed and confident enough to maintain his focus and win by more than seven pounds.
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If that wasn’t enough, Skeet was trailing by five pounds going into the final day. His Day 3 weight of “just” 21-10 and a big catch by Davy Hite propelled Hite into the lead. But he faltered, Skeet surged and the outcome was cemented with his near-26 pound catch.
Skeet used a Lucky Craft RC 3.5 DD Crankbait in White Shad on 10-pound test Trilene fluorocarbon. On the final day also threw a hand-tied brown mop jig. The long strands of rubber on the mop jig will pulse and flutter during the stop ‘n go retrieve. He targeted bridge riprap, deep areas with hard or shell bottom and a river channel ledge with scattered cover.
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It was the second year a Lucky Craft crankbait played a pivotal role in winning the Guntersville tournament. Aaron Martens won the 2009 event with an RC 2.5 DD in Tomato Shad color.
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With his second straight finish in the Top 20 this season, Gerald climbed in the angler of the year standings and also joined the BASS Millionaire Club for career winnings with $1,004,129 in 160 tournaments. He turned in a solid performance with a Lucky Craft crankbait lineup that went from shallow to deep water. Swindle cranked shallow areas with the RC 2.5 and deeper water with the RC 2.5 DD, both in White Shad, and then hit deep ledges with a Flat CB D-20 in Chartreuse Shad. His shallow areas were around transition points with grass while the deep ledge areas had a hard bottom. |
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“It was just a matter of keeping it simple, running those points and grass areas early and then the deeper ledges on up in the day as the sun got up,” he said. “The big key for me was just making my run to the different areas.”
Swindle used 10-pound Vicious fluorocarbon on his signature Quantum Gerald Swindle Tour Edition flippin’ stick and Quantum PT reel. The rod is 7-feet-4 inches with a medium-heavy action, “but it will chunk those big plugs out there pretty dogone easily,” he said.
“On in the day throwing the D-20, the fish would eat it at about 15 or 16 feet,” he said. “They wouldn’t even wait for it to hit the bottom. This was a good tournament for me and I gained a few more points in the standings into the mid-30s, so that’s good. I just have to keep it going and make good decisions.”
Takahiro started out on the bank to locate some fish but decided to move out deeper where the spawning bass were moving away from the shallow water.
“At practice lot of fish were on the bank hanging around the milfoil and I found those just casting a Senko. I ended up catching most of my tournament fish with a BDS 4 in Sexy Chartreuse Shad in about 5-8 feet on the outside edges of milfoil.
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“The more they were toward the main lake than in the creeks, the better. They were starting to move out and in practice I was on points and in the creeks near spawning pockets, but during the tournament I was on the main lake ridges. But I don’t fish deep too much and I concentrated on the 5-8 foot range. “The second day I caught 23 pounds, but you have to catch them like that every day. Overall I had a pretty good tournament and this was my best one of the season. |
Kelly started out with sight-fishing in mind, but that changed quickly after his shallow areas became barren as practice and tournament time rolled around.
“There were lots of bedding fish everywhere and I almost won an FLW Tour tournament on Guntersville sight fishing. I really thought it was going to be so easy. No one was doing it, either. Terry Scroggins said he’d sight-fish the entire tournament and he did a little better than me.
“I was in a late flight and didn’t get there until too late, and went to my fallback plan. They were gone. There were none on beds and I couldn’t even get the shallow ones to look at anything. I finally had to get out and look around because I love fishing offshore. “I had a little bitty deal that Paul Elias was on, too, and I fished around him but didn’t bother him. Then I just ran and practiced, looking for stuff on my graph. I found some little drops and two schools, but one of those was Mark Davis’ fish and I left that. |
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“This time of year the fish are in transit. They have their tails to the bank and heads to the deeper water. They’ll stop at the docks or the first point or drop, and then they’re heading out in a mass movement. The water temperature rose about six or seven degrees in a couple of days, from about 67 or 68 to about 75 degrees, and they were just done.”
Casey didn’t get on anything significant, something he said has plagued him every time the tour has stopped at Guntersville.
“That place kicks my tail every time I’ve been there. I finished sixth in a Bassmaster Open tournament in the fall, but I’ve just never caught them good enough there.
“I typically fish bridges at home because I do well on them on the corners with spinnerbaits and jigs. This year I decided to fish ledges all three days of practice. Then the tournament was won on riprap. A lot of guys were fishing riprap banks.
“I found five ledges that really had them and was catching them on a Flat CB D-12 in Chartreuse Shad. It was 11 feet on top dropping to 14 and it was like every cast. I caught a 5- and 4-pounder in my limit off of that and left it, went to some other spots and boats were on them. That’s a disgusting feeling to have fish found, and then go there and someone else is on it.
“The next day I went to my spot and all my fish were gone. I had to scrounge around and came up with about 12 pounds. The whole deal in something like this is finding a spot. I’m a pattern fisherman and like to find something like windblown points or blowdowns on flats, and then run it. The offshore deal is tough for me.
“I went back out Sunday morning just to look around at some things since I wasn’t competing anymore, check my graph and idle around. Within an hour I had five that weighed 28 pounds. For an hour and half, I caught a fish on every cast. I wore out a D-12… busted the lip, cracked the back and just wore it out. Those fish probably were close and had I known the place might be that good, I’d have taken the time to find them around there. But when you’re on a body of water that big and don’t know the history, it can be disgusting.”
