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Lucky Craft’s Skeet Reese Finishes Year Strong at ‘The Rock’
Deep water, dropshot and the BDS 3 key to success this week |
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>>>Skeet Reese |
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“I found a quarter-mile stretch where the water was a little more colored with a lot of bait fish around,” Reese said. “I made one pass through there and caught two fish. The area intrigued me because it was an area that fit my style much better than the deep-water fishing I was doing earlier in the week. It was more shallow-water power fishing upriver and it worked out really well for me.”
“The BDS 3, in Chartreuse Shad, was my money bait this week,” Reese said. “I was fishing any cover I could find, be it stumps, lay downs or rock. I was fishing in about two to six feet of water and caught every single keeper on the BDS 3 this week.” Fishing the BDS 3 on 20-pound monofilament with his seven-foot glass rod, Reese was able to bring in five keepers on day one. Fishing nothing slow, he would burn the BDS 3 by stumps with a very fast retrieve, triggering reaction strikes off the cover. According to Reese, there were a lot of gizzard shad in the area he was fishing and when you “bounced the BDS 3 off the surrounding structure, the fish would just choke it.” As day two began, Reese said the conditions changed. The wind blew more, the fish never positioned and the bait fish never moved up. He went back to his key area, but was only able to bring in three keepers, sliding down to fourth place with 7 pounds, 8 ounces.
Reese is pretty pleased with the season as a whole, finishing four regular season tournaments in the top 12 and one Major tournament in the top six. “I am happy to have finished this week in the top ten,” Reese concluded. “I won’t ever be completely satisfied until I win angler of the year, but I did have a really successful season.”
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>>>Takahiro Omori |
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“I had a really hard time catching keepers the first two days of practice,” Omori said. “I was keying in on largemouths, but only caught one keeper the first two days. After the second day of practice, I talked to Kelly (Jordon) and he told me to throw a twin tail grub in deep water and fish for smallmouths and spotted bass. I did that the last day of practice and caught four keepers, so his advice really helped me out a lot and for that, I say thank you.” Jordon’s advice helped advance Omori to the seventh spot after day one, as he brought in 12 pounds, 7 ounces.
“On Thursday, I caught three smallmouths and two spotted bass fishing just outside the tree line on a main lake point,” Omori said. “It was about 40 feet deep and I was casting the grub to the outside edges of tree lines and working out from there. That is how I caught my fish all week.” After a great start to the season, Omori took some gambles and slipped a bit, leaving him scrambling towards the end of this year. Omori came to Table Rock with one goal on his mind – finish in the top 25 and make it to the Classic. And he did just that, finishing with a three day total weight of 23 pounds, 4 ounces.
“The first half of the season went well for me because fishing shallow water in the springtime is one of my key strengths,” Omori said. “I knew I had to finish well here to make the Classic and I’m very happy to have done that. “It has been a long season and I want to say thank you to Lucky Craft for supporting me all year long,” Omori concluded. “See you at the Classic.”
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>>>Kelly Jordon |
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“I tried to eliminate a lot of patterns in practice,” Jordon began. “I knew to have a chance at winning this tournament, I would have to dropshot, but that’s just not what I do. I tried everything else to catch them, but nothing worked out well. I did end up dropshotting the whole tournament.” Catching most of his fish in 30 – 40 feet of water, Jordon’s electronics came in handy, as they did for most anglers this week. “Basically, when dropshotting, you’re sight fishing with your graph,” Jordon explained. “You see the fish on the graph and drop the bait right in front of their face. You can also see your bait on the graph and you just hope they come up and grab it. This week however, I must have had 100 fish come up and look at it, but not take the bait, which was a bit frustrating.”
Jordon brought in two fish on day one and three on day two, putting him in 37th after Friday’s weigh-in. He would have a lot of ground to make up on Saturday if he wanted to fish for the big money on Sunday. In a tournament where limits were few, Jordon battled back on Saturday, bringing in a limit of five weighing 11 pounds, 11 ounces. Although not enough to make the cut to twelve, Jordon was extremely pleased with how the week ended, especially considering how it began. “I’m tickled to death,” Jordon said. “I spent most of my practice trying to find alternate ways to catch them, but the strongest thing I could establish was the dropshot. It was hard to catch a keeper in this tournament, so bringing in five on day three was a strong finish. “My overall season was great. Any year you can win a tournament is awesome and making the Classic is a great accomplishment as well.”
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>>>Gerald Swindle |
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“I spent all three practice days fishing deep,” Swindle said. “I never made a cast in less than 20 feet of water. By the third day of practice, I had my areas narrowed down. I knew the areas where the bluffs end under the water were key to getting the most bites. The top of the vertical drop off was about 40 feet deep, but dropped off to about 100 feet. Those were the places I had the most confidence in.” Like fellow pro staffer, Jordon, Swindle spent his entire week dropshotting in deep water. Staying on the same pattern all week long, Swindle caught many fish, but couldn’t seem to get the 15-inchers to bite.
“It was like playing a video game,” Swindle said. “I would drop it right in front of their faces and move it around a bit. I could see everything on my electronics. The fish did change it up a bit, but not much. In the mornings, they might be on the edges of the drop and in the evenings they could be on the top of the drop. You only had to move around in a little circle.” The water Swindle was fishing was around 65 – 70 feet deep on some occasions, but the trees would be about 25 – 30 feet tall. According to Swindle, he would fish right on top of the trees. He caught a lot of 14 – 14.5-inch fish, but those big 15-inch bass eluded him this weekend.
Swindle admitted this week was a bit frustrating, especially on a lake where he usually fishes well. Finishing 60th at The Rock wasn’t exactly what he had hoped for, but he is pleased with his season overall. “The year was definitely a success,” Swindle said. “The points chase went as well as BASS could have asked for and fishing this season was phenomenal. We went to several lakes where we really got to catch a lot of fish and I got to do every kind of fishing this year, from topwater to shallow to deep water, and I liked it. It tested me a lot and I think this year, for everyone involved, was a home run.”
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>>>Marty Stone |
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“It was really tough this week and the only pattern I found in practice was cranking in the backs of creeks, in stained water,” Stone said. “I caught everything this week on a Lucky Craft crankbait.” When the clouds were out, Stone would throw the Flat Mini MR in Tennessee Shad. If he encountered any wood cover, he would switch over to the RC 1.5 in Splatterback. And when the sun came out, Stone would use the Flat Mini DR in Chartreuse Rootbeer. Although some of the 15-inch fish did not end up in Stone’s livewells, the Lucky Craft crankbaits proved their worth once again, allowing Stone to catch fish consistently everyday.
“I’m not going to have a great finish here, but I definitely caught some fish,” Stone said. “Everyday I fished out there, I caught at least thirty bass. I couldn’t get a break and bring in many 15-inchers, but I did fish clean. I didn’t lose or miss any fish.” As Stone has said many times before, he is not a deep-water fisherman, so he knew his limitations on this lake. He just went out to do what he does best. “I was fishing in two to five feet of water, making quartering casts to anywhere I saw rock or wood,” Stone explained. “I was looking for target-oriented fish. I was cranking those Lucky Craft baits with a medium retrieve. There was a lot of shad in the area and the water temperature was in the upper 70s, so their (the fish) metabolisms were still wide open. They chase the bait and hit it the faster you wind.”
After Thursday’s bag, Stone locked himself into the Elite Series for next year, a very honorable accomplishment considering how the first part of the year went for him. Stone finished this tournament tied for 76th, but is glad to have turned his season around. “No one wants to end the year like this, but I also know how bad it was in the middle of the year and I feel like I turned it all around,” Stone said. “I’ve had two tournaments where I just barely missed the cut and I have made five checks in a row. I finished the year strong in my opinion and am looking forward to next year.” According to Stone, it’s been a year full of opportunities, but he is ready for a break. After a rough beginning, finishing strong makes Stone proud – and he is also proud to have the support of all his sponsors. “I just want to take this opportunity to thank all my sponsors, because you don’t know how great they are until you have a tough year,” Stone concluded. “They really stood behind me and that’s when you really appreciate them the most.”
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>>>Joe Thomas |
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“I had a tough tournament this week, never finding anything I was very comfortable with,” Thomas said. “I caught a couple pretty good smallmouths in practice on a jig, fishing in about 18 – 20 feet of water. I got it in my head that would work. As it turns out, the majority of the fish were caught in about 40 feet of water.” Thomas wasn’t alone in his confusion, as many anglers zeroed the first day of the tournament. He came out of the gate swinging on day two though, knowing he needed a big bag to make the cut to 50. Thomas traveled upriver, trying to stay away from everyone. It made a difference, as he caught six or seven largemouths, but was only able to boat one keeper.
“I caught my fish today on a jig with a plastic trailer,” Thomas explained. “I was casting to little bluff points at the mouths of creeks, maybe where the largemouth were moving out. I caught a couple on a spinnerbait when the wind picked up in the afternoon. They were just line burners – I couldn’t quite make them bump 15 inches.” Thomas wasn’t the only one troubled by the 15-inch limit and admits it was a frustrating week. But he plans to pick himself up, dust off and ready himself for a good season in 2007. “It was a frustrating tournament. I would have loved to finish a very mediocre year on a good note, but it just wasn’t meant to be. I’m going to try and sort things out through the winter and re-group for next year.”
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Copyright 2006 LUCKY CRAFT, INC. |