Team LC Tour Journal 2006 Bassmaster Classic

Reese & Swindle Break Through to Final Day of Competition

Stone Barely On the Outside of the Top 25

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (Feb. 26, 2006) – Lucky Craft Pro Staff anglers Skeet Reese and Gerald Swindle each had an opportunity to cash the biggest paydays of their young careers during the final day of this year’s CITGO Bassmaster Classic held on Lake Toho. Both fell a bit shy. As for Marty Stone, he also had a solid tournament, barely missing the cut.

>>>Skeet Reese

Reese headed into the final day in the 10th position – 14 pounds, 5 ounces outside of first. It’s his nature to swing for the fences and be aggressive, which is exactly what he did. But it was a gamble that didn’t pay off, as Reese brought home 24th with a three-day total of 30 pounds and 6 ounces.

“Yes, I could have just gone for a limit and made a few more bucks, but that’s not the purpose of competing in the Classic,” Reese said. “I went out with full intentions of sticking to a game plan of targeting bigger fish. I fished a lot of new water today (Sunday); places I’ve never fished before. It was the stuff that looked right. I was trying to find a group of fish that was in post spawn, on the lily pads and in two-to-three foot of water. I felt if I was going to win this thing, I had to catch a big limit.

“I felt I could have stayed up a little more and fished some of the banks,” Reese revealed. “I could have looked to catch some males and gotten a 10 to 11 pound limit, but that wasn’t really going to do anything for me – so what’s the point.”

After the second day of the tournament, Reese knew he was in the right areas. He could periodically see the leaders where he was fishing.

“I’m always around winning fish, but I just can’t figure out how to catch them yet,” Reese said. “I think I know what I’m going to key in on a lot more as far as what type of cover.

“The fish actually reacted different to the front than I thought they would have,” Reese continued. “I thought, going into this week, the bed fish were going to be a big factor in this tournament. What I found out was that most of these fish are done (spawning) and had backed out.”

This was the first time a CITGO Bassmaster Classic was held in late February. It has changed the entire face of Classic competition, as many of the weight records were broken this year. Reese thinks BASS is moving in the right direction with this change.

“From a fan’s stand point, they were probably pretty stoked about all the big fish weighed in – especially on Friday,” Reese said. “The bar has definitely risen with Preston (Clarks’) impressive 11 pounder. I know the fans enjoyed the big ones coming in and I think we’ll wind up visiting some fisheries in the future that we’ll be able to break big fish records and some other ones as well. It’s nice from an anglers stand point because we know we’re going out on some great waters with the ability to catch big limits.”

BASS has changed a great deal for 2006. Instead of ending the regular season in April and May like in past seasons, this year’s Elite Series is longer (13 events) and covers a lot more of the year (ending in September). The new schedule has peaked Reese’s enthusiasm.

“I’m really excited about this upcoming season,” Reese said. “The person who wins Angler of the Year is going to earn it. You couldn’t ask for any more than that. Just having three or four good derbies isn’t going to win you the title this year. You’re going to have to fish well in a lot of tournaments and there will be a lot of different conditions, different climates and different times of the year to be successful.

“That person will have to be one of the most versatile on tour,” Reese continued. “And to be honest, I don’t know what to expect on that front. My favorite time of year is pre-spawn, spawn and springtime fishing. It’s my favorite because that’s what I fish the most. But I also feel I have the ability to do a lot of different things. Growing up where I grew up in Northern California, I have fished a lot of super-deep structure and summer patterns – so I know how to and feel comfortable fishing in every type of environment.”

>>>Gerald Swindle

Hayden, Alabama’s Swindle was in a similar position to Reese – needing a big Sunday bag to catch the leaders. He had to take some chances and he knew it, but how he took those steps was the big question.

After a rough Friday, Swindle slowed down, which allowed him to reel in the 18 pound, 6 ounce second day total that vaulted him from 45th to 19th. But Sunday’s task was a formidable one, as the Lucky Craft standout failed to get a bite and wound up 45th.

Despite the setback, Swindle was still upbeat about his performance. He was able to make an adjustment halfway through the tournament that kept him in contention through Sunday.

“Looking back on it, I would have gone down and fished the lily pads on the first day of the tournament,” Swindle said. “I fished in the places I thought would give me the win, but unfortunately, it didn’t happen. Maybe I should have gone down to Lake Kissimmee. But if I had to really change anything, I would have slowed down on the first day.

“I could have gone out there, ran around and easily caught a limit (on Sunday) – but I wouldn’t have gone anywhere either,” Swindle added. “I would have been in 15th place and the money doesn’t improve until you get into the top 10. There comes a point where you have to go for it. You can’t be afraid to zero if you want to win this thing. If you can get two or three big bites, you’re going to win. I stayed out there and tried to do that, but I just didn’t get any bites.”

Swindle talked about slowing down. It was that process that brought him back into the game on Saturday.

“I had to win the mental part of the game this weekend,” Swindle exclaimed. “On Friday, I couldn’t quite get myself to slow down enough mentally to catch the fish I needed. On Saturday, I took it easy and slowed my fishing down. Once you get a few bites, you’re confidence level is sky high, which makes all the difference in the world.

“I really thought I could have caught a lot of the fish shallow,” Swindle added. “That bite faded pretty quickly, so the water might have warmed up, but the bigger fish started to spawn and sit in deep. I basically fished in the same areas (Saturday) I fished on Friday, but I just backed up a little bit. I got off the banks, backed out and found some nice areas of weeds.”

Like Reese, Swindle weighed in on what he thought about the Classic moving forward a few months and what it does for the anglers.

“I think this was a very successful Classic,” Swindle noted. “Records were meant to be broken and having these Classics at this time of the year will allow that to happen. I like having a non-points event under your belt to kick the season off because if you’re not warmed up in the first tournament, you can’t get caught up in the points game. Now that everyone has a feel for it, everyone should be ready to go.”

Swindle, the 2004 CITGO Bassmaster Angler of the Year, will be chasing a second title this year. He commented on the extended season and what it’s going to take to win it.

“It’s going to be a test,” Swindle said. “It’s going to be longer, a lot more grueling, but it’s also the most promising schedule we’ve ever had for big fish catches. As an angler, the kid is going to come out of you this year. We’re really going to fish some tournaments where we’re going to have some big catches. That’s what you want as an angler. I like it because we’re going to visit a variety of fishing venues. We start in spring and go all the way through fall. We’re going to be fishing some topwater, some deep cranking and different things. We normally don’t have a chance to mix it all up like that.

“The key to winning this (AOY) is going to be balancing things out,” Swindle continued. “The ninth inning stretch is really going to even things. If you wear yourself out by September, you’re really going to struggle to perform well in those last two tournaments. And Table Rock (Missouri) is going to make or break someone’s season. A lot of Classic appearances are going to be won or lost on that lake. You have to keep you’re head with you in order to win this thing. You don’t have to make every one of them a top 10, but you need to stay within the top 25 most times to get it done.”

>>>Marty Stone

Lucky Craft’s Stone had high hopes coming into this weekend’s CITGO Bassmaster Classic. To open the 2004 Tour, the North Carolina resident tamed the Harris Chain of Lakes to claim a second-career BASS victory.

And on the first day of this Classic, Stone looked to be a heady competitor this time as well - grabbing 16 pounds and 10 ounces of bass and a competitive 18th position to start. But in Florida, fishing fortunes can be as fickle as the fish themselves.

“I caught a lot of fish today (Saturday) and I ran all over the place,” Stone said. “But at 11:30 am, I only had one bite – which wasn’t too good. I started to move around. I found this place and really started to catch them. But they were smaller. My first limit was five pounds, my second weighed six, my third weighed seven and my fourth weighed eight. I culled ounces upon ounces trying to build onto that weight.”

Often times, the difference between winning and losing is out of an angler’s control. Stone felt that way about his weekend.

“For me, the difference in getting the larger bites versus the smaller ones was a little bad luck – that’s just Florida fishing,” said Stone, the 2005 CITGO Bassmaster Angler of the Year runner up. “If you look at my weight today (Saturday) versus what I did yesterday - that seven pounder was the difference. I caught a lot of fish today (Saturday) and covered a lot of water.

“I’ve seen it over and over again, you catch a seven or eight pounder and a couple of little ones, you look like a hero,” Stone continued. “Then you have a day like today (Saturday), where you go out there and catch a lot of smaller ones, but never get that big bite. The guys who have landed the bigger sacks this weekend just found better areas. But coming into this event, I would have been happy if I would have caught 10 to 15 pounds – and I did that on Friday.”

Stone also talked about how difficult the Florida bass can be.

“They migrate and move around a lot, but when they come in, they can flood an area,” Stone said. “When they do that, it’s not hard to catch 30 pounds of fish on a lake like Toho. The conditions are perfect for it.

“The thing I like to do in Florida is always fish back through my water,” Stone added. “I usually do it in a very, very fast manner. What I normally do, is blow through a stretch that takes normally three hours to fish in about an hour. What I’m looking for is a bite. I never slow down until I get a bite. Here, you have to get one before you get a second one. It sounds ridiculous, but if you can hit one bite in Florida, you’ll get ten right after it. If you do get that second bite, you have found an area. If you don’t – you just keep moving. You have to move a lot. These fish migrate, move around and hustle a lot. The person who won did not stay in one area for the entire three days of the tournament. When you hit the right patch of water down here in Florida, you’ll think you’re the greatest fisherman in the world. If you find an area, you really have to stay there and fish it until they quit. I have been here too many times to know that the next day could bring you something totally different from what you had in the past.”