Going into the Citgo Bass Master Tour event on the Harris Chain of Lakes in Leesburg, Florida, Kelly Jordon was excited. "I knew it could be a tough tournament, but the weather was so much better than last year that I thought we might finally see what the Harris Chain was really like," said Jordon. In 2003 the weather at this event was unseasonably cold. This year's weather forecast was much more like normal Central Florida weather should be.

During the three-day practice period Kelly started out using last years winning pattern, throwing a crankbait at the outside edge of the grass. "I just didn't feel like I was getting the bites I needed on the Flat CB MR," said Kelly.

"I knew that with all the stable weather that the fish should be trying to move up for the spawn." Kelly said that he found fish around the canals that were moving up, and found some that were already spawning. "I knew that the only way I could get to the spawners I found was to get an early draw on day one of the tournament. Alton Jones and Jay Yelas had both found the same fish I did. I knew it could turn into a boat race to get to them," said Jordon.

After looking around the canals, Jordon moved back out to the main lake and found two more spots that he thought would produce. One of the spots had an isolated patch of Hydrilla. The second spot was a good patch of Eel Grass that lay just outside the Kissimmee Grass. Kelly figured that to get bites on either of these two areas he would have to fish slowly.

On day one of the tournament Jordon drew boat number 80, so he decided not to go after the spawning fish that he found since other competitors would likely already be on them. Instead, Jordon fished a worm slowly around his Eel Grass area and was able to catch a small limit. With about ten minutes left on day one he went to his other area and caught an eight-pound bass on his second cast with a spinner bait. That one fish turned an average stringer into a good stringer.

Day two of the tournament Jordon went back to the spot where he caught the eight pound fish the day before. He was able to catch four more good keepers and lost about ten others including a four-pound fish.
"It was a real strange bite. The fish just did not seem to get a hold of the bait very well," said Jordon.

"I knew that it might be hard to catch a keeper. Smith is known as a Spotted Bass lake. A 16-inch Spot is a pretty big fish, and there are not a lot of them this lake," said Jordon.

During Practice Kelly concentrated on fishing two main patterns. One pattern was casting a shallow running crankbait around rocky points where the water was a little dirtier. The second pattern was alternating a Lucky Craft Staysee 90 in Chartreuse Shad color, or a jig. Both baits were fished on deep clear points, brush piles by docks and in the mouths of pockets. Jordon said that he caught several keepers and lots of short fish each day of practice. "I caught several fish the first day of practice on the shallow running crankbait, but after that I couldn't get a bite on it," said Jordon of his crankbait pattern.

Kelly caught four fish on the first day of the tournament, three keepers and one short fish. He got two of the keepers on the Staysee 90 and one on the jig. Jordon's three fish weighed in at 7-04, and put him in 12th place at the end of day one. The leader, Greg Hackney caught five fish that weighed 16-pounds even.

On day two of the tournament, Smith Lake rose nine-feet from overnight torrential rains, completely changing conditions. Still Jordon stuck to his game plan fishing the Staysee and the jig. He was only able to get two bites though. He caught one keeper that weighed 3-07 and lost one other fish. This gave him an overall weight of 10-11 and put him in 15th place in the overall standings. Day two's leader was fellow Texan, Lee Bailey who had a total weigh of 18-08 for two days.

"It was a really tough tournament, 62 guys didn't even weigh a fish the first day. I feel very fortunate to have done as well as I did," said Jordon of his performance.

Going into the Citgo Bass Master Tour event on Lake Guntersville in northeastern Alabama Kelly Jordon was very optimistic. The last time B.A.S.S. was here for a tournament in 2002 Jordon won.

Kelly expected to find a pre-spawn lipless crankbait bite. "Any time you are around a good grass lake the best bait is usually a lipless crankbait. During practice I caught quite a few fish on the Lucky Craft LVR D-7 and D-10. I was slow rolling it and ripping looking for reaction bites, but I just couldn't get on a good pattern," said Jordon one of the top ranked pros in the world. "I felt very uneasy after the practice period. It really bothered me that I wasn't on anything solid. I new I was going to have my work cut out for me during the tournament."

During day one of the tournament Jordon managed to catch two keepers. "I missed two other fish and lost a big fish that just seemed to open his mouth and let go. My amateur partner caught a seven-pounder fishing behind me, and that really hurt. I mean I was happy for him, but I really could have used that fish." Jordon's two fish weighed 5-03 and put him in 131st place.

Day two was a little better for Jordon. He caught four fish on the LVR's, three keepers and one short fish. Kelly's stringer weighed 11-12 and moved him up to 101st in the overall standings.

"I'm very disappointed. This is the worst finish that I've had in a long time. I had hoped that the fishing would be wide open and that I could establish a good pattern. Normally, this is not a spot fishing lake; it is a pattern fishing lake. This week it came down to who had the best spot and camped on it all week. It was just another cold wintertime tournament. With the B.A.S.S. schedule being what it is, you can expect a lot of these," said Jordon. "I really fished my butt off, I just didn't get onto a good area that I felt confident in. This week was a tough week for me."

In thinking about the Citgo Bass Masters Tour Event at Table Rock Lake, Kelly Jordon was expecting a jerkbait and crankbait pattern to be the primary fish catching patterns. "I was expecting Table Rock to be a tough tournament simply because it was still winter," said Jordon.

"During practice the crankbait bite worked the best for me. I heard some of the guy's saying that they had caught fish on jerkbaits, but I couldn't get these fish to bite a jerkbait. I really thought that was strange. Table Rock is one of the best jerkbait lakes in the country, but they didn't work for me this week. I did manage to catch some fish on a small worm fished around some of the deep docks but that was it."

Day one of the tournament saw Jordon weigh-in four fish that weighed 11-02 and put him into 18th position. "I caught most of my fish on day one on a Wiggle Wart. I don't know what it is about this lake but these fish like that plug. This is about the only lake in the country that I fish it on," said Jordon.

Day two was tougher for Jordon. "I only caught one fish on day two, I must have been throwing in between them. I had one smallmouth bass that weighed 3-02. My armature partner had two fish for 8-10, a 5-01 and a 3-09, so I was obviously still around some good fish." Kelly's total weight put him in 52nd place for the tournament.

Day one of the Eufaula tournament saw Jordon weigh-in five fish for 14-05; this weight put him in 47th place going into day two. "The fish bit well on day one. They bit well for most of the field. I had a lot of fun; I just didn't get any big bites. I couldn't wait to go again on day two."

Day two saw Jordon's catch improve. He landed five fish that weighed in at 17-13. This gave Kelly a two-day total weight of 32-02 and put him into 14th place in the overall standings. Denny Brauer would go on to win the tournament.

"I had a great time at Eufaula, I only wish I could have gotten more big bites. Maybe I should have fine-tuned my pattern a little more. Overall I am very pleased with my finish. I went out and fished as hard as I could and I am proud of how I did. I am getting good points towards the Classic and Angler of the Year. Good finishes also help me to get back on top of the BassFan.com World Rankings."

"My practice was okay. I spent the first day of practice fishing deeper stumps looking for fish that were staging to move up to spawn. I got a few bites doing that but nothing that I felt I could count on. The last two days of practice I spent all my time looking for fish on beds. Those fish weren't easy to find. I think a big part of the field missed them. I had to look in probably fifty prime spawning pockets to find four that were holding quality fish. I had to spend a lot of time looking but I liked what I found. I was anxious for the tournament to start. I knew with the weather warming up that fish would keep moving in, and my areas would get better and better," said Jordon.