During the first day of the practice period Skeet tried last years winning pattern of casting the Flat CB MR in Mad Craw to the outside edges of the grass, but just did not get the bites that he had expected. "The water was too warm for that," he said. On the remaining two day of practice he started flipping a worm on the inside edge of the Kissimmee Grass, in the same areas where he caught fish last year.

During practice Skeet concentrated on two winter patterns that have worked for him before, fishing a jerk bait and fishing a small jig in deep water. Reese started by fishing a Staysee 90 SP along deep main lake banks, but this tactic failed to produce bites. Then he went to a Pointer 78 in Chartreuse Shad and started to pick up some fish. He also found some fish that were willing to bite the small jig. "The problem wasn't getting bit, I caught fish every day. The problem was getting keeper bites," said Reese. He believed that the 16-inch size limit was going to be a real factor in this tournament.

During the tournament Reese would fish the Pointer 78 in the morning and then switch to the jig in the afternoon. On day one he caught 8 fish total, four on the jerk bait, and four on the jig. The only keeper for the day was on the Pointer 78, and it weighed 2-02 and left Skeet in 77th place on a day when 39% of the field blanked. Greg Hackney lead day one with a five fish limit that weighed 16-00 pounds.

On day two Reese fished the same strategy, Pointer 78 in the morning and jig in the afternoon. The only difference was that the jig caught the keeper; a 5-03 Spot that Reese said was the second biggest Spot that he had ever caught. Kim, Skeet's wife, had called him while he was at the Harris Chain the week before and told him that she had a dream that he was going to catch a big fish. "I guess her timing was just a little off," Skeet said of his wife's dream. Of the 15 fish that he caught on day two, this big Spotted Bass was the only keeper Reese was able to weigh in. That one bite moved him from 77th on day one to 47th at the end of day two. "It's amazing what a huge difference one bite made on where I finished," Skeet said of the big Spot. "Smith Lake Sucked this week, I am very happy to get out of here in the top 50." It seems though that the Western pros did have an edge though, 15 out of the top 50 finishes were from the west including tournament winner, Charlie Weyer, who ended up with a total weight of 32-10 for the week.

Skeet Reese had high expectations going into the Citgo Bass Masters event at Lake Guntersville in northeastern Alabama. "Any time you go to a lake with a reputation for lots of big fish like Guntersville it's hard not to be excited," said Reese. "I was really expecting a good grass bite. Guntersville is famous for its grass fishing. I was confident I would get a top 25 finish here."

During the first day of the practice period Reese fished a spinnerbait all day without a bite. "I really thought that I could get the fish to eat a blade, but with the cold water it just wasn't happening," Skeet said. During the last two practice days Reese switched to a Lucky Craft LV-100 and a LV-500 Max, both in Aurora Red. "I caught a few fish in practice on the LV's, but I never really felt like I was on a consistent pattern. I tried to get something going on a Pointer 100 as well but just couldn't get the bites I knew I would need," said Reese of practice.

On day two things got even worse. "At ten o'clock I didn't have a fish in the boat and my amateur partner had two fish for about 12 pounds, including one that was almost ten pounds. That really hurt. Especially since I gave him the Red LV-500 that he caught it on." At the end of the day Reese would boat two keepers that weighed in at 7-09. "I lost two other fish that probably would have kept. I guess it was just one of those days. I missed several opportunities, and when you fish this circuit you can't do that." Skeet's two-day total of 25 pounds left him in 58th place.

"I'm not happy about my performance here. I simply couldn't get on a good pattern. I fished really hard, and I love to fish grass, but I guess it just wasn't in the cards for me to do well here. I don't think that the weather was a factor for me. I just wasn't on a good pattern. I can't dwell on it, Fifty-eighth isn't where I wanted to be but it's still better than last. We have several more tournaments left. I'll just have to do better in those."

During practice Reese concentrated on fishing a Table Rock Shad colored Pointer 100 jerkbait and a Wiggle Wart (A local favorite lure). Skeet fished these baits around Bluff walls, and points leading into coves. "I caught most of my fish on the Pointer 100. I had to fish it with long pauses between twitches, sometimes as long as ten-fifteen seconds. The fish would always hit the bait when it was sitting still", said Reese. "During the three day practice period I only caught seven keeper bass. I did however; get several of the keepers in one area. I felt confident that I could capitalize on this area in the tournament."

"I really only got a day and a half of practice at Santee. After making the final six cut at Eufaula and fishing on Sunday, I had to spend Monday driving to Santee and getting my tackle ready. So I only got Tuesday and half a day on Wednesday to practice. I fished way up the river on Tuesday and found an area that I felt comfortable with. It was a backwater slough that had a lot of cypress trees in 2-4 feet of water. On Wednesday I fished down low on the lake and didn't like what I saw. I decided that during the tournament I would fish the back-water area upriver."

Skeet finished day one strong. He had a five fish limit that weighed in at 21-05 and put him in third place going into day two. "I caught all my fish on day one flipping a black and blue Jig to the cypress trees. It was great. I didn't even fish the whole area," said Reese of day one.

On day three Reese again went to his backwater area. The fishing was even tougher. Skeet's day three weight dropped to 13-04 and put him in 11th place in the overall standings behind tournament winner and teammate Kelly Jordon.

"I knew that I had a good area, but I also knew that it might not hold up. I think I just fished the area out. The sight fishing was getting better everyday down on the lower lake and my area was getting slower. I'm happy I got what I did. I didn't think there were enough fish there to win. To win on Santee-Cooper in the spring, you need to be on giants. I was on good fish, but not giants," said Reese of his performance.

During practice Skeet found that there were some fish up on beds in the lower lake. "The bed fish that I found were good ones but there were not enough to last four days," said Reese. During the rest of practice Reese spent his time looking for other areas that were holding fish. "I found a couple areas that I felt comfortable with. One area was a good flipping spot; the other was a spot up the lake where there were some fish bedding way in the back of a pocket. I felt very comfortable with practice. I felt that I had found plenty of areas holding fish and was looking forward to the competition getting started," Reese said.

"On day one I caught all my fish sight fishing. There were a lot of other boats in the area though. I was just fortunate that I got some big bites. It was a really fun day," said Reese of day one. Skeet's weight of 19-01 put him in tenth place, a prime position to make the cut on day two.

"I started out sight fishing on day two and was able to get one fish, then I had to move to a back-up location I found in practice. I think a lot of the fish I saw on day one ended up getting caught, they were pretty easy to see. My back-up location was a good flipping area and I was able to catch five more fish." Reese's day two weight of 17-13 moved him up to fifth in the standings and put him well inside the cut to twelve.

Skeet started day four about three minutes from take off. By 8:30 AM skeet had four fish in the live well. At 9:02 AM Skeet had a limit that would weigh about 13-08. Reese caught all his early fish flipping and pitching to bank grass. "I saw fish pushing bait in one small area, and just decided I would stay there and try to catch them. I didn't actually have a game plan." By 10:30 AM Skeet had culled three more times. "At about 11:30 I culled again for about two and a half pounds. I was fired up; I had no plan going in and was just enjoying fishing by the seat of my pants. I can't believe how well I did for not knowing where I was going. Since I started by the launch site it was cool to have my wife and daughter watching me for a while. That doesn't happen very often."