Tournament Standings
		Pl.		Team Lucky Craft
		05		Casey Ashley
		10		Skeet Reese
		24		Gerald Swindle
		45		Kelly Jordon
		51		Takahiro Omori
		66		Marty Stone

EVANS, Ga. (May 7, 2008) – The Bassmaster Elite Series anglers traveled to Georgia this weekend to fish Clarks Hill Reservoir, also known as J. Strom Thurmond Lake. With the water extremely low this year due to a drought in the South, anglers had to carefully maneuver their way around 1,200 miles of shoreline. Fish seemed elusive for some, but two Lucky Craft pros found their way to the top 10.

“All the fish I weighed in came on topwater this week, and it was a good tournament,” Ashley said. “The topwater bite is key every May when the fish start schooling on blue back herring. You can have a field day.”

Ashley stuck with three key baits this week including a Lucky Craft Gunfish in Ghost Minnow.

“I swapped between three baits because a lot of people were fishing my same areas, and I had to mix it up and let the fish tell me what they wanted,” Ashley explained. “I just had to keep moving and keep throwing. I’d pull up to a point, make five casts or so and move on. I’d throw each bait at each point, giving it a try, and then I’d move to the next one.”

Staying committed to the topwater bite all week proved successful for the South Carolina native, as he weighed in every fish this week on topwater baits. Ashley did admit the key to winning was getting that “big bite.”

After a good finish on Clarks Hill, Ashley is ready to fish Lake Murray in his home state.

“It’s going to be good,” Ashley said, referring to Lake Murray. “It will fish very similar to Clarks Hill, but we’ll have big weights. The fish are a lot further along than they are in Georgia, because they spawn two weeks earlier. We’re going to hit it at just the right time.”

“In practice, I looked for the fish that were post spawn and active,” Reese explained. “I only found one spot where they had grouped together, but by the time the tournament rolled around, the fish were gone.”

Scrambling on day one, Reese would catch one fish here and one fish there, but was never able to key in on an area with active, schooling fish. With five minutes to go on day one, Reese got the break he needed.

“I caught a few bedfish on a dropshot and a few on the Lucky Craft Sammy and a jig,” Reese said. “I found a spot where the fish were blowing up on top, chasing the herring. With five minutes left to fish, I threw the Lucky Craft Sammy 100 to them and caught a three pounder. That truly saved me today.”

Reese weighed in 12 pounds, 3 ounces because of the kicker fish, which put him in good position going into the next day. Reese made the top 50 after catching 15 pounds, 3 ounces on Friday, weighing in fish he caught on a jig and the Lucky Craft Sammy.

According to the California native, wind was key this week, and after a 14-pound day on Saturday, the wind died down and so did the bites on day four.

“It got dead click calm on Sunday, and the fish wouldn’t feed,” Reese said. “I caught one on a swimbait, but had to use a dropshot for the remainder of the day.”

“You could practice a certain way on this lake, and it would change the very next day,” Swindle explained. “Nothing was consistent. I only had four bites on topwater in my entire practice, and then caught three on it the first day of the tournament. It was never certain though, because as the week progressed, the baits I used changed drastically.”

“Junk fishing” was Swindle’s technique this week, as he threw a bit of everything. Swindle weighed in 11 pounds, 12 ounces on Thursday, 12 pounds, 14 ounces on Friday and finished his tournament Saturday with a day-three total of 12 pounds, 8 ounces. He finished 24th with a three-day combined weight of 37 pounds, 2 ounces.

“I caught fish so many ways this week,” Swindle said. “One day I fished topwater, the next day it was the Lucky Craft Flat CB DR and today [Saturday] it was a Carolina Rig and a Lucky Craft Gunfish. Using a whole bunch of tackle sums up Clarks Hill.

Lucky Craft’s Kelly Jordon finished 45th with a three-day total of 30 pounds, 10 ounces. Jordon explained how different the lake was from last year’s tournament, and admitted the topwater bite didn’t work this time around for him.

“It was a decent tournament,” Jordon began. “I like the lake, but it’s a lot different this time around. The lake is low and the topwater bite wasn’t as strong as it was last year, mostly because we’re here later than we were in 2007. It was getting better in the afternoons, which is weird. There were some fish still on beds, and that’s primarily what I did this week.”

Although fishing beds was Jordon’s first pattern, he had a couple others to back it up. He was also throwing a mop-like jig, common to the area, and some topwater baits including the Lucky Craft Sammy and Gunfish.

“I’d fish the beds up shallow and switch it up with the topwater on shallow points,” Jordon explained. “I caught several and missed several, which is very frustrating, because I haven’t lost or missed fish in a long time. I hate it, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. I lost three on topwater and one on a jig that would have created a different outcome for me this week. But it just didn’t roll my way – I was the bug on the windshield this week.”

Jordon is looking ahead to Lake Murray in two weeks and believes the tournament will resemble the week on Clarks Hill, with some major differences.

“The lakes are a lot alike, but we should see some big fish in South Carolina,” Jordon said. “It should be a wide open topwater tournament, and the big Lucky Craft Sammy and Gunfish will really come into play there. I’ve had big fish on Lake Murray before. It’s one of the great lakes in the country, and I’m looking forward to it.”

Finishing 51st, just missing the top-50 cut on Saturday, was Lucky Craft’s Takahiro Omori with a two-day total weight of 21 pounds. Omori left scratching his head, as he worked hard and did his homework before the week began.

“The past three years, I haven’t been able to finish in the top 50 here, and I wanted to change that this year,” Omori said. “I studied how others have done well here in the past, and I had baits out I don’t normally use much. But it was still not enough, and I’m very disappointed.”

Clarks Hill doesn’t fit Omori’s cranking style, but it was day one’s 7-pound, 14-ounce bag that really started Omori off on the wrong foot. He rebounded with a 13-pound, 2-ounce bag on day two, but it wasn’t quite enough to make the cut.

Omori’s main techniques were fishing the Lucky Craft Gunfish, a Senko and a Carolina Rig. He admitted the lake changed everyday, and he did his best to stay open-minded.

“You have to just do the best you can everyday,” Omori said. “It’s not easy. I thought I could catch enough to finish in the top 50 because practice was okay for me. I could see fish around me, but they just wouldn’t eat the baits I was throwing out. It was a bad week for me, but next week will be different.”

Much like his teammate Jordon, Omori is looking ahead to Lake Murray where he has fished a couple of times.

“I’m just thinking positively, hoping to have a good tournament,” Omori said. “I think it will fish similar to Clarks Hill, but I hope to do better.”

Finishing in 66th, tied with Aaron Martens, was Lucky Craft’s Marty Stone with a 19-pound, 14-ounce two-day total. He thought he could have a really good tournament because he was around a lot of fish. His co-anglers on Thursday and Friday were able to bring in big weights while fishing with the veteran Elite Series angler, but Stone wasn’t able to capitalize on the fish around him.

“My amateur partner on Thursday had 12 pounds, and I had 11,” Stone said. “That’s not a huge difference, but on day two, my co-angler had more than 15 pounds while I had 8-11. I did find the fish that could have made me very competitive, but it was just one of those tournaments where I never got a break.”

With the Lucky Craft Gunfish, Stone was concentrating on red clay points with chunk rock where the post spawn fished seemed to be staging.

“For me, from the first third of the creek to the main lake seemed to be best area,” Stone said. “The later it got, the better the fishing seemed to get, too. I stayed with the topwater bite all week, but just couldn’t quite seem to make the right adjustments. In one area, I was fishing about 150 yards from Skeet [Reese], and he did well, so I know I was in the right areas. I just couldn’t get those bigger fish to bite.”

It was a frustrating week for Stone as he was around the fish that could put him in the cut, but wasn’t able to bring them to the stage. Stone believes Clarks Hill sums up his year so far, but he believes that could be a good thing, as he is doing several key things right.

“I’m fishing good, and I’m around quality fish,” Stone said. “Everything seems to be a grind right now, but the good part is… I’m around the fish. I like the water I’m choosing, and I like the way I’m fishing. The only bad part is I’m still waiting for my break, but it’ll come, and I like my chances. We still have six really good tournaments left, and I think I’ll have a good run at the end of the year.”