The California resident and long-time Lucky Craft pro staff member won the 2009 Bassmaster Classic Championship on the Red River in Shreveport/Bossier City, Louisiana this past weekend. Not only had this been a dream for years, but no one, not even the media, picked Reese as a Classic contender. Proving otherwise made the victory especially sweet.

"I loved how no one picked me as a favorite for the Red River," Reese said. "I was the last person on everyone's list. It's so good, so good."

Reese didn't take the conventional approach coming into the Classic this year. He didn't practice in the fall, he didn't ask for help and he spent very little time on the water during pre-fishing.

"Basically, I looked at a map and that was it," Reese said. "I looked on the Internet for about an hour one day, but when you look at a map, it's self-explanatory. There are not a whole lot of key areas on this river, so I put myself in two areas I thought had the potential to win this tournament. I didn't spend a lot of time on the water, and I didn't look in every nook and cranny. I knew I had two areas and I knew how I was going to fish. I just had to get in there and go to work."

And go to work he did, deciding early to maximize his fishing time in pool five and avoid the gamble of locking down to the other pools. Reese had two main baits - a soft plastic in black and gold, and the Lucky Craft Redemption, the new spinnerbait from Lucky Craft designed by Reese.

"I used the 3/8-ounce Redemption spinnerbait in the shad pattern," Reese said. "It has nickel blades and a tandem combination. I fished with 50-pound spiderwire on a 7-foot extra fast rod. Fishing up in the pad stems like I was, monofilament gets tangled to easily. The spiderwire allowed me to cut through those pad stems much easier."

Redemption Spinner Bait Color Chart
	052 AURORA BLACK	089 CLEAR LAKE HITCH	170 GHOST CHARTREUSE SHAD	238 GHOST MINNOW	261 TABLE ROCK SHAD	262 LASER CLEAR GHOST	270 MS AMERICAN SHAD

After weighing in 15 pounds, 8 ounces on day one and 22 pounds, 9 ounces on day two, Reese fished the final day for the chance at the title and $500,000. He knew it all came down to this. Still flying under the radar, Reese was able to fish his areas and stick to his game plan.

The winning fish, and also the last fish Reese was able to bring in on day three, came around 1 p.m. as Reese fished a channel swing stretch with lily pad stems and stumps all around.

"I worked about three hundred yards of the stretch and come up to one large stump," Reese explained. "I had just caught a big one on another tree, and as I came up to this final stump, I knew it looked like a place where a big one should be. I threw my soft plastic to the back side of the stump and crack - I knew it was a big one."

Reese was more than excited to have this final fish. He knew it wasn't the type of fish that would put him over the 18-pound mark, but he also knew it would put him in contention. He still felt like he needed one more big bite to seal the deal, but that bite never came. As Reese made his way back to the marina, he was a bundle of nerves.

"I was an absolute mess," Reese admitted. "I held it together pretty good on the stage. I had confidence that I had the weight to win, but I wasn't 100 percent sure. It was so uncertain. There was so much anxiety. That final moment, when I saw I had 16-12, I knew it was game over."

With an 11-ounce lead over Mike Iaconelli and a total three-day weight of 54 pounds, 13 ounces, Reese hoisted the trophy as 2009 Bassmaster Classic Champion.

"This is such validation for me," Reese said, still in a state of semi-disbelief. "I never honestly knew if I'd ever be able to achieve my goal of winning a Classic. Every bass fisherman dreams of winning it [the Classic], but whether it actually happens or not is a whole different story. Once you achieve something like this, it's like an addiction. Now that I have this title, I'm definitely going to want to do it again.

"I'm so passionate about what I do," Reese concluded. "I have determination; I've set goals; I want to be the best. You have to beat the best to be the best. I didn't come here to be second place."

Finishing 10th was Lucky Craft pro Kelly Jordon. After a respectable performance, Jordon was happy with his finish and even happier for his fellow Lucky Craft pro staff member.

"I think it's awesome that Skeet won," Jordon said. "I knew he had it. I bet him a dollar on the stage, so I better get one signed on a plaque or something."

All joking aside, Jordon believes the 2009 Bassmaster Classic was a great event. After bringing in 15 pounds, 10 ounces on day one, Jordon was able to upgrade and weigh-in 20 pounds, 5 ounces on day two, putting him in the top 25 to fish on Sunday.

"I was fishing with a soft plastic jerkbait all weekend," Jordon said. "Yesterday it was warmer and I fished a secluded duck pond with the soft plastic jerkbait. I also flipped a creature bait by Lake Fork Tackle to catch some of my fish on day two."

A cold front came in overnight, before the final day of competition. Jordon went back to the same spot he had been fishing previously and was able to weigh in 12 pounds, 13 ounces. With a total of 48 pounds, 12 ounces, Jordon believes this event will jumpstart the season for him.

"It worked out pretty well this weekend," Jordon said. "I had some bad breaks today [Sunday], but I was fishing really well."

After a rough day one, Lucky Craft's Casey Ashley had some ground to make up. The South Carolina resident weighed in 9 pounds, 13 ounces and was sitting near 40th-place going into day two.

"I made a bad decision on day one and fished in one area with too many other boats," Ashley admitted. "It was like a merry-go-round - throwing at stumps the guy in front of me had just thrown at 30 seconds before. I can't fish like that, but I stayed there too long. Then I didn't have enough time to run around and do anything else."

Day two was a very different story for Ashley. His practice had shown him some really productive areas, so he decided to try one out Saturday morning. He only thought he'd be able to catch 10 to 12 pounds there but figured he could catch his limit and move around after having something solid to build on. He was pleasantly surprised by 9:30 a.m.

"It was just an old duck pond with pad stems in it," Ashley explained. "There was a 2-foot ridge at the mouth and then clear water as you moved further back. There were stems and stumps around, and it dropped off to about 5 feet. The second fish I caught in there was a 5-pounder, and by 9:30 a.m., I had five fish that weighed between 19 and 20 pounds. It sure was a big difference from day one."

Ashley weighed in 22 pounds, 11 ounces on day two, putting him in the top 25 with a chance at the $500,000 and the Classic title. He started out in the same spot on Sunday, surrounded by several of the leaders, including Jami Fralick. He knew they were all flipping jigs but Ashley had been catching his fish on a homemade spinnerbait.

"It was 28 or 29 degrees on Sunday, and I knew the fish probably weren't going to hit a spinnerbait," Ashley said. "But after you catch 20 pounds in a particular area, you just have to go back and see what happens. I made one pass with the spinnerbait and never had a bite, so I got out of there. I let the tournament leader have the spot."

After moving on to new water, Noon came and went and Ashley didn't have a fish in his live well. He went to one small area he found by accident on the second day of the tournament and decided to throw a jig.

"It was a bank with a channel swing that had brush piles under the water about 6-feet deep," Ashley said. "I was just casting to the brush piles with the jig and was able to bring in five fish."

With 14 pounds, 7 ounces on day three, Ashley had a three-day total of 46 pounds, 15 ounces and finished his Classic weekend in 13th. Although his main goal was obviously to win the title, Ashley wasn't disappointed with the way his tournament ended.

"I feel good about coming from behind after the first day," Ashley said. "Anytime you can fish the Classic, it's a big deal. And fishing the final day of the tournament was great. I took myself out of the win with my mistake on the first day, but the rest of the weekend went about as good as it could have. I'm ready to get the season started, get Lake Amistad under my belt, and work towards my goal of being able to fish the Classic again next year."