Muskogee , Okla. Following two tournaments where he experienced less than his typical steady performances, the 2010 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year Points Leader, Skeet Reese returned to excellence by finishing 2 nd at the eighth tournament of the 2010 Bassmaster Elite Series season.
While BASS had scheduled the tournament for the waters of the Arkansas River , storms pounded the area, causing flash floods. The resultant debris created unsafe conditions for vessel operations, so Bassmaster officials made a decision for safety sake, and moved the tournament to nearby Fort Gibson Lake .
The move proved to be a fortuitous one for Reese, as he posted his second runner up finish of the season, marking his sixth top five finish of the season. His 2010 season now includes his two wins, and second place finishes to go along with a pair of fifth place finishes. The combination of his eight tournaments thus far gave him 2116 points and the lead in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year Race with two events left in the season.
I had a decent practice on the river; especially the first day, said Reese of his strategy session before the venue change. The conditions were unsafe and BASS made the right call, and I'm really glad they did after the way everything worked out.
Fort Gibson Lake seemed tailor made to Reese's run and gun style of fishing. Also, his ability to think and adjust quickly, coupled with his versatility, gave him an advantage with only the short, one day of practice the field would get on Fort Gibson.
What the 2007 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year would find in his abbreviated practice session was that Fort Gibson 's bass population was shallow. The puzzle was that early on, he did not look shallow enough. Had it not been for one of his competitors, his solving of the puzzle would have taken longer.
I was fishing in an area that a few other competitors were in on the first morning, but I noticed I wasn't catching the same quality they were, Reese said of his early 13-pound limit on day one. Mike McClelland, my boat company teammate was culling a fish, told me he had around 18 pounds, and kind of clued me in to the program.
The adjustment fit the six-time BASS winner perfectly; so in addition to his initial pattern, he now was armed with a second program that gave him two arrows in his tournament quiver. He initially had been throwing a 3/8-ounce brown football jig with a three-inch green pumpkin Berkley PowerBait Chigger Craw as a trailer. The new bullet in his tournament gun became the Lucky Craft RC 2.5 in one of several colors Copperback Shad, Chartreuse Copperback or Splatterback Shad.
Reese said that we was very glad to have a full supply of the baits, because by the end of the tournament, he had gone through a good supply of both lures. I was fishing rocks so shallow that I was actually grinding the bills off of my crankbaits, and having to change them frequently, he said. The jigs would get beat up pretty badly around the rocks too, and that three-inch Chigger Craw is the best jig trailer I've ever used; I don't think I need any other on a standard football jig.
He tossed his jig on a prototype 7'2 Wright and McGill Co. Football Jig / Big Worm rod and a prototype signature series reel spooled with 15-pound-test Berkley 100% Fluorocarbon line. He used the same reel and line for his crankbait, but changed to his 7' Wright and McGill Co Skeet Reese Tri-Gressive SGlass cranking rod. His pattern involved beating his lures around the bottom in water that was less than two feet deep. I was throwing around rocky flats, and I even found an old building foundation on the lake that I caught some fish on, said Reese.
After making some adjustments on day one, he increased his weight to 15 pounds, 11 ounces; good for 19 th place. His 17-pound, 5-ounce limit on day two moved him to ninth place in the standings. When he caught his biggest bag of the tournament on day three; a 19-pound, 15-ounce creel, he moved to fourth place, then raised his total weight to 70 pounds, 15 ounces with an even 18 pounds on day four, placing him second overall.
I look at things after the event and guess I could have won the event had I executed, said Reese. I lost a couple of fish on Sunday that would have boosted my weight, but I'm thrilled to have finished where I did given the circumstances.
Along with some well deserved rest, Reese now begins his preparations for his annual trip to ICAST; the fishing industry trade show, where he will help his sponsors introduce some exciting new products. He will also prepare for the final two events of the season in Alabama , where he finalize his run at his goal of a second Bassmaster Angler of the Year title.
