Lake Wheeler in the Rearview Mirror
Russellville, Ark. As the Bassmaster Elite Series pulled into Decatur, Alabama for the Dixie Duel, the top 100 anglers in the world knew they were in for a challenge. The weather had taken a nasty turn and what normally is a lake that produces big bags of pre spawn females with reaction baits on the Decatur Flats, had become a tough fishery with cold muddy water.
The result was a tough practice that had most of the field talking about hoping for a big bite but only catching small fish. For 2009 Bassmaster Classic Champion Skeet Reese, practice could not have gone any worse. I had a terrible practice Reese reported. I couldn't find fish over two pounds very easily, in fact my best day of practice only produced three fish over two pounds.
He revealed that he never established a program and that he even missed a pattern that produced several of the Elite 12 finishes. I never got on a solid pattern, and I never really focused on the lower end of the lake, Reese said. In fact, I think about 30% of the field went down there, and a lot of them were fishing the bluffs, I never even threw on them.
What that left was to try and run and gun around upriver trying to run into some active fish. So as day one commenced Reese did exactly that; ran around looking for bites on likely targets. I'd caught a few fish, and had around seven pounds in the livewell when I came up to a point that had about six inches of water and wind blowing on it, he said. I threw a white Chatterbait on the point and caught a four pounder.
That fish boosted him to a little more than 10 pounds, and he was feeling pretty good, I thought I had put myself in contention for a check right then, he said. I kept running around though trying to bump the weight a little, then I went into a little pocket that I'd practiced in, and Byron (Velvick) was in there.
In that pocket, Reese watched Velvick catch a couple of fish over two pounds, then he caught one himself, which pushed him a little closer to 12 pounds, but he still had a few smaller fish in the livewell that he wanted to cull through. I left that pocket and ran around looking for a bigger bite when it occurred to me to go back to the pocket, said Reese. After seeing the fish that Byron caught, and catching one myself, it was obvious that better fish were using that area.
So, returning to the pocket, he turned to a familiar bait, the Crazy Legs Chigger Craw. I flipped the bait out next to a piece of cover and got bit, he said. I set the hook, and it loaded my Lamiglas flipping stick pretty well, so I knew it was a decent fish, when it splashed, I knew it was a good one. I decided to lift it into the boat and only realized in the air it was bigger than I thought. Fortunately, that fish would stay buttoned all of the way onto the carpet, and he culled with a fish that weighed better than five pounds.
That gave him 15 pounds, 10 ounces for the day, and put him in 8 th place. I had no idea that I had that much weight, but it put me in a very strong position. Then the weather got even worse. BASS Officials ended up cancelling the second day of the event due to unsafe weather conditions.
It didn't bother me at all, for two reasons, Reese said. First of all, I was high in the standings, so it was one day I couldn't fall, secondly, the roughest boat ride I've ever been on was on Wheeler with Kim in the boat. He revealed that he was out with his wife on a practice day when the wind blew out of the south east, the same direction it was at the Dixie Duel, against the current, and the waves were huge. I Captain Nemo'd about six of those waves in a row, Kim and I were soaked, I lost my fishfinders and anything on the deck of the boat that was not totally bolted down; so missing that weather didn't bother me.
The off day completely changed the water conditions, as areas that were out of the water on Thursday, were totally submerged on Saturday. I really thought the fish would move up into the shallow bushes and buck brush, and they did, said Reese, the problem being, they were small. I only caught 7 pounds, 3 ounces, and thought I was out of it; I even started planning my trip home.
The trip home would have to wait, as his first day performance was enough to keep him in 45 th place, earning his third paycheck of the season, and a chance to fish one more day. He would return to the same water as Saturday, pick up the Flipping Stick again, and he found that the bigger fish had moved in to the bushes on Sunday. He caught 13 pounds, 13 ounces and moved up 21 places in the standings with a three day total of 36 pounds, 10 ounces.
The combination of the first three events has Reese in 7 th place in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings, and while he knows he is not out of the race, he is somewhat frustrated. I've left a lot of points on the table at Amistad and at Wheeler, he said. I had the fish on to be n 2 nd place right now, and not converting on them is frustrating.
All told, Reese has 734 points for the season, 79 points behind leader Alton Jones. I'm not worried yet, the tournaments ahead are different than what we've been fishing, and I'm going to count on the fact that my versatility will allow me to keep moving up, he said. My main goal is still AOY, but I've also got a secondary goal of breaking the $2 million mark this year.
Both goals are reachable as Reese's career earnings after Wheeler is $1,964,041, only four paychecks away from reaching that goal. It would be faster if I'd just win another tournament, I'll certainly try, he said in closing with a chuckle.
