Lake Dardanelle – A Quarter of the Way Through 2009
Russellville , Ark. – Following a steady start to the 2009 season at Lake Amistad with his 22 nd place finish on the country's southern border, Skeet Reese and the rest of the Bassmaster Elite Series pros headed to Russellville , Ark. and Lake Dardanelle . The second stop on the schedule looked to be a tough one, as anglers reported that the lake would be fishing small, due to lack of grass, and that finding water void of other competitors would be a difficult task. Add to the close quarters a dose of expected inclement weather, and Dardanelle was endearing itself to no one.
As it would turn out, the third day of competition would be cancelled due to extreme weather, and instead of the top 50 anglers fishing on Saturday trying to get into the Elite 12, BASS officials announced that the top 12 from Friday's competition would advance to Sunday's final round. Reese, the reigning Bassmaster Classic Champion was one of those anglers as he would get into the Elite 12 by virtue of his 11 th place standing after day two.
Skeet Reese at Dardanelle photo courtesy of BASS Communications - Seigo Saito
“I know the cancellation of the third day was not popular with everyone, but I didn't mind,” Reese said while giggling. “It meant that I got to stay in the Elite 12, and I'll take all of those I can get.” His final day 13-pound, 6-ounce performance would move him to 6 th place overall for the tournament.
Reese said he would produce the bulk of his fish from an area of the lake that he has become accustomed to over the years. “I spent my whole tournament upriver, which is where I've fished every one of the four tournaments I've fished there,” he said of his area. “I probably know that river as well as anyone on tour; I'm just comfortable up there.”
One of the reasons he ran upriver was because he fished in the Spadra area during practice; where at least half of the anglers in the Elite 12 would target throughout the week, but he would not get the bites he would need to win. “As I would find out later, I just didn't go far enough back into the area, but I didn't really want to fish in those crowds anyway,” he said. “They were fishing so close to each other that they could fish in each other's boats.”
Reese spent the majority of the event with his Lamiglas XFT 806 flipping stick in his hands, his rod was paired with his signature Abu Garcia SKT Revo, 25-pound-test Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon and a black and blue jig tipped with a 3” Berkley Chigger Craw in Sapphire Blue. While his primary approach was the jig, he did catch a few fish on a Lucky Craft RC 2.5, and a green pumpkin Berkley Crazy Legs Chigger Craw.
“I mainly fished a combination of rocks and wood on wing dams throughout the river,” Reese revealed. “I probably would have done a lot better had I been able to land all of the fish I hooked. I don't know why but I lost three fish on the first day that were over four pounds, and I lost one that was five pounds on the final day; I don't normally lose jig fish, but oh well.”
One interesting occurrence at the Dardanelle event was that waterway officials pulled water on the event's final day, causing the majority of the angler's areas to lose a foot and a half of depth, creating tougher conditions. However, Reese said it had a different effect altogether upriver. “The water was deeper by as much as five feet upriver,” he said. “There was a rocky shoal that I was barely able to pass over without scraping for the first two days, and on the final day it was five feet deep; that was really weird.”
The 6 th place finish provided Reese with enough points to move into 4 th place into the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings. After two tournaments, Kevin VanDam, the reigning Angler of the Year leads the pack with 563 points, followed by 2008 Bassmaster Classic Champion Alton Jones and Stephen Browning with 560 and 514 points respectively. Reese's 506 points leaves him 57 points behind the leader.
“They've got a little jump on me, but it's less than 60 points, and I can make that up,” Reese said in closing.
Following completion of competition on Sunday, Reese hopped in the Lucky Craft Big Rig and raced the nearly 400 miles to Decatur , Ala. To start practice the next day for the third stop on the Elite Series schedule at the Dixie Duel at Lake Wheeler .
