Escape from the Mississippi
Skeet gets past Season's Toughest Event.

Fort Madison , Iowa . – After several whack fests that saw anglers topping or crowding the century mark with their four day creel, The Mississippi River was a rude awakening. While the previous two tournament winners average was at or above 25 pounds a day, The River Rumble winner found his normal daily weight stay under 11 pounds.

To make matter worse, the talk before the event included speculation that as much as a third of the Elite Series field could fail to catch a keeper bass. On the first day of competition, nine anglers blanked, 16 on the second day, and another six on day three, including current Angler of the Year points leader Kevin VanDam.

With the best 98 anglers in the world turning over every rock and twig looking for keeper bass, a total of 65 limits were weighed in over four days. In that same period the average creel handed to Bassmaster Weighmaster and Tournament Director Trip Weldon included 2.79 fish. In short, the Mississippi River represented a terrifying stumbling block to anglers looking to qualify for the Bassmaster Classic or the postseason.

“I feel fortunate to have survived it mostly intact,” said 2009 Bassmaster Classic Champion Skeet Reese. “I had no advance experience or information on the tournament waters and just wanted to get out of there with a top 50 finish. I did that, and stayed relatively unchanged in the AOY race, so I guess it would have to be deemed a success.”

Reese weighed 11 bass for a total of 21 pounds, 1-ounce, and finished one place behind VanDam who gained two points on Reese in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings, but it could have been worse. “I didn't know what to expect when we came here, this could have been disastrous, but now we turn our attention to Oneida , and the last event.”

For his patterns on the mighty Mississippi , Reese said that he tried spinnerbaits and crankbaits to little avail, and that he relied on flipping soft plastics to SHALLOW cover. “I don't think I ever caught bass this shallow before,” he said. “I'd flip into six inches of water and get bit, I don't know how they lived there, but they did.”

His primary bait was a four-inch Berkley Chigger Craw in black with blue flake, followed by a Sweet Beaver in Hematoma (black and blue) on a 5/0 wide gap flipping hook and ¼-ounce tungsten weight. All of his baits were flipped on 25-pound-test Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon spooled on his signature Abu Garcia Skeet Reese Revo and an eight foot flipping stick.

“I started the event thinking that five pounds a day was going to cash a check, so when I had seven pounds on the first day, I thought I would be in really good shape,” said Reese. “But, these guys are really good, and they caught them better than anticipated on the first day.” However, instead of the higher than expected weight trend continuing, the weights slipped on day two.

“I had less weight (6-11) on day two and climbed 16 places in the standings to 30th, I didn't expect that,” said Reese. “I was able to keep my standings on day three because my roommate, John Murray had found a creek upriver through the lock and we decided to take a chance on it, we caught enough fish to stay put, I lost a couple and it could have been better, but I'm certainly glad to get through it in one piece.”

The Bassmaster Elite Series next moves to Lake Oneida in Syracuse , N.Y. following on August 13, after a nearly two month break in the schedule. At the conclusion of the regular season, the top 12 anglers will move on to a two event postseason that will decide the 2009 Bassmaster Angler of the Year. “That's the goal, to be holding that trophy overhead in Alabama ; that's what I am focused on,” Reese said in conclusion.