Skeet Reese blew out of Pittsburgh after just 3 days or practice.

Week 28 – Skeet Reese
7/11/2005

The life of a tour pro is often filled with long hours on the road. And in the case of Skeet Reese, a high level of fame means more people tugging at your shirt sleeves. Sure, all that notoriety pays off in endorsements and plenty of face-time on television, but it also wears him down.

After a 6-month road trip, he finally had a full week at home with his family. This was his chance to unwind and catch his breath before another leap into the hectic tour-pro world.

Hot Classic Practice?

Reese was one of the few pros who reported a hot bite at the Bassmaster Classic practice in Pittsburgh, Pa. Or did he?

"Man, the bite was smokin'," he said. "I've never experienced such a good bite. Then I sobered up and woke up and realized it was all a dream. It was a terrible practice.

"To give you an idea of how bad it was, I only spent 3 days there," he added. "I bailed out of there with only 3 days of practice. I figured I'd let the other guys have their 5 days. If they beat me, let them.

"This is going to be one of those Classics where you've got to fish your butt off," he said. "I saw enough to have an idea of where to fish. I'll just have to fish hard. One of the things that may screw this up is good old Dennis the Menace (Hurricane Dennis). If that thing dumps a ton of rain into the system, you never know what'll happen."

R and R

Since Reese had been away from his family and his house for the first half of the year, he took advantage of a week at home to decompress.

"This past week was my first full week at home since January," he said. "I've had a few days here and there, but not an entire week. I literally collapsed with exhaustion when I got home. I hardly could get up for a couple of days. My body and mind were worn out."

While his body rejuvenated, he took time to fish with the family.

"While I did a little business at home, I also went out and did a little fishing," he said. "I have fun being a Daddy and went out on a local lake. We drove around and caught bluegills. I also did chores around the house, did some projects. It was real good to be back home."

L.A. and Lucky Craft

Reese is back on the road now. His first stop is to meet with Lucky Craft, then it's back to Arkansas.

"I'm off to meet with Minoru (Segawa) at Lucky Craft," he said. "I'm working on a deal with them to get even more exposure for their products. Hopefully it works out."

Airport mishaps plagued him on his way down to the City of Angels.

"The trip to L.A. to meet Minoru started out all screwed up," he said. "The guys at Lucky Craft booked me on a flight to L.A. from Sacramento with a stopover in San Francisco. I was going to have to stay there for several hours, because some jet landed on the wrong runway and slowed down incoming traffic.

"The funny thing is, I went over to Southwest (Airlines) and booked a flight right away to L.A.," he said. "No stopover, no delays and for a lot less money than the flight which was previously booked. Go figure."

After he's done in L.A., he needs to head to Arkansas to film a few episodes of Bass Tech for ESPN.

"I need to film episodes of BassTech the week before the Classic," he said. "We're done with the new segments the week after the Classic. The show is really cool, but I'll really enjoy the time off.

"I'll be in Mexico for 3 weeks and nobody will be able to reach me," he said. "The cell phone will be off and I'll just unwind by the beach."

Notable

> Reese said he's almost ready to fish the Cabela's Top Gun Championship in August. "I've got the BassFan Top Gun tournament scheduled in, if I can get someone to get my rig there," he said. "I'll also fish the Clear Lake (Bassmaster) Open, but I'm not sure about Shasta."