Tournament Standings
Pl.		Team Lucky Craft
12		Skeet Reese
21		Gerald Swindle
36		Takahiro Omori
43		Kelly Jordon

Lake Hartwell proved tough for all, as the anglers competed on the lake bordering Georgia and South Carolina. With 962 miles of shoreline and nearly 56,000 acres of water, the Lucky Craft pro staff had their work cut out for them.

“I found two different patterns in practice, both fishing shallow and targeting docks and brush piles in the backs of creeks and pockets,” Reese explained. “It was a matter of covering a lot of water. There were fish in the morning that were boiling on baitfish [herring] the first hour or two each day [in practice]. I could catch those fish on the Lucky Craft Bevy Shad in Ghost Minnow and a swimbait.”

Thinking he’d be able to catch nearly five fish first thing each morning, Reese was confident in the early bite. But a cold rain Thursday night left him scrambling on day one.

“I didn’t think it would affect the fish as much as it did,” Reese said. “The early bite was completely gone when I went out on Friday. I ran all my creeks and pockets looking for active fish and never had a bite.”

After fighting for several hours with no luck, Reese decided to forego the pattern he hoped would be key. He started running the backs of creeks looking for docks and brush piles throwing the swimbait he used in practice and a jig. However, after trying his second pattern for a few more hours, Reese still had no fish in the livewell.

“I was getting stressed out,” Reese admitted. “As of noon on Friday, I had not even had a bite.”

Reese got his first bite at 12:15 p.m. using a jig around a dock, but as he got the fish to the boat and realized it was bigger than he’d anticipated, it came off in mid-air. Friday was not Reese’s day as he struggled to bring in three fish weighing 11 pounds, 5 ounces. All his fish Friday came on a jig fished around docks, and all three ate it on the fall. He admitted there wasn’t much to the bite that day.

Realizing he was out of contention to win, which is the main goal of all 50 anglers at the Classic, Reese hoped to rally back on day two and at least have a good showing to keep his pride in tact. As the sun came out and the weather warmed on Saturday, Reese’s luck changed for the better.

“The morning bite still didn’t happen for me, but I was able to find what I needed in the afternoon,” Reese said. “From about 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., I caught 10 to 11 keepers on a jig and a swimbait. With the jig, I used 20-pound fluorocarbon and a seven-foot medium/heavy rod, and there was no finessing. When the fish committed to it, they ate it. With the swimbait, I was throwing it around docks, brush piles and secondary rocky points on 15-pound fluorocarbon and a seven foot medium rod.”

According to Reese, when it was cloudy, the fish would roam around more and were harder to catch. When the sun came out, they would look for protection, which is what Reese needed on day one. Dealing with the conditions he was dealt, Reese rallied back from 30th to 13th on day two with a 17-pound, 2-ounce bag. Day three yielded clouds once more and Reese wasn’t able to catch the 16 – 20 pounds he had hoped for. He brought in 10 pounds, 9 ounces for a total three-day weight of 39 pounds, finishing 12th.

Lucky Craft’s Gerald Swindle looked for the deep bite in practice but could never get it going. Trying various techniques throughout practice to no avail left Swindle with only one choice – the shallow bite.

“Going into day one, I knew the shallow bite was what I would have to stick to if I wanted to have a chance,” Swindle said. “My plan was to fish docks once the sun came up, and I figured I could get around six bites a day skipping a jig under the shallow docks. It was really slow, but I hoped I could fish for schooling fish in the mornings and move to the docks in the afternoon. That’s where the car wrecked.”

Swindle obviously also had to deal with the rain and clouds that came through on day one, which wasn’t good for the bite he was planning to run with either. Swindle wanted to fish docks badly, but knew it wasn’t a dock kind of day, which left him with a tough choice to make.

“It was a bad start to the first day,” Swindle admitted. “I decided to still fish the docks most of the day. I wouldn’t adjust because I was so keyed in on fishing those targets. I wouldn’t pick up a crankbait and fish shallow, stained water like I should have.”

Swindle caught all his fish on day one at his first dock stop. The fish bit during the first part of the day, but the bite shut down soon after and Swindle wasn’t quite able to adjust. Weighing in 9 pounds, 12 ounces, Swindle sat just behind Reese in 34th after day one.

Day two wasn’t looking so good either for the Alabama resident, who didn’t have a fish in the boat by 10:30 Saturday morning. Conditions were different however, as the skies had cleared, so Swindle told himself to relax and fish the moment.

“I went back to the stained water and creeks fishing shallow with crankbaits,” Swindle explained. “I was using the Lucky Craft Flat CB MR and a homemade wooden crank, both in crawfish colors and switching between the two. Once I found places with wind, I found a pattern pretty quickly. If I had wind on a main lake point leading into a pocket, I could catch them cranking.”

The key to the crankbait bite for Swindle was red clay and wind. Fishing in 26-mile creek on points leading into spawning pockets, Swindle was able to catch four keepers on the Flat CB MR. Fishing 10-pound line on a seven-foot medium action cranking rod, Swindle would reel the bait down two or three feet hitting the bottom and then crank slowly back to the boat.

After six or seven fish weighing nearly 10 pounds, Swindle knew to make the cut he had to switch things up and move on to another pattern. He went back to skipping docks and caught eight keepers, gaining confidence as the day progressed. After weighing in on day two, Swindle moved to 21st with his 14-pound, 2 ounce bag, just making the cut to fish on day three.

Swindle struggled again on day three, not able to get bites in any of his areas. Trying a new creek, Swindle was able to catch two keepers on some lead-in points off pockets on his crankbaits and one more casting a jig. Swindle brought in 9 pounds, 1 ounce on day three for a total of 32 pounds, 15 ounces and a 21st-place finish.

Japanese native, Takahiro Omori had a tough weekend finishing in 36th with a two-day total of 19 pounds, 5 ounces. After using every technique available from fishing shallow to 40 feet in practice, Omori felt like he had some quality bites headed into day one.

“I was fishing around the backs of creeks, but after the rain, the water temperature fell to around 44 degrees,” Omori explained. “It had been about 50 degrees in practice. I think the cool down shocked the fish a little bit and made them not want to chase anything. I didn’t miss or lose any fish, I just didn’t get the quality bites I thought I would be able to find.”

Omori was able to weigh in 8 pounds, 10 ounces on day one fishing the RC 1.5 (Copper Perch) around boat docks, points and riprap. If he was fishing riprap, he would throw the RC parallel to the shore, and most of his fish came in about five feet of water. With the RC, Omori was using 12-pound fluorocarbon on a seven-foot medium/heavy composite rod. In addition to the RC, Omori caught several fish on a worm as well.

On day two, Omori had a little heavier bag but still wasn’t happy with the small limit.

“I needed bigger kicker fish to do well in this tournament,” Omori said. “On Saturday, my timing might have been off a bit as I found myself fishing behind some other anglers. In addition to the weather, the timing might have caused me some problems, too.”

After what he considered to be a ‘pretty bad’ practice, Kelly Jordon still thought he had found the right fish to do well. He was able to run a pattern and found areas holding fish. Overall, his confidence was high that he could find the right size fish, but he just wasn’t sure he’d be able to catch them.

“The fish on day one weren’t all the same size,” Jordon said. “I had the right kind of fish, like I thought I would, but I just didn’t catch enough of them. It was definitely hard.”

On day one, Jordon’s main patterns were cranking and throwing a football jig in the backs of creeks and pockets, on secondary points and down the middle of the drain. If there was a defined channel, he was able to find them there as well.

“I knew Friday was going to be tough as nails,” Jordon added. “I caught two of my fish throwing the jig, but most of my keepers came on a crankbait. I caught all three of my best fish on the Lucky Craft Slim Shad on day one (Ghost Minnow).”

According to Jordon, the Slim Shad resembles a jerkbait with a long bill.

“It slow floats and is heavier than most tight-wobbling crankbaits,” Jordon explained. “On 10-pound fluorocarbon, I can throw it a lot farther and get it down to the bottom in 10 – 12 feet with no problem. On a long cast, I could hit 15 feet. I was using a seven-foot medium action rod and was reeling very slowly, just touching the bottom and stopping it every now and then. I also caught several in deeper water where it wasn’t touching the bottom at all. It was a big bite when it was around.”

Lucky Craft congratulates Clark Reehm of Russellville, Ark., on his eighth place finish at the 2008 Bassmaster Classic. Reehm, a member of Lucky Craft’s regional pro staff, finished second in the 2007 BASS Central Open Angler of the Year standings and qualified for both the 2008 Bassmaster Classic and the 2008 Elite Series season through the BASS Central Opens.

Reehm’s Classic experience was one to remember as he weighed in a total three-day weight of 40 pounds, 8 ounces. Reehm admitted fishing the Classic was a “dream come true,” and said he was “tickled to death” to finish eighth. Lucky Craft looks forward to watching Reehm in the Elite Series season this year. Congratulations again and Good Luck.