Lucky Craft's Kelly Jordon felt the pressure as the weather completely changed his pattern heading into the first day of competition.

"I looked around for shallow fish on beds in practice, and I knew there were many more that would be headed up," Jordon began. "But the weather that came in knocked them back pretty hard. I was trying to find the staging areas the fish would go to spawn, and then find the areas where the fish would back off to as the weather got worse."

Jordon used the Lucky Craft Flat CB D-20 and the Pointer 100 DD to locate fish but his main baits were a swimbait and Texas-rigged soft plastics. As he has for many years, he was fishing deep trees and grass. But Jordon did notice the water levels were much higher than in years past, and most of the areas he is used to fishing were too deep and weren't holding any fish.

"I had to think back to the other tournaments I've fished on this lake and try to remember where there used to be big trees that were just coming out of the water when it was 20 feet or so lower than it is now," Jordon explained. "I keyed in on those areas, and it paid off for me."

Using a flipping stick and 25-pound fluorocarbon, Jordon was fishing the swimbait over the tops of trees, drawing the fish up and catching a few good ones along the way. As the weather changed again on day three, Jordon put the swimbait away and had to fish slower and deeper with the soft plastics. He was throwing the soft plastics on a 7 foot, medium heavy rod with 17- to 20-pound monofilament.

Jordon brought in 18 pounds, 11 ounces on day one, 20 pounds and 5 ounces on day two and almost 16 pounds on day three for a three-day total of 54 pounds, 6 ounces. He just missed the top 12, but still believes this finish is a great start to the tournament season.

"I adjusted late the third day and didn't have a keeper until noon," Jordon said. "That hurt me and I didn't have enough to fish the final day. But it is my best finish ever on Lake Amistad, so I'm tickled to death. With only eight events this year, good, solid finishes are more important than ever, because it's hard to climb out of hole when we have fewer tournaments. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the year."

California resident and 2009 Bassmaster Classic Champion, Skeet Reese, finished in 22nd on Lake Amistad. It wasn't what he was hoping for, but admits it isn't too bad either. After sitting in 12th on day one, he had much higher expectations for himself.

"It all boiled down to the fact that I just ran out of fish," Reese said. "I was sharing my water with another angler, and he just stuck it out longer and had more patience. He was able to get an extra big bite every day and that's what did it for him."

Reese found an area in practice he decided to stick with during the tournament, abandoning all other areas he has fished in the past. With many tournaments on Lake Amistad under his belt, Reese decided to finally make the switch and fish on the Mexico side of the lake; something he has never done before.

"The very first fish I caught on day two of practice was between 9 and 10 pounds," Reese said. "That was exciting. I caught it on the Lucky Craft Slim Shad D-9, which ended up being my primary bait. I committed myself to that particular area for the whole tournament."

Fishing small, secondary points, Reese was throwing the Slim Shad D-9 in 10- to 20- feet of water and fishing it as a jerkbait with long pauses as he ripped it down to the 10-foot range. According to the Lucky Craft pro, the fish would come up to get it every time.

"On the pause, I'd relax the line and it would jump like you had a bite or it would just start swimming away," Reese said. "It was a fun bite, but I just wish I would have been on bigger schools of fish."

Reese was fishing the D-9 in the Chartreuse Shad color on 12-pound fluorocarbon with a glass rod. This wasn't the first time he went to battle with the D-9 tied on; Reese has fished the bait successfully many times before, and as he talked about the tournament, he remembered the first time he ever saw the bait.

"I was at a writer's conference for Lucky Craft on this very lake (Amistad) and Minoru (Segawa, Lucky Craft U.S.A. president) was in the boat with me and pulled out a prototype of the D-9," Reese said. "I tied it on and caught a fish on my very first cast. Every time I fish the Slim Shad D-9, I catch fish. When it comes to deep jerkbaits, I think it's the best one made."

Reese finished his tournament week on Saturday in 22nd with a three-day total of 48 pounds, 14 ounces. He is glad to have his first regular season tournament behind him and is looking forward to the next tournament on Lake Dardanelle in Alabama.

"Every time I've been there (Dardanelle), I've been so close to making the top 12," Reese concluded. "I've had the bites and the opportunities, but I have never had the breaks. Hopefully this year I can finally put everything together and have a solid tournament."

Lucky Craft pro Gerald Swindle was proud of his 32nd-place finish despite the challenges of fishing a lake greatly affected by changing weather conditions.

Swindle thought he would be successful fishing shallow and bring in 17 to 20 pounds a day on a spinnerbait and a chatterbait. However, after a cold front moved in Tuesday night leading to worse weather with thunder and lightning on Wednesday night, Swindle had to modify his game plan.

"Most of the time, on these real clear lakes, the big ones will move off the beds if it is lightning at night," Swindle explained. "On Thursday morning, it was still raining and cold, and most of the shallow fish I found in practice were gone. I had to scrounge around on day one. I did find one fish up shallow on a spinnerbait that weighed maybe 5 or 6 pounds. I ended up switching to a crankbait pattern with the Lucky Craft RC 2.5."

While cranking the RC 2.5 in Copper Perch over the treetops, Swindle was able to bring in 16 pounds, 4 ounces on day one and turn a tough day into a positive one. Swindle was using a 7-foot, medium action rod with 10-pound fluorocarbon with the RC crankbait. As the tournament progressed, the RC 2.5, along with a jig, became his one-two punch and he stuck with it for the next two days.

"I cranked the tops of trees in 12 to 15 feet of water and threw the jig, casting off points in 30 to 35 feet," Swindle said. "The water was much higher, and I was fishing on the Mexican side, near the canyons. There seemed to be more fish over there, and that is usually the vicinity I fish anyway. It just seems to be more productive for me. I didn't have any swimbait fish located, which is what some of the top finishers were doing, so I think I did really well making the adjustments I did and finishing in 32nd."

Swindle ended his three days with a total of 45 pounds, 1 ounce. After learning a lot on Lake Amistad, Swindle is ready to move on to the shallow-water bite on Lake Dardanelle.

"I'm looking forward to the next tournament because it won't be so greatly affected by the weather and it should be a good cranking, flipping and spinnerbait tournament," Swindle added. "Dardanelle has more stained, and I'm actually more excited about this tournament than I was about Amistad."

A 52nd-place finish was bitter sweet for South Carolina native, Casey Ashley. After two trips to Lake Amistad during the Bassmaster Elite Series, this is his best finish to date. However, missing the top 50 by just two places still left Ashley disappointed.

Ashley tried many techniques while fishing the large lake, but was never able to find the big fish he needed to move up in the standings.

"I fished shallow all the way to 40 feet," Ashley began. "All I could catch was 2-1/2 pounders. I caught one fish over 3 pounds the whole time and that was the first day of the tournament. That's what gave me 13 pounds, 15 ounces that day. I looked and looked but couldn't get around any big ones."

With clear water and fish that relate to deep structure, Ashley knew the fish might be spawning in 15 to 20 feet of water. He is familiar with lakes like Amistad, as he fishes one near his hometown fairly often. However, Ashley admitted, it's hard to cover everything necessary on Lake Amistad with only three days of practice.

"All the big fish seem to be in one very small area on this lake," Ashley said. "They're in one 50- to 100-yard stretch and that's it. It's hard to find them. It's like finding a needle in a haystack."

After bringing in 13 pounds, 15 ounces on day one, Ashley knew he needed a strong day two to make the top 50. He had swimbaits and jerkbaits tied on, as well as a jig, and he tried to throw big baits to catch the big fish, but that big bite never materialized.

Ashley did have some success fishing the Lucky Craft Slender Pointer 112 in Shrimp Brown. He weighed in three fish on the jerkbait on the second day after fishing a channel swing in 19 to 20 feet of water. He was throwing the Pointer on a 7-foot, medium action rod with 15-pound fluorocarbon, fishing the tops of trees in about 10 feet of water.

With a two-day total of 25 pounds, 15 ounces, just shy of the top 50, Ashley finished in 52nd. Looking ahead to Lake Dardanelle, Ashley has another challenge ahead of him. He has never even seen the lake.

"All I've heard is it is a shallow, stained-water deal, and the fish really like a jig," Ashley said. "I'm looking forward to it."

Much like teammate Ashley, Lucky Craft's Takahiro Omori couldn't find the big fish he needed to make the top 50. After a warm practice, Omori felt confident in his pattern, fishing a Senko in 10 to 15 feet of water. However, after the cold weather moved in, his fish went deeper and slowed down.

"I mostly fished around treetops with some hydrilla mixed in," Omori said. "My main bait was a Senko. I was able to locate some fish with the Lucky Craft Pointer 100 in Chartreuse Shad, but then I'd switch to the Senko and throw it deeper to catch the fish."

With 15 pounds, 11 ounces on day one and 9 pounds, 13 ounces on day two, Omori finished his tournament week Friday in 55th with a total weight of 25 pounds, 8 ounces. He admits it wasn't a bad finish, but he was expecting a lot more.

"I didn't bomb this one, so it's an okay start to the year," Omori said. "But now I know I need to improve and move up in the standings as the next tournament comes around. I'm looking forward to it because it will fish shallow and that fits my style and strengths. I believe the Lucky Craft BDS series will come into play, and I'm looking forward to it."