Prior to the start of stop #2 of the Bassmaster Elite Series event at Lake Guntersville, Skeet Reese had no idea what the week would have in store. After a dismal practice, Reese’s friend and travel partner, fellow tour pro Byron Velvick, gave him a little insight. Velvick showed Reese the 7-inch Basstrix Swimbait that was producing during practice. It proved to be the key to Reese’s success in his second career win at Lake Guntersville (Reese broke the century mark during his 2010 victory with 100.13 pounds).
Reese stayed in contention for the title throughout the entire event. Mike Iaconelli had a firm grasp of the lead, leading the first three days of the tournament. Day 4 didn’t pan out the way Iaconelli had hoped, as he only weighed 1 fish on the final day of competition.
Reese had to focus on a very slow retrieve while fishing the swimbait, as he amassed a 92 pound, 11 ounce total over 4 days of competition to earn the eighth win of his career, and second at Guntersville. Velvick finished in second with 88-1.
“There was so much fishing pressure on the lake that you had to get the bait down to them and slow-roll it to get the bite,” Reese said. “That’s one of the things I figured out the first day. Around the shallow laydowns, they were a little more aggressive. But once the bait got out a little deeper, you had to really slow it down.”
This isn’t shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Jay Kendrick won the Rayovac FLW Series event on Guntersville three weeks ago, with much the same approach, throwing a similar sized swimbait.
Derek Remitz finished in third place (85-5), followed by David Walker in fourth (84-8), and Keith Combs in fifth (83-6).
Photo: Gary Tramontina
