Skeet So Close at Duel in the Delta
Stockton , Calif. – Following a less than desirable finish at the 2010 Bassmaster Classic, Skeet Reese, a four time BASS winner and 2007 Bassmaster Angler of the Year set his sights on the Elite Series season opener in the California Delta, and he was on target. Only one angler, Virginia pro John Crews, was closer to the mark, and the result was a 2 nd place finish in the Duel in the Delta.
Reese strung together four consecutive limits, one of only two anglers to accomplish the feat during a time when the California Delta showed itself as less than its usually tremendous fishery. Reese's four day total of 72 pounds, 5 ounces left him one ounce shy of his fifth BASS win, but gave him a solid foundation to make a run at his season goal of a second Bassmaster Angler of the Year title.
“Losing by an ounce really sucks,” said the 2009 Bassmaster Classic Champion. “I really wanted to win the tournament and I was so close, but while it hurts to come close and fall short, it certainly gives me a great start to the season.”
Reese spent most of his competition days in the southern part of the 1500 mile waterway, and he used two of his Wright & McGill Co. Skeet Reese Tessera Rods to string together his impressive stringers. “I spent the whole tournament Flippin' and Pitchin' or throwing a Chatterbait on my Spinnerbait / Senko rod,” said Reese. “Most of my better bites came with the Flippin' Stick, but I did weigh a couple of fish during the tournament on the Chatterbait.”
His pattern involved picking apart isolated matted grass beds in the long canals that the South Delta features with the Flippin' Stick, then use the Chatterbait to move between the grass beds looking for roaming fish. “As the tides got lower, the cover started to create canopies, and I would flip a Berkley PowerBait Chigger Craw in black and blue, and would also mix it up with a black and red creature bait,” said Reese. “I used two separate approaches; I would punch with a heavy tungsten weight if the cover was heavy, and would lighten it up with a lighter tungsten sinker if the grass was a little less dense.”
For his punching rig, he would spool his prototype casting reel with 65-pound-test Spiderwire Ultracast braided line, and for sparse cover, he would use 25-pound-test Berkley 100% Fluorocarbon line; he used 4/0 and 5/0 Lazer TroKar Flippin' hook for both presentations. The green pumpkin Chatterbait was also thrown on a new prototype 6.4:1 retrieve baitcasting reel, and was tied to 17 to 20-pound test 100% Fluorocarbon, depending on the density of the cover.
The 2 nd place finish finds Reese sitting in 2 nd place in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year Race heading into the second event of the season; the Golden State Shootout on Clear Lake , the lake that Reese cut his tournament teeth on.
“I definitely wanted to win, but I'll take a bunch of 2 nd place finishes if it means winning the AOY title again,” he said.
