SKEET SOARS – AGAIN: He’s riding so high; one imagines Skeet Reese could have flown home to California without being on a plane.
The Bassmaster Elite Series pro’s lofty accomplishments as of last Sunday (May 9):
- He took his second Elite victory of 2010.
- To win, he overcame an almost 5-pound deficit on the final day of the Lake Guntersville competition.
- It was his fifth consecutive top-5 career finish, an Elite record.
- His winning weight topped 100 pounds for the fourth time in his BASS career.
- His career earnings hit $2.3 million.
- He amassed a jaw-dropping 258-point lead in the $200,000 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year race. (Click here for the full-field standings.)
The California pro now has 1,485 points to the 1,227 points of his closest challenger, Edwin Evers of Talala, Okla., who this week moved up one tick to take the No. 2 spot.
Put another way, the spread between Reese and Evers is almost equal to the 260-point spread between 2nd place and 37th place, held by Mark Tucker with 967 points.
Reese, the 2009 Bassmaster Classic champ, is aiming for his second AOY title. He took his first in 2007.
He does not have the 2010 award sewn up. There are three of eight regular-season events remaining before the Postseason, when the final AOY battle will take place. Before the Postseason begins, the base points of the regular season will undergo a leveling adjustment. Then the 12 qualifiers will compete for more points; a pro can earn from 10 to 50 points at each of the two postseason events.
Whatever happens, Reese has the awe of his fans and respect of his peers. One is John Crews, the Virginia pro who holds 8th place in AOY standings
“What he’s doing right now is pretty phenomenal,” Crews said. “It doesn’t seem like much of anything can slow him down right now.”
Crews is not surprised by Reese’s recent show of prowess on the water.
“Honestly, for the past eight years or so, he’s not been that far from where he is now. I think a lot of people just didn’t realize it because Kevin (VanDam) was dominating. Now that Kevin’s not dominating, people are realizing how good Skeet really is. Just look back at the AOYs Kevin won, and you see that Skeet was second, third, fifth – right up there.”
INS AND OUTS: While the big story this week is Skeet Reese’s domination, the AOY moves of several other pros are well worth noting:
- Derek Remitz (9th) hit the top 12 for the first time this year.
- John Crews (8th – see story below) and Gary Klein (11th) reappeared in the top 12.
- Slipping out of the top 12 this week were Michael Iaconelli (7th to 14th); Aaron Martens (8th to 15th) and Jeff Kriet (10th to 13th).
- Losing ground, but still in the top 12, were Greg Hackney (2nd to 6th); Dean Rojas (4th to 7th); and Greg Vinson (8th to 10th).
- Bill Lowen remained in 12th place.
CREWS’ BIG MOVE: Thanks to a 3rd place finish in the May 6-9 Lake Guntersville event, John Crews jumped forward 12 spots in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings.
Crews’ move was the biggest this week among AOY frontrunners. Now at No. 8, the 31-year-old from Salem, Va., is once again in range to end up with a top-12 postseason spot and a shot at the $200,000 AOY crown.
“Things are going pretty well,” he said. “I don’t see it as great; I missed the money in two out of five events. But I’ve had a couple of really good tournaments.”
It has been a seesaw season for Crews. He led the AOY race out of the gate by winning the opener on the California Delta. After the second event, he fell to 21st. He popped back up into AOY contention after the third Elite contest by claiming 11th place in the standings. He fell after the fourth event to 20th before regaining ground at Guntersville.
If he can post decent finishes in the final three regular-season events, Crews will be sitting pretty. He’ll have a 2011 Bassmaster Classic berth in hand, his first since 2008. If he excels in those last three tournaments, he could earn one of the 12 coveted postseason berths.
Crews credits the turnaround to his campaign to adjust his approach to competitions: 1) He is striving to fish more “in the moment” (not relying so much on what worked before, and especially on what he saw and did during practice); 2) He is working to recapture the sense of fun in fishing and; 3) He turns first to his strengths (offshore techniques) if at all possible.
Fellow pro Ish Monroe, with whom Crews rooms on the trail, has been in on his reform plan, he said.
“Ish and I fell into a kind of rut,” Crews said. “We realized last year that we weren’t enjoying ourselves as much as we had been, and we’ve made a conscious effort to change that, and to fish to our strengths. I think – in both of our tournament finishes – you can see the difference.”
Crews doesn’t spend his time crunching AOY numbers, or getting into “what if” scenarios. He said he focuses only on whatever tournament is next.
What’s next is the Pride of Georgia, May 20-23 on Clarks Hill Lake out of Evans, Ga. In past Elite events there, Crews has done well: 10th in 2006; 4th in 2007 and 32nd in 2008. He’s confident about this season’s contest there.
“That’s one of those tournaments where being young and in good shape is to your benefit because most of the time you’re running around like, I guess you could say, your pants are on fire,” said Crews, who works out with weights. “You’re fishing all day trying to catch them when the bluebacks (blueback herring) are up on the points and the bass are up there bustin’ them.”
NO REST: Signed up for the May 13-15 Bassmaster Southern Open event on Smith Lake out of Jasper, Ala., are 12 Elite pros: Derek Remitz, Greg Vinson, Aaron Martens, Bobby Lane, Gerald Swindle, Davy Hite, Terry Scroggins, J. Todd Tucker, Bernie Schultz, Chris Lane, Keith Poche and Byron Haseotes.
They’re up for another week of fishing – practice days plus three Open competition days – after back-to-backs on the Elite schedule.
Of the dozen Elite pros, seven are within the top 25 in Southern Open points standings. Chris Lane leads, followed by his brother Bobby in 2nd, and Scroggins is 4th.
At stake for all 12 Elite anglers, as well as for Open pros, are two Bassmaster Classic seats. The top two points earners in the 2010 Southern Open trail will qualify for the 2011 Classic.
COME AND GET IT: “When you make the first one bite, it’s every cast, it’s absolutely every cast. They’re competitive. They think, all of a sudden, the lunch bell has rung, and they all start feeding at one time.” – Elite pro Davy Hite describing fishing action on Alabama’s Lake Guntersville during the Synergy Southern Challenge, where he finished 2nd. His comment was made on the Bassmaster.com online show Hooked Up!
About BASS
For more than 40 years, BASS has served as the authority on bass fishing. The organization advances the sport through advocacy, outreach and its expansive tournament structure while championing efforts to connect directly with the passionate community of bass anglers through its Bassmaster media vehicles.As the flagship offering of ESPN Outdoors, the Bassmaster brand and its considerable multimedia platforms are guided by a mission to serve all fishing fans. Through its industry-leading publications Bassmaster Magazine, BASS Times and Fishing Tackle Retailer; comprehensive Web properties in the Bassmaster, BASSInsider, ESPNOutdoors and ESPN360 websites, and ESPN2 television programming, Bassmaster provides rich, leading-edge content true to the lifestyle.
BASS oversees the prestigious Bassmaster Tournament Trail, which includes the Bassmaster Elite Series, Bassmaster Opens, BASS Federation Nation and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the Bassmaster Classic.
BASS offers an array of services to its more than 500,000 members while spearheading progressive, positive change on issues related to conservation and water access. The organization is headquartered in Celebration, Fla.By: BASS Communications / BASS
