Skeet’s Beat – On to Round Two

I made it through the Semi Final round of Toyota Trucks All Star Week on Lake Jordan.

I squeaked through in 8th place, but I made it, and I’m really happy to have made it in. To make it even just a little sweeter, to finish one spot ahead of Kevin (VanDam) was just a little extra icing on the cake. Not that I have a vendetta against KVD; we’ve actually got a friendly rivalry, but to get a little bit of revenge here of all places was pretty cool.

I have to say, it was an absolute grind, and I almost didn’t make it through; twice. I thought I’d screwed it up around midday on Saturday when I jumped off a three pounder. To lose a good fish like that was almost heartbreaking, but I caught one again later and made up for it.

Then, I had a fish really struggling in the livewell as we pulled up to the dock for weigh-in, and when I finally got Chuck Harbin, the B.A.S.S. Tournament Manager to check my fish, it moved once and was certified as alive before it died, so I didn’t lose the half pound because of a dead fish.

Had I lost the eight ounces, Kevin and I would have tied, and he would have gotten in because of the tie breaker being most live bass weighed in. Obviously, I’m glad it worked out the way it did.

I caught most of my fish on a Ghost Minnow colored Lucky Craft Gunfish 95 on my Wright & McGill Co. Topwater / Jerkbait rod and my Victory 621 reel spooled with 20-pound-test Berkley Trilene Big Game line. I usually use braided line, but I wanted the stretch because I would have to make short casts at schools that blew up near me.

I filled in a few fish on a Carolina Rig on Sunday, I put a 10-pound-test leader of Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line on a 15-pound-test 100% Fluorocarbon main line with a 3/4-ounce Eagle Claw Tungsten sinker and a 6” green pumpkin Berkley Havoc Bottom Hopper on my 7’6” Carolina Rig / Swimbait Rod and Victory 621 reel.

I was able to fill in my limit on the Carolina Rig in the afternoon.

The water schedules were all whacked out, and basically, they pulled more than a foot out of my area on Saturday, and then backed up the flow on Sunday and brought the water back to the area; that was the main difference.

Now it’s on to the Alabama River and the head to head matches. My first one is against my Lucky Craft teammate Casey Ashley, and I’ll start practice on Tuesday after relaxing tomorrow and doing a little bit of tackle.

The Lucky Craft / Havoc Big Rig is still trucking. Thank you again fans for helping me get here; it still means the world to me.

www.skeetreeseinc.com