Guntersville, AL— Only time will tell how this Elite Series event will be remembered.
Either it will be the incredible charge by Skeet Reese to take home the trophy, or the equally incredible final day fall that saw Mike Iaconelli move from atop the leaderboard all the way down to a 12th place finish.
There was a certain momentum on Reese’s side; a momentum that really started looking unstoppable on day three when he jumped up to second place.
On the fourth and final day, Skeet put together a solid 25 pounds, 5 ounces of Guntersville bass to add another trophy to his mantle; his second on this same lake.
And just to prove no man is an island, even in the highest ranks of tournament bass fishing, it was a friend who put Skeet onto the winning bait.
“Byron (Velvick) turned me on to a bait,” Reese said, “and it evolved into something special—a win.”
That magic bait was the 7 inch Basstrix swimbait. Nothing new, nothing fancy, but that bait put Skeet on top of the leaderboard, and incidentally, Velvick was right behind him in second place.
Ike Runs Out of Fish
New Jersey pro and fan favorite Michael Iaconelli had been fishing the same spot for three days. A solid strategy that took him to the top, and had him in first place going into the final day.
The proverbial well would eventually run dry unfortunately, and on the final day, Ike could only bring a single bass to the scales.
“I had a plan B, and it didn’t work. I had a plan C, and it didn’t work,” Ike said, “What are you going to do?”
That disappointing final day took Ike out of top 10 completely. He would finish 12th.
With the big win, Reese takes home a $100,000 pay day and a chance to fish the Bassmaster Classic next year.
Top 10 Leaderboard
Here is the run down of the top 10 finishers:
- Skeet Reese, 92-11
- Byron Velvick, 88-1
- Derek Remitz, 85-5
- David Walker, 84-8
- Keith Combs, 83-6
- Carl Jocumsen, 81-15
- Jason Christie, 81-15
- Greg Vinson, 78-14
- Brent Ehrler, 78-1
- Chad Morgenthaler, 76-6
Big Bass Winner
Second place finisher Bryon Velvick took home the big bass of the tournament with a solid 6 pound, 7 ounce bass.