If you don’t get it now, you never will. In competition, you don’t fish against the fish, you fish against the fisherman.
When KVD was at the peak of his reign in the Elites, the other pros didn’t forget how to fish, they heard footsteps, or humming troll motors, or burning crankbaits or some other metaphor. If another was leading for a day, VanDam was chasing him down. And if they were trailing there was no comeback.
But today is a new day. It’s Skeet Reese who casts that ominous cloud over the waters of professional fishing.
You can’t overstate his presence. When the Tour left California in March, competitors were muttering their dismay over the role of swimbaits and their relief at being able to “fish to their strengths.” Yeah, Byron Velvick got the credit for the big bait win, but it was Auburn’s enigmatic Golden Boy who left home leading the “best of the best.”
By the time Reese abandoned the sight fish for a swimbait to win at Smith Mountain, (in Virginia far from home) he was even farther ahead in the AOY points, and securely on top of the Bassfan.com World Rankings. Then, over the last two tour stops, one at Pickwick where Reese finished fifth, and now this week where he won a second Elite title at Guntersville, Alabama, the evidence is clear.
This is not just a good run, this is dominance. While he toys with psyche of his fellow pros (“I can’t believe I won this thing” or when he says, “I always try to do something that hasn’t been done before…”) he is Hollywood’s Alien (galactic trophy hunter) and Terminator molded into one.
You see it in those feedback letters on Bassfan touting anyone else but Skeet. That’s fear talking. And they’re not afraid of the fish.
5 Responses to “Skeet Reese strikes fear in the pro ranks”
As Skeet’s roommate for over 15 years, the question that I get is, “What’s he doing different?” My answer is that he is always making himself better. From his exercise regimen to any new techniques or twists on old techniques, Skeet’s always improving. Many of us on tour have become stagnant in our approaches, while Skeet has found new ways to motivate himself (KVD’s strange AOY win). I know from being around Skeet for 20 years, he’s not close to done yet, my nickname for him 20 years ago was “legend boy,” because I could see he wanted to be a legend in the sport. Now he’s getting to where he’s wanted to be! The West Coast rules bass fishing!!!!
And he is currently without a boat sponsor. CRAZY!! His stock just keeps on going up.
No boat sponsor? That does not bode well for wanna bees. Or is it by choice, is he testing the free agent market?
I’ve never seen anything like this run. He probably should have 3 Elite wins at this point. Between losing by 1oz on the Delta and then the final day being cut short on Pickwick when he was the only 1 of the final 12 locking into Wilson and Short having 6lbers pick his snagged crankbait off of trees. I’ve never been more impressed because I can’t think of a harder sport to be consistent in when you fish all of these different lakes with so many great anglers. Great to hear John Murray’s perspective as well. I’ve without a doubt paid the price in fantasy fishing by opting for Aaron Martens and KVD in the last 2 events.
Yeah, golfers aren’t afraid of Tiger Woods, major leaguers don’t fear Mariano Rivera and back in the day, no one was that worried about Joe Montana in the last two minutes. Yeah right.