Skeet: Well, that’s a wrap

I got a win and qualified for my 16th Bassmaster Classic, so I’d have to say it was a good year.

The 2015 Bassmaster Elite Series is a wrap.

I had a good season – not a great one because I didn’t win a Bassmaster Classic or a Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year title, but definitely a good one.

To be completely honest, I’d have to say it was a frustrating season, but I was able to get a win at Guntersville. So any season that you have a win and qualify for the Bassmaster Classic, it was a good year. But, without that Guntersville win, it would have been a frustrating season.

I made too many decisions that cost me spots in the standings this year. In hindsight, I don’t think I would have changed one of them on the California Delta, but I would completely reboot the first day at Lake Havasu if I had a chance. I completely bombed that first day at Havasu.

I tried to fish for the win in Sacramento in front of my home crowd. I had a really good first day and was sitting in second place to Chris Zaldain, who had a big day and a 12-pounder to go with it. I felt like I needed a true giant to have a chance to win, and I found one on sitting on a bed. She was a fish in the 8- to 11-pound class, and she was locked on the bed and wouldn’t move. That’s usually a sign that I can catch a fish like that, but three hours later, she had not responded, so I was forced to leave. 

I wouldn’t have changed that decision because I still feel like that was my best shot to win that event. It cost me some spots, but it was a good, calculated risk.

Lake Havasu, now that’s different – I sucked.

I tried to force a bite on the first day that I thought should be there but turned out it wasn’t, and I had a terrible first day. I did what I knew I should have done on Day 1 during Day 2, and I ended up catching almost 20 pounds. It didn’t matter though, by then I was already so far gone that I finished the event in the 70s – that one I’d do over.

I totally missed the bite at BASSfest on Kentucky Lake, and that left me stumbling around the water like a lost little boy. That was one that cost me in the standings, too.

Other than those events, the year was solid. I got a win and qualified for my 16th Bassmaster Classic, so I’d have to say it was a good year.

Now that it’s the offseason, I plan on spending as much time with Kim and the girls as possible. I’m also going to go lose some golf balls. I plan on playing a few rounds of golf; I’m learning, and I lose a few balls while doing it. So I’ll be ordering quite a few from Dick’s Sporting Goods throughout the year as I need to.  

My new Ranger and Mercury rig has arrived already for next season, so I’ll be rigging and getting that ready, and I’ll be taking delivery on a new F650 Supertruck this year, so there will be a new Skeet Reese Inc. Big Rig rollin’ on the Bassmaster Elite Series next year too.

After all of that stuff gets settled, I’ll start breaking the boat in chasing some big ol’ giant NorCal spotted bass. There have been two world record class spots caught in the past two years. Who knows, maybe I’ll break in the boat by catching one myself.

What have you caught lately?

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