“I went up the (White River) and started running new water, but with the same pattern I ran (Friday),” Reese said. “I don’t know if I just got into better water or the fish were moving up. I really don’t know.
“I thought I was going to catch them a little better than I did yesterday, but not 19 pounds.”
Reese’s five-bass limit weighed 19-2, almost 3 pounds better than the second biggest bag of the day, and vaulted him into third place going into Sunday’s Top 12 finale at Norfork Lake. He had a sack full of 4-pounders; his biggest bass weighed 4-8. His three day total is 44-13, less than a pound behind leader Randall Tharp’s 45-8.
“I don’t know if those were males I caught or females,” Reese said. “None of them looked fat like pre-spawn females.”
Reese said he caught 20 to 30 keepers Saturday, and all of them came while flipping a green pumpkin Berkley Havoc Pit Boss on a 1/4-ounce tungsten sinker and a 5/0 Trokar hook.
Can he do the same thing at Norfork Sunday?
“No, it’s a totally different bite,” Reese said.
He’s just glad to have an opportunity to figure that out. Fishing on Sunday was the last thing on his mind at takeoff Saturday morning.