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Matt Reed said he thoroughly enjoyed the tournament, but it had its stressful side, too. "It was fun, but it was scary going into it because I knew I was going to have to mash 'em," he said. "You knew you were going to have to catch big ones." He focused on grass edges that were influenced by the current. He moved farther offshore when the flow slowed down, but still keyed on grass. Most of his fish were enticed by an XCalibur One Knocker lipless crankbait, but a few of the bigger ones were caught on a Yum Money Minnow swimbait. He weighed 18-12 today. "It was very slow for me today and I probably didn't catch two limits of keepers." Complete Story |
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10th: Reed Had Better Day |
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Matt Reed didn't have a real good day Saturday when an 11-11 bag took him out of contention. He bounced back with a 16-11 stringer today to grab a Top-10 finish. "I caught a bunch of fish today," he noted. "I just didn't get any big bites. You always would love to win, but I had to make the Top 12." He finished 18th here a year ago, so he was thrilled to improve upon that. "I like it (here)," he added. "I love structure fishing and I'm not really a dropshotter by nature, but I love to structure fish. These fish – you find them on your electronics and sit over them and catch them. It's like a video game." Read More |
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Ike Overtakes Reed On Day 2, Evers 3rd |
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If you were to draw Reed's morning on graph paper, it'd look like a seismograph plotting an earthquake: Up and down, up and down. He had two weigh-fish right away, then lost four straight would-be keepers, which left him with only two in the box at 12:30. He then hooked a 2 1/2-pounder, which would've normally gone back in the lake. Instead, he put it in the box because he knew time was running out and he needed a limit to have a shot at retaining the lead. "I'm thinking, 'I better put this in the livewell - I've got to have some fish,'" he said. "I fished there for another 10 minutes to see if I could catch another one and then went back to fizz it and it had already died and I was like, 'Man.' "Then I moved to another place and caught a 4 1/2 and a 4 1/4 boom, boom and I got to a point where I had a 2 1/2-pounder and nothing littler than 4 1/4. It's going well, but that mistake may cost me there." He talked on day 1 about how the bottom-huggers weren't triggering and he experienced it again today. Read More |
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Reed Between The Waves........ |
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Buffalo, NY – The weatherman said that it was going to be bumpy at Erie all week, and Thursday proved him right as the light breezes that met the 106-angler field of this week’s Empire Chase at the 8:00 am launch amplified to 15- to 20-mile-per-hour winds by afternoon. Aside from the frayed nerves Thursday’s wind caused, the 10th stop on the 2008 Elite Series season could become even more nerve-wracking by Sunday due to the implications that comes with the week. Obviously, the $100,000 first-place prize money is at the top of everyone’s list, but after today there will only be seven more days of fishing left in the 2008 season, so earning much-needed points towards a Classic berth and the overall Toyota Tundra Angler of the Year race is at a sprinter’s pace. This tournament will be a marathon, though. Last year at this point in the season the TTAOY was down to a two-man race, but in ’08 there are five big names vying for the crown and $250,000. Read More |
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BUFFALO, N.Y. — Matt Reed executed the perfect game plan for Lake Erie's wavy waters on Thursday's opener of the Bassmaster Elite Series Empire Chase presented by Farmer's Insurance.
That game plan was as follows: 1.) catch five bass weighing a Berkley Heavyweight Bag of 23 pounds, 3 ounces; 2.) catch only five bass, then head for "the house"; 3.) include a 5-pound, 10-ounce smallmouth Purolator Big Bass in your limit. The Madisonville, Texas, pro was able to do exactly that Thursday morning, then spent the rest of his day fishing around the NFTA Boat Harbor launch site, while the rest of the 106 Elite Series anglers took a pounding from Lake Erie's increasingly higher swells throughout the day. Read More |
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