“People remember winners”

 Story by Pete Robbins - Photos by Mark Jeffreys  

Auburn, CA. – This is the second piece of a two-part series about 2007 Elite Series Angler of the Year Skeet Reese. On Monday, we discussed his 2008 Elite Series campaign, which led to a 4th place finish in the Angler of the Year Race. Today he addresses the state of his career what he still wants to accomplish.

In the buildup to the 2005 Bassmaster Classic, BASS and ESPN held a “Greatest Angler Debate” which eventually spit out Rick Clunn as the narrow victor over Roland Martin. Skeet Reese was a panelist on the television show of the same name, but his name was not included among the thirty-five anglers considered for the title. 

If that same poll were held today, things would likely be different. If Kevin VanDam didn’t win the title, he’d certainly garner significantly more first place votes. He won that 2005 Classic in Pittsburgh, then added his fourth BASS Angler of the Year title this past season. He also has four Elite Series victories. The other major difference is that the pundits would be remiss if they didn’t add Reese’s name to the list. He might not contend for the title, at least not based on statistics through 2008, but now he’s been a major force in the sport for a decade, and has entered its highest echelons in the past five years.

While VanDam has clearly lived at the sport’s highest levels for over a decade, other anglers have made moves toward his altitude and consistency, only to fall a bit short for the time being. For a while, it looked like Mike Iaconelli would match him cast for cast, but while Ike is clearly a star, he hasn’t shone quite as bright as KVD since 2005. He has an AOY title in that time period, along with an Elite Series win, but as a result of multiple Classic disqualifications and a failure to finish higher than 10th in the AOY race the past two years, he falls just a bit short of KVD’s orbit.

Reese notched an AOY title of his own in 2007, outfishing VanDam down the home stretch of the season to win the trophy. He also earned a tour win last year, outlasting friend Kelly Jordon to claim the victory on the Potomac River. And over the last five years, only one tour-level BASS angler has been in the top ten in the AOY race every year – it’s not KVD, who suffered an aberrational 26th place finish in 2004, or Ike, who came in 28th in 2007. It’s Reese who hasn’t wavered during that time period. His lowest finish in the past five seasons was a 9th in 2005 and over that time period he’s averaged approximately a 5th place overall finish.

But while KVD told the BASS ZONE at the 2008 Classic media day that he doesn’t spend time thinking about his legacy in the sport, Reese is not so dismissive. “I can’t say I haven’t thought about it,” he said. “The thing is, I don’t know what’s in store for the rest of my career.”

VanDam has been near the top of the Classic standings in each of the past five years, finishing no worse than 5th (2006), along with a win in 2005 and three 3rd place finishes. Meanwhile, Reese flirted with victory at Lay Lake in 2007, ultimately falling to Boyd Duckett’s last minute heroics, but otherwise he’s been in final day contention less frequently, finishing 11th, 8th, 24th and 12th in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008, respectively.

Reese was hesitant to say that a Classic title is necessary for an Angler to put together a Hall of Fame caliber career, but he admitted that it is one credential that can be hard to ignore. “It’s everything,” he said. “It’s tournament wins, Classic wins, AOYs. I don’t think you have to have Classic wins, but if you combine all of that it makes for a pretty impressive resume. Look at all sports – golf, basketball, football. The careers you remember are the ones that were the dominant players and they won. People gravitate to winners.” 

Will he be Ernie Banks, who put together tremendous numbers in his Hall of Fame career but never won a World Series, or Reggie Jackson, whose career batting average, home runs and RBIs were basically comparable, but has a bigger piece of the limelight today because of his reputation as Mr. October?

Perhaps more pertinent is the question of whether Kevin VanDam, the owner of 18 BASS wins, including two Classic championships, along with four AOY titles, exists in a category all his own?

“I don’t think he stands alone,” Reese said. “Everything he has accomplished has been great. Is he the greatest angler out there? Yes. But there are guys who rival his consistency. There are some great fishermen out there. Look at Aaron Martens and Terry Scroggins, their track records over the past few years. And Mike McClelland, you’d have to include him, too

“The industry has put (Kevin) on a pedestal. Does he deserve it? Yes. But there are other guys out there, on certain techniques they’re better than he’s ever been and better than he’ll ever be.”

As he enters his second decade on the wider bass fishing radar, does Reese use VanDam as a gauge against which to measure his own progress and the status of his career?

“For me, it’s all me,” he answered. “I’ve been competing against me and me only the last five years. I want to win for myself, not to be compared against (Kevin) or Clunn or Nixon or Mark Davis. They’ve all earned their stripes. Now it’s time for me to earn mine.”

In 2007, Bassmaster magazine featured an article written by Tim Tucker professing to report what a limited group of top pros made the prior year from endorsements alone. In a group which included VanDam as well as other luminaries like Mike Iaconelli and Gerald Swindle, Reese came out on top. Disregarding for a moment the fact that tournament success and sponsorship dollars often go hand-in-hand, would Reese be willing to trade some of that financial success for a few more victories?

“That’s a tough question,” he said. “I don’t know. Trophies do a lot for your personal confidence, but they don’t pay the bills, they don’t put food on the table and they don’t fund 401(k)’s, even if 401(k)’s aren’t doing all that well right now. Being profitable and taking care of my family is number one for me.”

But then he thought about it a second more and added: “For me personally, I’d love to have the trophies.”