While the venue and nearly half the faces are the same from a year ago, the conditions are not. With the 2010 edition of Championship Week falling squarely in the middle of the humid Alabama summer, the water temperature is eclipsing 90 degrees on the Coosa River chain impoundment. 

“It’s a hot tub out there right now,” said current Toyota Trucks Angler Of the Year points leader Skeet Reese, who finished second on Lake Jordan in 2009. When asked about the last time he faced water temperatures this hot, Reese was stumped. 

At 6,800 acres, Lake Jordan offers some of the best spotted bass fishing in the Coosa River chain. That being said, the high water temperature and lack of consistent current have made the bite anything but dependable. “It’s just a bite here, and a bite there,” explained Reese. “It’s going to be a grind unless something changes.” 

One thing that Reese hopes doesn’t change is his position at the top of the Toyota Trucks Angler Of the Year points standings. Entering the first leg of Championship Week with a 15 point lead over Oklahoma’s Edwin Evers, a solid performance by Reese at Lake Jordan could virtually eliminate the majority of the field heading to the Alabama River next week. 

However, with the way the points have been restructured for the postseason, a slight stumble could open the door for any number of anglers currently chasing the California pro. 

Here’s what the restructured points look like prior to the first day of competition on Lake Jordan: 

Here’s what some of the competitors had to say about their practice on Lake Jordan:

Skeet Reese
“It’s not as good as last year, at least not for me. I think that it’ll be a lot tougher bite. They’re not pulling much water and this lake will fish tough without any current. I think that you can still see a 15 pound bag but I also think that 12 pounds will be good. 

“I keep putting my hat and my hands in the water and it’s not even refreshing. It’s 90 degrees. There are going to be both shallow and deep fish. We need either current, wind, cloud cover or something to trigger the bite otherwise it’s going to be a grind just to get a bite here and there. 

“I’m not even thinking about being in the lead. All that I’m thinking about right now is winning this tournament. I’m just trying to find a pattern. First and foremost, I’m trying to get five out here and go from there. 

“I think the guys who fished last year here have a little advantage. I’ve caught a few fish off of stuff that I fished last year but it wasn’t good by any means. My experience from last year helped me eliminate some water this year. 

“A lot of it comes down to timing. I fished one spot this morning and didn’t get a bite and then came back in the afternoon and caught fish. I’m just ready to get it over with and go fish and see where things end up.” 

Russ Lane
“It’s been about what I expected. I’ve gotten some bites and found a few places where I can catch multiple fish. I also got bit on some places where I’ve never even fished before and I’ve been fishing here all my life, so that surprised me.

“They’re not really pulling much water so it’s still going to be tough. They’ll probably pull water for an hour or two each day so I really don’t know what to expect. I know that someone will have 15 to 16 pounds a day. 

“There are three dams on this lake so if they pull water on all three dams, then it gets the flow going out on the main lake. Right now, I think that they are only moving water on one of the dams so it’s really not that big of a deal. It makes the fishing a little tough.

“If they pull water from the wrong dam, it actually creates a deal where the water starts backing up and when you’re fishing for deep fish and the water is backing up, it can really mess up the bite. 

“There are a lot of different things going on right now but there aren’t a lot of fish doing the same thing. It’s probably going to take a deep deal, a shallow deal and maybe someone will figure out how to catch the suspended fish. I don’t really see one specific thing winning this tournament. 

“If you catch a limit here, the average spotted bass is 2 ¾ pounds. I don’t think that guys are going to catch a whole lot of fish. 10 to 12 bass a day will probably be a good number. I’m looking forward to it. I’m still kind of amazed that I even made this thing. Going into the last tournament of the year, I didn’t think that I had a chance but I’m glad that it worked out. I would be excited no matter where these two tournaments were located.”

Greg Hackney 
“It’s really clear. It’s a lot clearer than I’d like it to be and it seems like the majority of the fish are out suspended and chasing shad. It’s a deep lake and that’s what has surprised me the most. This is the first time that I’ve ever seen the lake and there’s no doubt that they’re in here, but it’s not easy. 

“It does seem like there’s some quality here but I’m going to end up having to fish for them like I don’t want to. I haven’t looked at all of the lake yet so there are few areas that I’m still planning on exploring a little.

“I really came here with the intention of not fishing for spotted bass. Right now, the best thing that I have going are spots. I’m not necessarily fishing for a lot of bites because I’m in a position where I need to catch quality. A little limit won’t do me a whole lot of good. I’m head hunting and it’s summer time so you can fish for quality bass this time of year. That is the one thing that I do like about it being so hot. 

“They started generating around 12:30 and that made a big difference. You could kind of tell where you were going to get a bite. The good thing about this is that it doesn’t really matter for points so I can go try and target big ones.” 

Note: The BASS ZONE will be LIVE on-the-water at Lake Jordan starting at 9:00am CST with hourly updates from Mark and The Legend. Viewers will be able to call in and ask The Legend questions LIVE while he is on the water. The call in number will be 334-514-0299. Following the weigh-in each day, the WIDE OPEN Post Game show will begin at 7:30pm CST.