On the mend: Reese rebounding from knee injury with optimism for 2024 season
If there are two things Skeet Reese is known for off the water — bass-catching prowess and affinity for highlighter yellow aside — it would probably be dancing and exercise.
Unfortunately for the Bass Pro Tour angler and longtime Mercury pro, he blames those hobbies for adding a significant wrinkle into an already busy, and important, offseason.
One morning in mid-November, Reese was warming up for a workout, hopping from one leg to the other, when he felt and heard a pop in his left knee. He knew right away it was “more than just the snap-crackle-pop of old age.” A trip to the doctor revealed a bucket-handle tear in his meniscus, which required surgery. Reese underwent the procedure on Nov. 17.
That marked the first time in his 26 years as a touring pro that Reese has gone under the knife, which he attributes to his workout regimen. He laughed wryly about the fact that the injury occurred during a routine warm-up exercise. But he believes the true culprit might have been a recent evening out on the town.
“Just a few days before that, my wife and I and some friends, we went to a concert and we went out afterwards and were dancing for a few hours, and in true Skeet Reese form, I was having a good old time,” Reese said. “Then I do a bunny hop in the garage, and then pow. So I just worked it out of place when we were dancing is what I’m guessing.”
As a result of the surgery, Reese must spend at least two months in a full-leg brace, which locks his knee straight while he walks. He’ll hope to leave the brace behind when he returns to the doctor in mid-January.
The good news for Reese is that he expects to be able to compete when the Bass Pro Tour season kicks off at Toledo Bend for Stage One on Jan. 30 through Feb. 4. The bad news is he won’t be able to spend as much time on the water as usual this winter ahead of a pivotal campaign. The Bass Pro Tour is set to decrease its roster from 80 anglers in 2024 to 65 in 2025, and after a pair of uncharacteristic seasons that saw him finish lower than 60th in the Angler of the Year race, Reese will likely need a solid year to make the cut.
As the calendar flipped from November to December, the California native hadn’t been on the water in about two weeks, although he was planning to test his ability to get in and out of a boat during an upcoming crappie fishing excursion on Clear Lake. Add in the fact that he’s preparing to launch his signature brand, Reese Fishing, in January (which will sell rods designed by Reese as well as specialty reels from KastKing and lures from Lucky Craft), and he’s had plenty on his mind aside from catching bass.
“I really intended to be fishing more this winter, going up to Clear Lake and going to the house up there and having fun and just staying in tune with fishing for a winter bite,” Reese said. “But so far that’s gotten slowed down a little bit.”
Yet, despite the pressure and everything he’s had to deal with away from the water in recent weeks, Reese betrayed no signs of angst about the 2024 campaign. His plan, he said, is to fish the same way he’s fished throughout his decorated career, during which he’s won a Bassmaster Elite Series Angler of the Year title, a Bassmaster Classic and eight other tour-level events.
“I’ll do what I have always done,” he said. “Everything else is just noise. It doesn’t matter what’s going on, what format. To me, it boils down to catching fish. If you catch fish and you do your part, everything else falls into place.
“I haven’t fished well the last two years, but I know that I’ve had 20-some-odd great years of competitive angling, so I know I can do it. That’s not even a question, whether I can do it. So it’s just a matter of going out there and making it happen.”
That’s not to say Reese refuses to adapt. His primary on-the-water objective since the end of the 2023 season has been to get more comfortable with the technology that has dominated tournament fishing in recent years, forward-facing sonar. He’s spent time looking for ways he can use Lowrance ActiveTarget to supplement the strengths and instincts honed over the course of his career rather than to replace them.
“It’s using it in situations where I feel comfortable,” Reese said. “So that might be running points, it might be chasing brushpiles, it might be running docks. But what I’ve learned is I’m using it in catching fish in a foot of water, 2 feet of water, as well as 8, 10, 20. I’m not one that’s comfortable just going out and roaming the lake and scanning. That’s OK, that’s not my style. I can still find fish with it in shallow water — which, there’s still a lot of those around — but realizing you can just be a little more efficient. Instead of making 1,500 casts up shallow, you’re only going to make 500 to 800 because you’re going to scan around a little bit more and see if the fish have pulled up shallow, if they’ve backed off a little bit, whatever it might be.”
Between spending time learning a new technology, preparing for a pivotal Bass Pro Tour season, gearing up for the launch of his brand and now rehabbing a torn meniscus, it’s been an unusually busy offseason for Reese. Through it all, he’s tried to focus not on any of those stressors but on the reason he dedicated himself to tournament fishing more than a quarter century ago.
Priority No. 1 for 2024: Have fun on the water. Do that, Reese believes, and the rest will take care of itself.
“It’s about fishing and having fun,” he said. “It’s not about all the other clutter and the noise. Get back to enjoying going fishing, whether it’s with your friends and family, by yourself. Go enjoy fishing. That’s what it’s supposed to be, fun.”