Skeet Reese is the hottest angler on the planet right now. Yes, Kevin VanDam still holds his grip on the No. 1 spot in the BassFan World Rankings presented by Tru-Tungsten, but Reese is right behind him. And it's Reese, the 2007 BASS Angler of the Year (AOY), who's had the hotter hand of late.

And lest we forget, Reese's incredible run began at about this time last year, when he finished 2nd at the Lay Lake Bassmaster Classic.

Everything points to Reese being a heavy favorite at this week's Hartwell Classic. Everything, that is, except history. Only one reigning AOY has ever won the Bassmaster Classic – Mark Davis in 1995.

In the Q&A that follows, Reese talks about this week's Classic – his thoughts on practice, momentum, and history.



BassFan: You had 3 days of practice last week. There's 1 more practice day tomorrow, but as of right now, how do you feel?

Reese: I'm pretty much indifferent. I don't know what to expect. I had some bites last week, but I didn't set the lake on fire by any means. I think I know what I'm going to do (in the tournament), but whether I get the winning bites or not – I have no idea.

I think guys will catch some good bags, and I think come Sunday, it'll definitely be a battle. I feel like it should be a battle for the title, and I think there'll be several guys within 2 or 3 pounds of each other going into the final day.

You said several times last year that some of your best events were after your worst practices – where you just picked an area and worked it. Will that be your approach, given your so-so practice?

I don't think I'll be in any one area for too long. I'm going to bounce around. I never found anything concentrated enough to camp out and be on top of a glory school. I'll still be looking for one (a glory school) in the tournament, and if I come across it, I'll pillage it as much as I can.

With your hot streak and so much momentum behind you, does this Classic feel different from the others?

To me, it doesn't feel any different than any other Classic over the past 4 or 5 or 6 years. Your first Classic's the biggest thrill and rush of your career. But now I feel like I've been here and done this, so I know what to expect of the week.

It's not like I'm totally pumped up from an adrenaline rush. I'm excited to get out there, but now I treat it just like any other tournament. Obviously though, come Friday morning, I'm 100% committed and focused on the job at hand, and that's jacking them.

Boyd Duckett last year broke the local jinx, but you face some history too this year. Have you thought at all about the long odds of winning the Classic as the reigning AOY?

Oh yeah, I've thought about it, but I've come here to win this tournament. I'm not here to finish 2nd.

I've thought about what happens if I do win it. Yeah, being there with Mark Davis as one of the two guys ever to do it – that would be pretty damn phenomenal. But I know how hard that is to do.

Everything has to go right this week. We all know how difficult it is – how few times everything really comes together for you to win a tournament. So yeah, when you look at it historically, it's not very likely, but it's also doable.

You mentioned earlier that this one doesn't "feel" any different than other recent Classics, but there's one big difference. You'll be fishing from your Champion this time, rather than BASS-supplied boats. That must feel a little different.

That's cool, but also a little weird. This is my ninth Classic, and for the eight previous Classics, you're sitting there in the boat yard, and you look out and see this line of identically-rigged boats. It was pretty impressive. It'll look different now – a total mishmash of boats, with all different looks, designs, wraps. It has a different feel to it.

But from an angling standpoint, I couldn't be more pleased than to fish out of my product, and my sponsors' product, and knowing the boat – having that comfort zone of being in something I put together that's rigged the way I like. I've got everything in there where I like it and I know where it's at.

Lucky Craft, Champion and Mercury, and the rest of my sponsors get the benefits from it too. They get full exposure – Wiley X and everybody else on the boat, this is the first time they'll have brand recognition in the Classic.

Notable

> Reese's wrap for this season is still centered on Lucky Craft, but also incorporates his other sponsors like Berkley, Lamiglas, Lowrance, and Wiley X.

> The Wiley X sunglass deal was a recent occurrence. About joining the team, he said: "I'm stoked. First and foremost, they're a family owned company that's been in the industry for 20 years. They dominate the military market. From a ballistics standpoint, there's probably nothing else out there that compares to them in protecting soldiers' eyes from shrapnel and high-impact stuff. So they support the military, law enforcement, and now realize they have a product beneficial to the fishing industry. The product's unbelievable – it speaks for itself. And the company's just the most class-act people I've ever dealt with."