Entry 255-1

Looking Back at Lake Murray and Forward to Wheeler Lake with Greg Hackney

Part 1: Before the Competition

Question: Greg, what did you know about Lake Murray before you arrived?

Hackney: The only two things I knew were the lake was full of blueback herring, and it had no grass in it. I’d fished the lake in 2002, but it was low, dirty and full of grass then. We fished the lake back in February 2008, when the blueback herring didn’t have to be considered as part of the game plan. So, this time, Lake Murray was a totally-new lake to me. I had no game plan when I arrived. I decided to just strike out and fish. We’d just finished the Bassmaster Elite Series tournament at Clarks Hill in Georgia, which is very similar to Lake Murray.

Question: So, what did you do on the first day of practice?

Hackney: I took one arm of the lake and decided I’d learn that area. Many bass fishermen may not understand that you can’t learn an entire lake in one tournament, so it’s best to choose an arm of the lake, like a bay, a creek or some other part of the lake, and learn all you can about that region. If you learn that section of the lake really well, then once you define what the bass are doing there, you’ll develop a pattern to fish in that arm of the lake. Then, when the bass stop biting, or you can’t catch them, you’ll know what to look for if you have to run to other places on the lake.

By using this system, I was able to get keyed-in to what the bass were doing fairly quickly during practice. At my first stop on the first day of practice, I found blueback herring, which in May, on this lake, were the key to finding bass. Because the blueback herring were in the spawn, the bass would be found wherever the blueback herring were concentrated. At my second spot, I found herring and started catching bass. Using this method, I learned the pattern quickly. I got the same amount of research done on that first day of practice that would normally take me 3 days to compile.

Question: What did you learn?

Hackney: The blueback herring were spawning in the mornings in 1 foot of water, but even after the blueback herring stopped spawning, the bass never really left that shallow water. They just changed from feeding on herring to feeding on shad. In the morning, I caught my bass on a 3/4-ounce smokey-shad-colored Strike King Premier Plus spinner bait, which fit the profile of the blueback herring. There’s something about that spinner bait that attracts blueback herring. I’d cast this bait out, and if there were any blueback herring on the spot I fished, they’d chase that spinner bait.

The blueback herring would chase that bait every time I threw it out. I think only the male blueback herring chased the spinner bait, but I can’t say for certain. I don’t know if the smokey shad color resembled a female blueback herring or not, but there was something about that spinner bait that attracted the blueback herring sexually. They weren’t trying to eat the bait, but seemed to be attracted to it sexually.

This is kind of strange, but I know that shad will chase the spinner bait in the same way. I reeled that spinner bait and pulled an entire school of blueback herring off the shore and out to deeper water. Then, I’d pop the spinner bait causing the skirt to flare. The bluebacks would scatter, and the bass would attack the spinner bait. When those bluebacks ran away from the spinner bait, the bass attacked it at full throttle. So, I decided I’d use this technique in the tournament.

I caught some of my bass on points, but most of the better bass I caught were on flats that ran from 150 to 200 yards. These flats had scattered clay and rock on them, and since the lake was down 4- or 5-years ago, pine brush had grown up on the flats. The blueback herring seemed to be spawning on those pine bushes.

Next: The First Day of Competition

Contents:

• Part 1: Before the Competition
• Part 2: The First Day of Competition
• Part 3: Day Two of the Tournament
• Part 4: Day Three of the Tournament
• Part 5: The Last Day of the Tournament