Entry 255-4

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

Part 4: Day Three of the Tournament

Question: Okay, Greg, you made the 50-cut. What was the weather like on the third day of the Lake Murray tournament?

Hackney: The weather was colder, the water was slick, and there was no wind with bluebird skies. The cold front had passed. I started fishing with the Football Jig because that’s the way I caught my bass the previous day. I spent the first 2 hours of the morning fishing the jig and never got a bite. So, I switched back to the scrounger-head jig and the Z Too, because by then, I didn’t have enough time to try to get my spinner-bait bite going. I actually was able to have a chance at catching a really-big bag of fish. Although I had four big bites, I only boated one, a 4 pounder. I got four of those big bites in 10 casts, and then the fish just stopped biting. There was an extremely-large number of big fish on that spot for a very-short time and I just couldn’t capitalize on that opportunity. That sort of sealed my day.

I’d missed the early-morning spinner-bait bite because I was fishing the jig. When I finally put the jig down and started fishing the scrounger with the Z Too, I missed three of the four big bass that bit my bait. I’m not making excuses. I should have been in contention to win on the last day. I just missed the big fish that would’ve put me there. I ended the day with only 11 pounds and missed the 12-cut by 13 ounces. I only caught eight or 10 keepers on the third day of the tournament. If I’d caught all my bites, I would have had the best day I’ve had all week. Had it not been for the Strike King Zero, I wouldn’t have finished as high as I did.

Question: How did the Strike King Zero save the day?

Hackney: I started fishing it on a 3/16-ounce T-rig Tungsten weight and flipped boat docks, willow trees and any other type of visible structure I could find. I Texas-rigged the Zero on 14-pound-test fluorocarbon line. I keyed on the boat docks, but flipped the bait through any kind of jump I could find in the water.

Question: Most people don’t think of the Zero as flipping bait, do they?

Hackney: No, they don’t. They either fish the Zero wacky-style, Texas-rig it or fish it like a worm. However, I’ve found that it’s an excellent fishing bait, like a beefed-up finesse worm. I caught a couple of bass every day using this tactic, but on the third day of the tournament, I caught five or six bass and two of them went into my bag. The first day, I caught one 3 pounder with this technique. The second day, I caught two bass that let me upgrade my stringer. Every afternoon, when the bass on those points and flats would stop biting, I’d pick up that Zero in the green-pumpkin color and flip docks and jumps.

Question: Greg, what’s the T-rig?

Hackney: It’s a Tru-Tungsten sinker with a coil coming out of the head. I’d screw that Zero into that spring and then Texas-rig it. By screwing the Zero into the spring on the head of the weight, the weight didn’t fall away from the sinker like it would on most flipping baits. The water we fished was clear, and if you watched that Zero fall, it fell like a big finesse worm. I like fishing this way because I can fish the Zero on a baitcasting rod and not have to use little line and a spinning reel, like I do if I’m finesse fishing. That lake had some big bass in it, and if I got a 5 or a 6 pounder to take the Zero, I’d need enough strength in the line to pull the bass away from the boat dock or out of the cover. By flipping the Zero, I presented a bait I knew bass would bite in a way they’d never seen.

When you’re tournament fishing, you’ve got to give the bass a new and different look with the bait. There are two-different ways to do this. You either can fish a new lure the fish never have seen before or an old bait with a tactic they’ve never seen used. I’m just now beginning to understand the various ways you can fish a Zero. I haven’t got it all figured out yet, but I know this flipping tactic using the Zero and the Tru-Tungsten weight combination will give the bass a different-looking bait.

Next: The Last Day of the Tournament`

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