Strike King Journal - How I'll Fish the Classic with Greg Hackney/title> <meta name="Description" content="Strike King Journal - How I'll Fish the Classic with Greg Hackney" /> <meta name="Keywords" content="Strike King Lure Company, fishing, bass, Bassmaster Classic, Greg Hackney" />  <link rel="stylesheet" href="/stylesheet.css" type="text/css">   <script type="text/javascript" src="/skl_js_library.js"></script> </head> <body> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="container"> <tr> <td class="header"> <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" background="http://www.strikeking.com/images/gui/header_top_bkg.jpg"> <tr> <td width="188"><a href="http://www.strikeking.com/"><img src="http://www.strikeking.com/images/gui/headshots/rotator.php" width="188" height="125" border="0" /></a></td> <td width="572"><a href="http://www.strikeking.com/"><img src="http://www.strikeking.com/images/gui/header_top_static.jpg" width="572" height="125" border="0" /></a></td> <td width="100%"> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr valign="top"> <td width="170" class="menu"> <div> <img src="/images/gui/header_menu_allstar.gif" width="170" height="30" /> <ul> <li><a href="/team/chad_brauer.php">Chad Brauer</a></li> <li><a href="/team/denny_brauer.php">Denny Brauer</a></li> <li><a href="/team/george_cochran.php">George Cochran</a></li> <li><a href="/team/mark_davis.php">Mark Davis</a></li> <li><a href="/team/clay_dyer.php">Clay Dyer</a></li> <li><a href="/team/shaw_grigsby.php">Shaw Grigsby</a></li> <li><a href="/team/greg_hackney.php">Greg Hackney</a></li> <li><a href="/team/debra_hengst.php">Debra Hengst</a></li> <li><a href="/team/mark_menendez.php">Mark Menendez</a></li> <li><a href="/team/james_niggemeyer.php">James Niggemeyer</a></li> <li><a href="/team/mark_rose.php">Mark Rose</a></li> <li><a href="/team/kevin_vandam.php">Kevin VanDam</a></li> </ul> <img src="/images/gui/header_menu_bottom.gif" width="170" height="5" /><br /> <img src="/images/gui/body_bkg.gif" width="170" height="15" /><br />  <img src="/images/gui/header_menu_info.gif" width="170" height="30" /> <ul> <li><a href="/catalog/2009/index.php">2009 Strike King Catalog</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.costore.com/strikeking">Strike King Clothing</a></li> <li><a href="/dealers/index.php">Dealer Locator</a></li> <li><a href="/press/press_releases/index.php">Press Releases</a></li> <li><a href="/products/ads/index.php">Print Ads & Commercials</a></li> <li><a href="/info/history.php">Company History</a></li> <li><a href="/info/Strike_King_Credit_Application.pdf">Strike King Credit Application (pdf)</a></li> <li><a href="/press/pressroom/">Strike King Pressroom</a></li> <li><a href="/contact/regional_sales.php">Regional Sales Team</a></li> <li><a href="/contact/contact.php">Contact Strike King</a></li> </ul>  </div> </td> <td width="100%"> <div id="content"> <div id="journalEntry"> <p>Entry 187-4</p> </div> <div id="journalBody">  <h1>How I'll Fish the Classic with Greg Hackney</h1> <h2>Part 4: Switch Hitting</h2> <div class="editorsNote"> <p>Editor’s Note: Greg Hackney of Gonzales, Louisiana, a competitive fisherman for 6 years, never has won a Bassmasters Classic, but he’s won two tour events, one open tournament and the FLW Angler-of-the-Year title. If he wins this year’s Classic in Birmingham, Alabama, he’ll reach one of his most-highly-anticipated fishing goals. "I have only two major titles left to win – the B.A.S.S. Angler-of-the-Year title and the Bassmaster Classic championship," Hackney says. This week, we’ll learn why Hackney’s praying for 20-degree weather, muddy water and high winds for the Classic.</p> </div> <p><strong><img src="/images/journal/00187/12a.jpg" alt="Greg Hackney" width="150" height="200" border="0" class="imgRight" />Question:</strong> As we’ve already discussed, the weather at this year’s Bassmaster Classic will be very unpredictable. You can have 70-degree weather one day and 20-degree weather the very next day. How will you adapt your fishing to those types of weather changes?</p> <p><strong>Hackney:</strong> If I find the bass in shallow water on a warm day, those bass probably won’t leave that area overnight. So, I’ll probably fish that same region where I’ve caught the bass on the warm day, but I may have to show them a little something different. If I’m flipping and catching bass on a warm day, I may have to start using crankbaits on a cold day. If I’ve been catching them on spinner baits, I may have to catch them on jigs. If I can’t get them to bite the jigs or the spinner baits, a tight-wobbling crankbait may be my best bet. </p> <p>The fish will be shallow for a day after that cold front hits, but they won’t stay shallow longer than one day. I’ll have to use a different tactic to fish them. <img src="/images/journal/00187/13a.jpg" alt="Greg Hackney" width="150" height="200" border="0" class="imgLeft" />I may be only fishing for three or four bites on the day that the cold front hits, but I still believe the bass will be shallow for at least a day or two after the cold front. However, fewer bites and different tactics is what I expect to have to do to get bites. When that cold front hits, I’ll have to stay mentally tough and fight for every bite I get. </p> <p>If you have a good day because the first day of the tournament is warm, and the second day you fight hard and still catch some of those fish up shallow, if the weather’s cold on the third day, you’ll have to abandon all those shallow-water tactics and look for spotted bass in deep water. I may even run to a different area of the lake and start the day as though it was the first day of the tournament. Mentally, I’ll have to stay wide open and not get locked into any tactic. If we have a warm day on the first day and two consecutive cold days, the angler who’s leading the Classic at the end of the second day, won’t have a prayer of winning, if he doesn’t completely abandon his pattern and fish in new water. You can’t be hard-headed in this Classic. You really have to gamble on your own ability. </p> <p><img src="/images/journal/00187/14a.jpg" alt="Fishing with Strike King Lures" width="200" height="150" border="0" class="imgRight" />To win the Classic or to win any big tournament, you have to take chances and switch tactics as weather and water conditions change. You have to fish the moment. This is one of the reasons Kevin VanDam’s one of the greatest bass fishermen in the nation. He’s one of the quickest fishermen I know to leave a pattern that has been paying off for him when water or weather conditions change. </p> <p>When Kevin fishes a lake, he looks at the entire lake, and he knows which area of the lake he needs to be fishing if and when a weather change happens. Even though he may not have fished that section of the lake before, if the weather changes, he’ll go to that spot and start fishing a completely-different pattern. By fishing that way, you’re fishing for bass that haven’t had any fishing pressure. You haven’t beaten them up in practice, and you haven’t beaten those fish up in the tournament. To fish like this, you need a lot of confidence in your own ability to find and catch fish without any past history of that area of the lake. <img src="/images/journal/00187/15a.jpg" alt="Greg Hackney" width="150" height="200" border="0" class="imgLeft" />This tactic doesn’t always work, but when it does, it pays off in big bucks. </p> <p>When I was fishing FLW and B.A.S.S., I might not get to an FLW tournament until the day before it began because I just would have finished fishing a B.A.S.S. tournament. So, I might not get but two bites in practice. Therefore, I would have very-little information on where and how I should fish going into the tournament. This might be a $100,000 tournament, and I’d have to fish it with only two bites on that lake in practice. I learned from that experience that I can depend on my gut instinct to show me where and how to fish in a major tournament. That type of pressure forced me to fish in ways I’d never considered before. I couldn’t rely on my past history for my next performance. I had to fish totally intuitively, and over the years, I learned that not only could I depend on my intuitive instincts, most of the time, I made better decisions.</p>  </div> <div id="journalNext">  <h4>Next: <a href="http://www.strikeking.com/journal/00187/5.php">I’m Praying for Bad Weather</a><a href="2.php"></a></h4>  </div> <div id="journalLinks"> <h4>Contents:</h4> <ul> <li><strong>Part 1:</strong> <a href="http://www.strikeking.com/journal/00187/1.php">Why I Don�t Pre-Fish Tournaments</a></li> <li><strong>Part 2:</strong> <a href="http://www.strikeking.com/journal/00187/2.php">Shorts and T-Shirts</a></li> <li><strong>Part 3:</strong> <a href="http://www.strikeking.com/journal/00187/3.php">Snowmobile Suit Weather</a></li> <li><strong>Part 4:</strong> <a href="http://www.strikeking.com/journal/00187/4.php">Switch Hitting</a></li> <li><strong>Part 5:</strong> <a href="http://www.strikeking.com/journal/00187/5.php">I�m Praying for Bad Weather</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </td> <td width="170" class="menu"> <div> <img src="/images/gui/header_menu_fans.gif" width="170" height="30" /> <ul> <li><a href="/forums/">Strike King Forums</a></li> <li><a href="/gallery/amateur023.php">Amateur Photo Gallery</a></li> </ul> <img src="/images/gui/header_menu_bottom.gif" width="170" height="5" /><br /> <img src="/images/gui/body_bkg.gif" width="170" height="15" /><br /> <img src="/images/gui/header_menu_journal.gif" width="170" height="30" /> <ul> <li><a href="/journal/00279/1.php">Winning Tournaments – Denny Brauer on Decision Making</a></li> <li><a href="/journal/00278/1.php">Kevin VanDam and the Creation of the Sexy Shad, the Burner and KVD Perfect Plastics</a></li> <li><a href="/journal/00277/1.php">How to Win with James Niggemeyer</a></li> <li><a href="/journal/00276/1.php">Why Strike King’s Lures Are the Way They Are with Shaw Grigsby</a></li> <li><a href="/journal/00275/1.php">Clay Dyer – Living Life Beyond the Limits</a></li> <li><a href="/journal/00274/1.php">Chad Brauer Fishes the Wake Shad, the Burner and the Bottom Dweller</a></li> <li><a href="/journal/index.php">More journal entries...</a></li> </ul> <img src="/images/gui/header_menu_bottom.gif" width="170" height="5" /><br /> <img src="/images/gui/body_bkg.gif" width="170" height="15" /><br /> <img src="/images/gui/header_menu_links.gif" width="170" height="30" /> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.wired2fish.com/">Wired2Fish</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.collegebass.com/">College Bass</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.anglerslegacy.com/">Anglers’ Legacy</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.costore.com/strikeking">Strike King Clothing</a></li> <li><a href="http://espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster/">BassMaster</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.bassfan.com/">BassFan</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.brauerbass.com/">BrauerBass</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.shawgrigsby.com/">Shaw Grigsby</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.kevinvandam.com/">Kevin VanDam</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.fishpickwick.com/">Roger Stegall</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.nighthawkpublications.com/">Night Hawk Publications</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.debrahengst.com/">Debra Hengst</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.fishersofmenministries.com/">Fishers of Men</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.bluebankresort.com/">Blue Bank Resort</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.anglerschannel.com/">AnglersChannel.com</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.toddwitt.com/">Todd Witt's Pro Guide Service</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.reellifeoutdoors.com/">Reel Life Outdoors</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.fishincountry.net/">Fishin’ Country</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.flatsclass.com/">FlatsClass</a></li> </ul> </div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="170" valign="bottom" class="menu"><img src="/images/gui/header_menu_bottom.gif" width="170" height="5" /></td> <td width="100%"> </td> <td width="170" valign="bottom" class="menu"><img src="/images/gui/header_menu_bottom.gif" width="170" height="5" /></td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> <div class="footer"> <p>© 1996-2008 Strike King Lure Company</p>  </div>  <script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? 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