Entry 217-5

Greg Hackney Finishes in the Top-10 at the Bassmaster Legends Tournament

Part 5: Day Three of the Tournament

Question: Greg, what did you do on the third day of the tournament, when you started fishing the holes?

Hackney: I made a slight adjustment. Instead of fishing the tube, I decided to fish the 1/2-ounce Denny Brauer Pro-Model jig. The type of cover I’d have to fish was more sparse than the thick mats I’d been fishing. I felt if I could get the jig into that sparse cover, it would fall slower, giving the bass a longer time to look at the bait. Also, the holes were more shallow than where I’d been fishing. I had nine keeper bites, but I only boated six of those bass. I let a couple of quality bites get off, and that’s the reason I didn’t get to fish the final day of the tournament. When we were fishing the holes, there were six holes and two competitors fishing each hole. I started in hole three and rotated holes every hour. Then that last hour of the competition, we could return to any hole we wanted to fish and fish for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Question: Why did you abandon the tube after it had been good to you all the way up until this time?

Hackney: I fished the first two days to qualify for the top 12. I knew that if I made the top 12, I’d earn a good payday for my family, and this was probably the last major tournament B.A.S.S. planned to have this year. I went out with the intentions of trying to win this tournament. I switched from the tube to the jig because I thought the jig would produce bigger bass than the tube. I planned to fish for five big bites, when I was fishing the holes.

I had a really-good chance to win, if I hadn’t lost those two quality bass – a 3 pounder and a 4 pounder. If I’d landed those two fish, I would have been in third place and been able to fish with the top 6 on the last day.  I don’t understand how I lost those two fish. I thought about those two fish all day on the last day of the tournament, when I was driving home and Boyd Duckett was winning $250,000. Kevin, with a third place finish, earned $29,500.

I can’t think of anything I did wrong to cause those fish not to stay on my hook. I actually had two chances at the big fish because it bit my jig twice. I missed it both times. That bass had that jig swallowed. I set the hook like I always do, and for some reason, the hook came out of the fish’s mouth. I guess the bass just hiccupped at the time I set the hook. I was totally shocked. On that day, it was just the bass’s time to win and not mine.

I was really hoping it would be my day to win though, because this tournament will probably be the last tournament we’ll have on the Arkansas River for some time. My friends and my parents were at the weigh-in, and I wanted to win for them as much as for myself. I grew up on the lower part of the Arkansas River, and winning that tournament in Arkansas would have been huge for me and my family. But I only could produce 10 pounds, 8 ounces, and I dropped from second place to eighth.

Question: When you went to the scales, did you think you had enough weight to make the top-6 cut?

Hackney: I knew the weights would be close, and they were. I only missed the top-6 cut by 1 pound and 2 ounces. Either one of the two fish I missed, if I’d caught them, would have put me in that top-6 cut. But finishing eighth, I earned $16,000, which is not a bad payday for a week’s work, especially if that work is fishing. I was really disappointed about not winning. But then I got my head right and told myself, “Greg, if you make $16,000 a week, every week, doing this kind of work, you and your family will be okay.” Sometimes, you have to stop and get a perspective on what you’ve done, and not on what you didn’t do. Yes, I hated to lose, but I still did well for my family and my sponsors.

Question: Greg, what did you learn at this tournament?

Hackney: This tournament was a confidence booster for me. I fished against 51 of the best fishermen in the nation. To qualify for one of these major tournaments, they take the total scores of the tournaments and pick the top-50 guys from the last 2 years and allow them to compete in this tournament. So, to just qualify for this tournament was a huge honor. I made it the first year by being the Rookie of the Year. I’ve been able to fish it 3 out of the past 4 years. Last year, you had to qualify based on 3 years of tournament fishing, and I only had 2 years on the circuit, so I couldn’t fish it.

Not having any more of these major tournaments will really hurt the sport of bass fishing and B.A.S.S. I think. We seem to have a better crowd turnout at the majors than we do at the Elite series tournaments. At the weigh-in, on the next to last day, there were between 6,000 and 8,000 people who turned out to see how we fished. This tournament was really difficult for most of the competitors, but it wasn’t that tough for me. I didn’t really make any mistakes that I know of, and I fished to the best of my ability.

Question: Why was this the worst year you’ve ever had on the B.A.S.S. circuit?

Hackney:  Until this tournament, I gambled sometimes when I shouldn’t have, and sometimes I didn’t gamble when I should have. But in his tournament, I fished strong. I fished as well as I possibly could, but it just wasn’t my time to win. Sometimes, through no fault of your own, the bass just beat you. That’s the way I look at a tournament. I’m really not competing against any of the other fishermen in the tournament. I’m competing against the bass and myself.

I have to make right decisions, and the fish have to make wrong decisions. That’s what this competition is about, and when the fish make the right decisions, and I make the wrong decisions, the bass win. When I make the right decisions, and the bass make the wrong decisions, I either win or do well in the tournament.

Right now, I’m in 14th place in the Angler-of-the-Year standings. I’ll make the Classic. With one event left, I still have a chance to move up in the standings at the tournament on Lake Toho. My primary tactic at Toho will be flipping vegetation, and my second pattern will be crankbait fishing. I’ll be betting on black-neon tubes, my favorite, or Junebug-colored tubes.

Contents:

• Part 1: The Game Plan
• Part 2: Day Two of Practice
• Part 3: The First Day of Competition
• Part 4: Day Two of the Tournament
• Part 5: Day Three of the Tournament