Entry 263-3

Greg Hackney on His 2008 Bass Fishing and Strike King’s New Lures

Part 3: Catch The Wake

Question: Greg, I know you’re really big on Strike King’s new Wake Shad. Why?

Hackney: This is the first wake bait on the market that you can really burn (reel very fast), and it doesn’t dive or interrupt the action of the bait. Most wake baits currently on the market have to be reeled very slowly. If the bass aren’t very-aggressive, they’ll have a tendency to follow, chase or blow-up on the bait and not eat it when you reel it slowly. With the Wake Shad, if I see the bass are following or missing it instead of taking it, I’ll speed up my retrieve and reel the lure fast. I’ll use a 7.0:1 Quantum Tour Edition PT “Burn” Reel and smoke that bait to make bass eat the Wake Shad.

Question: Most people believe that when bass come up behind a swim bait and follow the bait but don’t eat it, then they need to slow down the bait or kill it. You’re saying the opposite is true. Is that right?

Hackney: It’s hard to imitate Mother Nature. If a bass starts following a swim bait, the fish has a long time to look at the lure and decide not to eat it. That fish is looking because it’s not quite sure what that bait is. The bass looks at that swim bait and says, “Well, that’s realistic, but it doesn’t look exactly like the shad I’m accustomed to eating.” When I speed that bait up, the bass doesn’t have as much time to look at the bait and has only a split-second to decide to eat it or not.

I think when you’re fishing a swim bait, the bait is much like a mouse that a cat plays with – as long as the mouse is moving slowly and staying within reach of the cat, the cat will watch and play with it. Once the mouse breaks to run, the cat will be all over that mouse. If that mouse runs, the mouse will be caught and killed, if not eaten. So, this is what I try to do with the Wake Shad. I’ll run it by the bass so fast that the fish has got to jump on it to eat it. The fish doesn’t have time to look at it for a long time or play with it. When the bass sees a Wake Shad, the fish feels like it must catch and eat that bait before the bait gets away.

Question: Why did Strike King come out with the Wake Shad?

Hackney: The company already had the King Shad, which is a type of wake bait.

Question: What does the Wake Shad give us that the King Shad doesn’t?

Hackney: The King Shad is a sub-surface bait. You can wake it on top of the water, but you must reel it very-slowly. The King Shad is a cloudy, windy-weather bait you can use that will give a shad profile. The Wake Shad is designed to be fished on the surface. I keep both baits tied onto rods when I’m fishing swim baits. If the wind’s blowing, I’ll fish the King Shad. If we have a calm, slick day, I’ll be fishing the Wake Shad on the big fluorocarbon or braided line. That bait’s designed to run on the surface.

Question: What’s the best time of year to fish the Wake Shad?

Hackney: It’s a great wintertime bait, because you can crawl it very slowly on the surface of the water. As spring rolls around, you can speed-up your retrieve because bass will be more aggressive. You can fish it around bedding fish or down a weed line. During the summer months, you can reel it fast on points, around lily pads, wood structure or in boat houses. In the eastern half of the country, we’re learning more about swim baits because we’re fishing them more than ever. So, I believe that you can fish the Wake Shad successfully 365 days a year, depending on water and weather conditions.

Next: I’ll Have the Lobster

Contents:

• Part 1: Even Babe Ruth Strikes Out
• Part 2: I’m Looking Forward to Monkeying Around
• Part 3: Catch The Wake
• Part 4: I’ll Have the Lobster
• Part 5: There’s a New Creature Living on The Bottom