Entry 319-5

How I won a $1/2-Million in One Weekend with Greg Hackney

Part 5: Three Ounces for $1/2-Million

Question: Greg, what was your game plan on the last day of the 2009 Forest L Wood Cup?

Hackney: I was planning on doing the same thing I’d been doing. I was going to fish every kind of current break I could find and try to catch five fish. I just needed one of the bass to be a good one. I knew if I caught one of those big 4 pounders like I had on day 2, I could wrap that money up and take it home with me. I decided to run back up the Allegheny River again.

Then in a couple of the places I fished, I could tell that the water had cleared slightly. I actually ran up the Kiskiminetas first and caught a keeper bass in a brush pile by flipping a Strike King Rodent. Next I caught a keeper bass on a 1/8-ounce Strike King buzzbait. When I missed a bass on that 1/8-ounce buzzbait, so I immediately picked up the Rodent and flipped it to the spot where the bass had missed the buzzbait. I caught the bass. Now I had three keepers.

I went back downstream to the Allegheny River and spotted a little current break right behind the dam that had been dirty the day before, but looked as though it had cleared-up some. I’d just about run past that little spot when my brain told me, “Greg, you’d better fish that little place. It’s right.” So I went back to it and caught a 2 pounder. Now I had four bass that would weigh a total of 4 pounds. I kept going back down the river, until I reached a mayfly hatch spot. I had a bass on that would weigh about 2 pounds there, but it came off. I drifted back downstream, circled around and made another pass through that same area where I caught a couple of little bass.

Then I made another circle, came back to that same area and caught my fifth keeper. This bass was only a 12-inch fish that weighed about 12 or 13 ounces, but I had my limit. I went on down the river into the next pool, picked up my Strike King 1/8-ounce spinner bait and caught another bass that allowed me to cull one of the earlier bass I’d caught.

I locked through to the next pool, flipped the Rodent to a laydown and caught another bass that allowed me to cull-up to 5 pounds, 6 ounces. Although I had worked as hard as I could work, I didn’t think I had enough weight to win the tournament. I thought I’d probably finish about third or fourth to be honest with you. I was the fifth contestant to weigh-in, and when I weighed-in, I took the lead, which really surprised me. As the guys who had been in front of me the day before started to weigh-in, I realized they didn’t have much weight at all. Michael Iaconelli was the only other competitor to have a limit, and he needed 4-pounds, 14-ounces to win. His limit weighed 4-pounds, 10-ounces. So I won $1/2-million by 3 ounces. For the entire tournament, I had 9 pounds, 9 ounces of bass.

Question: Greg, what will you do with all that money after you give Uncle Sam his share?

Hackney: After I pay Uncle Sam, I’m going to put the rest back in a hole for bad times. That money is like earning 3 years worth of fishing on the Pro Circuit. I’m going to do all I can to hold on to some of it.

Question: Greg, you had $1/2-million in your pocket, minus what Uncle Sam took, and now you must fish the B.A.S.S. tournament at Oneida Lake. So, what are you thinking? You’re running a hot streak. You’ve won the FLW East/West Fish-Off, you’ve just won $1/2-million, and there’s $100,000 you can win if you win the BASS Elite Series Tournament at Lake Oneida.

Hackney: The first week after the Forrest L Wood Cup I had so many TV shows and radio shows to do that I couldn’t really think. But the second week after the championship, I tried to re-group and get ready to fish on Lake Oneida. The win was behind me now – Oneida was ahead of me. I had to concentrate all my efforts on going to New York and fishing at Oneida.

Contents:

• Part 1: A $25,000 Win for a Ticket to Compete for $1/2-Million
• Part 2: The First Day of Competition: Three Bass - 3-Pounds Plus - and I�m Still in the Hunt for the $1/2-Million
• Part 3: The Second Day of Competition: From 36th Place to 1st Place in 1 Day
• Part 4: From Leading the Tournament to Middle of the Pack with 1 Day Left and $1/2-Million in the Balance
• Part 5: Three Ounces for $1/2-Million