Entry 321-5

Greg Hackney Tries Out the Strike King Hack Attack at Lake Oneida

Part 5: The Final Day of Competition

Question: What was your game plan, Greg?

Hackney: Since my largemouth bite got messed-up early on the third day of competition, I decided to go back to my smallmouth holes first, see if I could work out a good limit of smallmouths and then try to get a kicker largemouth. I felt like my largemouths were about to run out. But when I went to my smallmouth hole, those fish were really biting weird.

I lost a really-big bag of smallmouths, and I landed a small bag of smallmouths. I had several 3- to 4-pound smallmouths on, but I couldn’t boat them. These smallmouths were suspended high in the grass, and they were actually coming up to the surface to take the Hack Attack jig as soon as it hit the water. I actually could see the smallmouths come-up out of the grass to take the jigs.

I’ve found that to really get a good, solid hook set on a smallmouth, you need them to be less aggressive, because when a smallmouth hits the jig coming up, its mouth is so small that many times it won’t get the jig all the way into its mouth when you feel it. A smallmouth will bump the jig or hit it with its bottom jaw or top jaw, but really won’t get the whole bait in its mouth. That was what was happening to me.

Instead of taking-up line quickly and setting a hook when smallmouths are biting like this, you have to fight the urge to set the hook and wait on the bass to get the jig all the way in its mouth before you set the hook, much like you’ll set the hook if you’re fishing a Rage Toad on top. When you see the strike, you’ve got to wait and make sure that the fish has got the bait in its mouth solidly before you strike it. If I were being gut honest, I would admit that I was probably setting the hook too fast on those big smallmouths when they were coming up out of the grass. They were getting me to reaction strike instead of my waiting to make sure I’d get a good hook set.

I think smallmouths are kind of goofy fish any way. We don’t have any of them down in south Louisiana. I probably should have fed them a smaller bait that they could have gotten in their mouths easier and quicker, like a plastic lure like the Rodent. I did catch fish on the Rodent easily. I could wear those smallmouths out on the Rodent. But I was catching the small smallmouths. The big smallmouths wanted that big Hack Attack jig. So, I had a mental battle going on. I could fish the Hack Attack and get the big smallmouths to bite, but I couldn’t catch them. Or, I could fish the Rodent and catch little smallmouths all day long. However, I couldn’t get the weight I needed to win.

Question: What size Hack Attack jig were you fishing?

Hackney: I was fishing the 1 ounce, which was the jig that the bigger smallmouths wanted.

Question: Okay, Greg, so how many pounds did you have on the final day of competition?

Hackney: I caught 12 pounds for the day and dropped from second to seventh place. I had a total of 57 pounds for the 4 days of competition. I caught 6 of my 20 fish on the Rodent, and the other 14 I caught on the Hack Attack jig.

Question: How much money did you win for seventh place?

Hackney: I won $13,000 and I also won $11,500 for coming in 15th place in the Angler- of-the-Year race.

Question: So what are your total winnings for this year of tournament fishing, both BASS and FLW?

Hackney: I’m at a little over $600,000 for the year, plus I’ve earned a spot on the Bassmaster Classic. I’m really looking forward to going back to Lay Lake in Alabama.

Question: Greg, other than having your name on it, what make the Hack Attack jig a better jig in your opinion?

Hackney: The Strike King lure designers and I put a lot of thought into this jig. Now there are a lot of good jigs on the market, but in my opinion there’s never been a great jig. I believe what we’ve designed into the Hack Attack jig makes it a great jig. The Hack Attack has a keeper to hold your trailer on it and one of the best hooks of any jig on the marketplace. This hook actually started-off as a saltwater hook. We wanted a hook that wouldn’t flex. When you’re flipping hydrilla, milfoil, bushes or heavy timber and you’re using a big, heavy rod and heavy line, the hook is the weakest point of the jig. So, we actually designed this jig around this special hook. You can put all the pressure you need on the jig to pull a big bass out of heavy cover, and the hook won’t flex.

Another advantage to the Hack Attack jig is the unique line-tie placement. This jig actually has a 30-degree line tie. This different angle for the line tie means that when you turn to pull that jig out of cover, that line tie will let the jig slip out of the cover. Then you won’t hang as much. When I was fishing the grass in Oneida, I would hardly hang at all. So, I actually cut off part of the weed guard because the jig was so weedless.The other advantage to the 30-degree line tie is when you’re flipping a jig that weighs 1 to 1-1/2-ounces, you’re flipping a really-big piece of lead. You want the lead to slide out of the fish’s mouth, so the fish doesn’t bite down on it. But you also want the hook to sink into the fish’s jaw.

With other jigs, the line tie will often hang-up in the bass’s mouth and prevent the hook from setting properly. Then when you fight the fish, you may have it on for a second or two. However, when the fish opens its mouth, and the jig pops out because the bass is holding on to the head of the jig and the line tie, he’s not actually hooked. But with that 30-degree line tie angle, you’ll get the jig outside the bass’s mouth and get the hook inside the bass’s mouth.

This jig is also designed to have the weight forward, allowing the jig to fall straight from the surface to the bottom without gliding off to the right or to the left. I believe that a straight, vertical drop gets more strikes than when the jig glides off to one side. I truly believe that once anglers try this jig for flipping heavy cover, which is what it’s designed to do, they’ll all be using it.

Another big advantage to this jig is that it’s made in about 15-different colors. Strike King already had a huge selection of dirty-water colors, but the water in most of the lakes across the country since the Clean Water Act was enacted had cleared-up and become much cleaner. I believe our lakes are clearer now than they’ve been in many generations. So, we really worked on developing some clear-water colors for the Hack Attack jig. The jig that I fished at Oneida, the yellow perch, is a classic example of a clear-water jig. We designed the colors for this jig to match any forage in any lake in the country where you find bass.

The first BASS tournament next year will be in California, and we’ll be fishing for really-big bass. I know that a jig will play a major role in who wins that tournament. I also believe that at the Bassmaster Classic in February, 2010, year on Lay Lake in Alabama, the jig can be a deciding factor in that tournament. So, I believe there are a lot of lakes all over the nation where this new Hack Attack jig can really help fishermen catch more and bigger bass.

Question: Greg, how do you think you’ll fish in the 2010Bassmaster Classic?

Hackney: I plan to fish really well (grin). I’ve been to enough Classics now that I know what not to do. I won’t be a favorite, so I’m really looking forward to going to Birmingham, because not being a favorite is a real advantage. This will be my eighth Classic, and I think I’ll be much-more laid back and relaxed than I have been at previous Classics. I believe that I won’t feel as much pressure at this Classic as some of the other contestants will. I’m really looking forward to it. I wish the Classic was being held next week (grin).

Contents:

• Part 1: The Key to the Tournament - The Hack Attack and the Rodent
• Part 2: The First Day of Competition
• Part 3: The Second Day of Competition
• Part 4: The Third Day of Competition
• Part 5: The Final Day of Competition