GREG
HACKNEY ON BASSING
When Minus Is A Plus
EDITOR’S NOTE: Winning $65,000 and the title
that went with it, Angler-of-the-Year on the Forest
L. Woods (FLW) tour, prove that Greg Hackney knows how
to catch bass. One of the newest members of the Strike
King Pro Staff, Hackney from Gonzalez, Louisiana, has
been fishing professional tournament circuits for 5
years. However, he’s been competing in bass-fishing
tournaments since he was only 11-years old. Hackney
is the number-two pro in the nation according to www.bassfan.com.
This week he’ll tell us how to catch bass during
March.
QUESTION: What’s another lure that you like to
fish at this time of the year?
HACKNEY: This time of the year, you can catch plenty
of bass on the Strike King’s Series 1 crankbait
and the Spence Scout crankbait. The Spence Scout is
an old bait that many anglers have forgotten. It was
one of the first lures that Strike King produced. I’ve
found it to be just as effective, if not more effective,
now versus when it was originally made. I’ve found
the Spence Scout to be most-effective when you tie it
to the bottom line tie, not the top line tie. This crankbait
has a metal lip and is a shallow runner. I fish the
Spence Scout over vegetation or when I am cranking wood.
I fish it in the same place I would fish the Series
1XS over vegetation, around wood and any place you would
fish a spinner bait.
QUESTION: What type of retrieve are you using?
HACKNEY: When I’m fishing the Spence Scout, the
Series 1, or the Series 1XS, I use a really-slow retrieve
and a heavy line to help float-up the bait.
QUESTION:
How do you decide which one of these crankbaits you’re
going to fish?
HACKNEY: I prefer to fish the Spence Scout when the
water is really dirty and stained. I use the Series
1XS when the water is slightly-stained clear because
it has a smaller profile. The Series 1XS is the same
size as the Series 1 except that it has a turned down
lip and runs extremely shallow. Both the Spence Scout
and the Series 1XS run about 6-inches deep. To get the
Spence Scout down you have to tie it on the bottom line
tie.
QUESTION: What colors do you like?
HACKNEY: I like chartreuse and black, the brown crawfish
which is orange and brown, the red crawfish and chrome
with a black back.
QUESTION: When you’re fishing these lures how
long are the casts you’re making?
HACKNEY: I’m making long casts trying to cut
through as much water as possible with these lures.
I’m usually casting them out over long flats or
paralleling the edge of a long flat. Most people fishing
this lure this way don’t believe they’ll
catch big bass because the lures are so small. You have
to remember that if the bass are going to the bed or
coming away from it, they’re going to be hungry
and will eat anything they can during this process.
I think it’s also important to remember, since
we talked about fishing for bedding bass earlier, that
not all the bass are on the bed at the same time. During
this month in many places in the nation, you’ll
have bass going to the bed, sitting on the bed and coming
off the bed all at the same time on the same lake. I’m
from south Arkansas, and every year in the spring, anglers
in my area consistently catch huge bass on the Strike
King Spence Scout and the Series 1XS crankbaits.
QUESTION:
On what pound-test line are you casting these baits?
HACKNEY: I like 20-pound-test fluorocarbon. Although
the Series 1XS and the Spence Scout are small profile
baits, they’re heavy baits. You can cast them
long ways even on lines as big as 14- to 20-pound-test.
The Series 1XS probably weighs 5/16-ounce, and the Spence
Scout weighs 1/2-ounce. I usually cast those baits on
a 7-foot rod with 25-pound-test line.
QUESTION: Where is another place besides flats that
you fish these two lures?
HACKNEY: I’ve learned that shallow-diving crankbaits
are most-effective around lily pad beds at this time
of the year because the lily pads haven’t grown
back yet. The bass will be hanging around those lily
pad fields looking for little baits near the surface.
In these areas, most anglers throw spinner baits, but
I’ve found that these little crankbaits are far
more-productive. The reason I like the Series 1XS and
the Spence Scout so much is they allow me to fish a
different type of lure in what most anglers consider
to be spinner bait water. When I fish these crankbaits
in spinner bait water, I’m giving the bass a different
lure to look at during a different time of year in a
place where he hasn’t seen that lure before, which
I believe causes me to get more strikes.
QUESTION: Are there any other factors that make you
like these lures so much?
HACKNEY:
I like the Spence Scout and the Series 1XS because they’re
the same, yet different. By that I mean they’re
both shallow-running crankbaits that have two-entirely
different looks, yet they work the same water. The Series
1XS has a tighter wobble than the Spence Scout does.
I like to fish it when the water is cool, or when a
cold front hits. I like to fish the Series 1XS when
the water is starting to clear. The Spence Scout has
a wider wobble, and I prefer to fish it when the water
is warmer and more stained. The Spence Scout also has
a skirt on the back of it that gives this lure a completely-different
look from any other baits the bass have seen at this
time of year. One of the advantages of fishing the Spence
Scout is that this old lure has been around as long
as Strike King. It was initially made out of balsa wood,
and it’s still a good bait now. The big advantage
to the Spence Scout is that most anglers have forgotten
about it and these are the reasons why I’m still
using it. One thing I’ve learned over the years
is that a good lure is a good lure and will always be
a good lure. Therefore, when other anglers quit using
an old good lure and start fishing a new good lure,
that old good lure becomes a new good lure.
TOMORROW: WANTED – BIG
BASS ONLY
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