Hackney Figured Out Rayburn's Shallow Fish

Contrary to what many anglers believed, there were plenty of fish in extremely shallow water during the recent Rayburn Bassmaster Elite Series. You just had to figure out how to approach them, and then how to catch them.

Greg Hackney did that better than anyone else. Over 4 days, he caught approximately 100 fish from water that was 2 feet deep or less, and his 20 biggest weighed 79-10. That total seemed remarkable for a lake that had hosted a steady stream of tournaments through the first 3 months of 2006. Then again, it was Rayburn, where just about anything's possible.

The Hack Attack, ranked No. 2 in the BassFan World Rankings behind Kevin VanDam, bested runner-up Dean Rojas by 3-11 en route to his second career Bassmaster Tour victory. Nobody else was within 11 pounds.

Here's how he did it.

Practice

One of the major concerns last week was that most of Rayburn's bass had already spawned and moved away from the beds. That may have been true, but the renowned lake has a lot of fish, and there were still plenty of bed-dwellers to be found. You just had to look in the right places.

Hackney had only a day and a half of practice on the heels of his 4th-place finish at Amistad the previous week. He cruised spawning coves for most of that time in a search for concentrations of quality fish. He found plenty, but spooked most of them due to his close proximity.

The fish were in grassy areas adjacent to the lake's ubiquitous wood (standing timber or brush). There were numerous such locations around the lake, and he continued to add to his list as the tournament progressed.

He knew that sight-fishing couldn't be his primary pattern – he just couldn't get close enough without scaring them off. He discovered he could catch them with long casts of a swimming jig, and then found that a dead-sticked Strike King Zero was even more effective.

"A lot of them would bite the jig, but not all of them," he said. "All of the same fish that would bite the jig would also bite the Zero, plus some more that wouldn't bite the jig. When I found that out, I knew that was the way I could have a good tournament."

Competition

> Day 1: 5, 22-02
> Day 2: 5, 16-13 (10, 38-15)
> Day 3: 5, 20-03 (15, 59-02)
> Day 4: 5, 20-08
> Total = 20, 79-10

Hackney's pattern required great patience on two fronts. First, he often had to let the Zero sit idly in the midst of the jittery fish for long periods. Second, he had to wait for the right bites to arrive. The vast majority of his weigh-in fish didn't become active until near lunchtime.

"That was the warmest part of the day, but I think the most important thing was most of the people were gone by then," he said. "Suddenly, I'd be in an area all by myself and I'd just move along real slow without making a lot of noise. I really think the fish believed that everybody had left, and that's when they'd start biting."

Day 1 was warm and overcast and he took advantage of the ideal conditions by catching a 22-02 sack (best of the tournament). That gave him a 1-ounce lead over VanDam.

He went after several of the bigger fish he'd found in practice, but didn't make mad dashes between them.

"I wouldn't just run from fish to fish, but I'd fish the entire area," he said. "Say if I'd found two in a pocket, I'd fish the whole pocket, and I might catch 10." He ended up with about 35 keepers, including three that weighed between 4 1/2 and 5 pounds.

He let a few good ones get away on day 2 and his 16-13 bag was by far his lightest of the tournament. It left him in 3rd place, 7 ounces behind new leader VanDam and 4 pounds back of Rojas.

"The fish were biting funny that day," he said. "I don't think I really screwed up – I think they did. I didn't get in a hurry setting the hook or anything, and on one of them I let him swim off with it to make sure he had the bait. Somehow, they just came unbuttoned."

The fish were a lot more cooperative on wind-swept day 3 and he regained the lead as VanDam slipped to a 13-08 bag. Rojas whacked another strong stringer though, and was within 3 pounds headed into the final day.

Rojas caught them good again on day 4 and came in with 19-06, but Hackney's bag was even better. "I lost one that would have helped me by a couple of pounds – I got overexcited and jerked too quickly," he said. "I'm glad I didn't need it."

Winning Gear Notes

> Zero gear: 7' Quantum Tour Edition rod, Quantum Accurist CX casting reel (6.3:1 ratio), 16-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon, 4/0 wide-gap hook, Strike King Zero (Texas-rigged, green-pumpkin or watermelon).

> He caught 19 of his 20 weigh-in fish on the Zero. He sight-fished for the other and got it to bite a 4-inch Strike King Finesse Worm.

> He had this to say about the Gamma line: "It's one of the best things I've had going for me this year. It's really, really strong."

Notable

> Main factor in his success – "Fishing slow and methodical, and really having a lot of confidence in one bait."

> Hackney said seven or eight of his weigh-in fish were ones that he'd seen during practice. The rest came on blind casts.

> He moved into 1st place in the Elite Series points. VanDam is 2nd, followed by Rojas, Matt Reed and Mike Iaconelli.

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