By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor

With two Elite Series events left on the schedule, it's fair to say Greg Hackney has some work to do. He knows it, but isn't stressing about the task too much.

With the St. Lawrence River and Lake St. Clair left on the docket in 2013, the Louisiana pro is 54th in Toyota Tundra B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year (AOY) points. Right now, 28 points and a tightly-packed group of 20 other anglers separate him from the cutoff to qualify for the Bassmaster Classic.

He's been in this position before. In 2008, he was 54th in points with two tournaments left (both Northern events). He finished that season off with 12th- and 30th-place finishes to move up to 36th in points and qualify for the 2009 Bassmaster Classic. With two events left in 2011, he was 38th in points and rallied down the stretch to finish 25th.

Having done it before gives him confidence he can do it again, but it won't be easy, he says.

"I'm not that many points out. I just need to have two good events," he said. "No more excuses, no more problems. I just have to get it done. I've been in this situation before. I don't like it, but it is what it is and I feel like I definitely have a shot. I don't have to win one to make it. I just have to catch them."

He needs no reminder of what's at stake – he's bidding to qualify for his 12th straight Classic as well as season-ending Angler of the Year bonus money which goes to the Top 50 finishers in points.

"The Classic's always on my mind," he said. "Honestly, without the Classic, I'd probably quit. There's that much emphasis put on the Classic for me. That's my deal. That's the tournament that keeps me going. I do have a lot of pressure on me. That said, I don't remember a year where I didn't have a lot of pressure on me for some reason.

"Something I've learned about this sport is that it's always something. If it's not making the Classic then it's making the post-season or it's Angler of the Year or it's winning an event. You just put so much pressure on yourself to do well. It's the reason we all do it. We're all adrenaline junkies. There's not a guy out here fishing professionally that's not an adrenaline junkie. It's all about that rush."

'Downward Spiral'

Hackney opened the year with three straight Top-50 finishes, including an 11th-place effort at Bull Shoals Lake. From there, it's been a bit of a downward spiral as he missed checks in the last three events, pushing him down the points ledger. He was 84th at West Point Lake, 52nd at the Alabama River, where he fell 5 ounces short of a check, and then took 70th at the Mississippi River.

"I've been kind of hit with I wouldn't say bad luck, but some variables that I don't really understand," he said. "It started from the beginning. I've had some really good practices and something has soured every tournament. It's funny. A lot of times you'll have really good tournaments off poor practices, but I have been blessed. I can't look back at one tournament and say, 'Man, I just never really figured out the deal.' There have been just so many changes and I guess I haven't done a good job of changing with the environment."

At the season opener at the Sabine River, he uncovered an almost mythical area that harbored 6-pounders in practice, but was asked by a "caretaker" to leave the area during the tournament. Hackney said he didn't see a "posted" sign, but he heeded the request, vacated the area and went on to finish 45th.

"It was a place where I thought it was going to be hard to get a bite and I found the mother lode," he said. "The way the rules read, someone asks you to leave you have to leave. I caught 6-pounders there in practice. It blew my mind. I thought I was catching redfish when I started hooking up.

"At West Point, I was around all kinds of big ones, then the weather turned cloudy and they just vanished. I never could relocate them. From there, it just progressed throughout the whole year. At the Alabama River, I caught no less than two 5-pounders every day in practice to not getting a good bite during the tournament."

Vicious swings in weather have marked the entire Elite Series season so far and Hackney's been victimized by them more than once. At the Mississippi River, heavy winds and rain delayed the day-2 launch by several hours and when he arrived at the spot he'd caught them on day 1, the vegetation was no longer there.

"In Wisconsin, we had pretty much the same weather each day of practice and I was on a really, really good deal that I was happy with because the quality was so good," he said. "It's an easy place to get bites, but it's hard to catch 3-pounders. I got on a legitimate 3-pound bite and we had such a storm and the fish vanished. Because of the wind, the grass I was fishing on day 1 was completely gone. It completely got ripped up from the ground and I had to regroup.

"I don't have any complaints, but I'm just on this downward spiral of things going wrong. It doesn't really hurt my confidence, but it hurts my feelings."

Northern Exposure

While he'd probably prefer to finish the season on two grass-infested Southern fisheries that play to his strengths, Hackney is going into the final two tournaments with a positive mindset and an aggressive attitude.

He's fared pretty well up north during his career where smallmouths are a big factor. He's posted Top-10s at Oneida and Erie and was 25th last year at Lake Michigan.

"It's something I don't know a lot about, but I've been fairly consistent when we go north," he said. "I like to fish for smallmouth, too. I don't know why because I didn't grow up fishing for them, but they've been really good to me in the past so I'm looking forward to it. I know what I need to catch – 20 pounds a day in both tournaments – so when I'm practicing, I'll know what I'm looking for. If you're not catching 20 pounds, you need to move or do something different. It's not like one of those places where you don't know what to expect. I know what to expect and I know what to look for.

"The cool thing is we're going to two places where I don't have a lot of experience and I like that because it'll be the same for a lot of people. I think the St. Lawrence will be new to pretty much everybody. There will be a handful of guys who've been to St. Clair multiple times, but it's not really a big factor. I think the majority of us won't have a lot of experience and if we do it's from way back. I was there with FLW back in 2001. It's a much better fishery now than it was then. Back then, 10 to 15 was decent. Now, 20 pounds is decent.

"I also feel like the two places will be totally different styles of fishing. I like the thought of the St. Lawrence because it's huge. I've never been up there, but from looking at Google Earth, it's just amazing how much fishable water there is. I think it's one of those places where you can find a school of fish that's never seen a lure before. I feel like it'll be won off a spot or a couple different of spots. It won't be a pattern deal and you'll be able to find a school of fish and sit on them all week."