Pro's Quick Tip: Hackney’s Topwater Trickery For Smallies

By Jonathan LePera
Special to BassFan


For those who have followed the career of 2014 Elite Series Angler of the Year Greg Hackney, there was an unmistakable turning point where he learned to like fishing for smallmouth bass.

“Smallmouths are sight feeders,” he said. “If I have clouds and no wind, it's the number one time to topwater fish.”

Where To Look

It’s purely a confidence deal, but Hackney seeks out smallmouths around vegetation. He prefers sand/weed transitions, isolated patches of rocks inside the weeds and reed edges on sand breaks.

At the 2014 Toyota Bassmaster AOY Championship at Escanaba, Mich., where Hackney closed out the title, he found big sand flats with isolated patches of grass that smallmouths were relating to the edges of. Any time he found a break with grass on it, the flat beneath the break held schooling smallmouth.

In Maine, during the taping of a Major League Fishing program, he found unique isolated patches of cabbage on the outside of milfoil beds, thereby attracting smallmouth. Hackney stressed that there has to be some characteristic that makes the edge unique and worthy of smallmouth to hold there.

Walking Bait

Hackney starts out fishing the Strike King Sexy Dawg and lets the fish dictate the cadence, most times with a steady retrieve. If fish are rising or rolling on the bait, he’ll first change colors before switching to the KVD Splash Jr. popper bait. His dominant colors are Clearwater Minnow, Chrome Sexy Shad and Black Lab.

He uses a Quantum EXO 200 casting reel spooled with 50-pound Gamma Torque braided line paired with a Quantum KVD jerkbait/spinnerbait rod. Braided line facilitates super long casts and the ability to drive the hooks home. He’ll tie directly to the bait using a split ring and substitutes stock trebles with #2 heavy wire short shank models because the sheer power of smallmouths can straighten hooks.

“Because they are so sight oriented, everything has got to be right for them,”
Hackney reasoned. “I got on the black deal a long time ago with smallmouth in certain situations. On dark days with wind, I like black in super clear water because they can see it from a long ways off, and the big ones eat it.”

He also likes black for Northern tannic waters, but will switch to Chrome Sexy Shad once the sun comes out. Typically, the slicker the water, the faster the retrieve, but a steady cadence works best.

Caffeine Connection

Should Hackney notice that smallmouth are consistently boiling on his bait, he’ll switch to a Strike King Caffeine Shad in pearl, KVD Magic, or watermelon red rigged on a 5/0 Eagle Claw hook and fish it across the surface much like the Sexy Dawg.

Once a smallmouth shows itself, he’ll kill the bait knowing it’ll get crushed on the fall. He prefers a weighted hook for added casting distance and because the weight causes the bait to shimmy and push a lot of water and unweighted around shallow grass. He’ll need to take up a lot of line quickly so he uses an EXO 200 PT reel with 7:3:1 gearing spooled with 14- or 16-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon line on a 7-foot, 4-inch EXO rod.

When to Pop

When waters are shallow and calm, Hackney reaches for the KVD Splash Jr, especially during the mayfly hatch on Northern waters. Hackney notes smallmouths will choke it, despite the smaller hooks.

Hackney uses the popper to target specific fish. On the same combo as the Sexy Dawg, he prefers 20-pound Gamma Polyflex Copolymer line because it’s stiffer, thereby minimizing the opportunity for the line to get hung up on front hook. Since he’s pinpoint casting shorter distances, he likes the added stretch.

Whether he’s probing clumps of grass, dark spots along the bottom indicate rocks or grass, or probing docks, he’ll fire it on a key spot, work it, reel it in, and hit the next spot. The Clearwater Minnow pattern is his first choice with the Clear Sexy Shad as a backup.

Under slick conditions, Hackney tries to irritate the fish, comparing the scenario to sight-fishing. He’ll draw smallmouths up on the bait using a 3-1-3 cadence and then manipulate his popper to get the smallmouth to come unglued.

“Every time I’ve caught them on a popper, I’ve seen 90 percent of them before they hit the bait,” he said.

Hackney sometimes allows the bait to pause but not so long that the rings dissolve into the water.