The 2015 GEICO Bassmaster Classic on Lake Hartwell is about a month away, and I’m really starting to feel the excitement and the anticipation that the event creates.
I don’t have a ton of experience on this lake, but from what I know about it, Hartwell sets up well for a cold water event. With ledges, deep channels and offshore structure, there should be plenty of opportunities to catch fish out deep.
Also, the lake is big and it fishes bigger than it looks on a map. That means the field will be spread out so you shouldn’t have to share many areas.
Another good thing is that Hartwell is a pattern lake, so when you establish a pattern you should be able to run it all day. Hopefully, I can get on a fresh pattern during practice that will work throughout the tournament.
This mindset is what defined my approach to this year’s Classic. If I thought that this tournament would be won off one spot, then I would’ve been out there in prepractice. But I really don’t think so and that’s why I decided to forgo prepractice; I want to go in with no preconceived ideas on where I should fish.
Now, as far as the weather, I think Hartwell is located where it could be really cold or it could be on a warming trend. I think we could have a wide range of water temperature, and that’s another reason I didn’t go prepractice – because it could be really different when we get there.
That’s a key point that everyone in the Classic is going to have to keep in mind. Anywhere in the country, you’re unlikely to have six or seven days of consistent weather in February. It could be from one extreme to the other from the start of practice to start of the Classic, so guys are going to need several patterns.
You’ll have to choose what’s best for that day and, in some cases, you may have to choose what’s best from one half of the day to the second half. Conditions can change quickly this time of year, and I’m pretty sure that we’ll see some of that during the Classic.
Actually, I’m hoping for something weird to happen. I’m hoping it really warms up or the lake gets a lot of rain – just something to throw a wrench in many game plans. Guys who spent a lot of time on Hartwell before the cutoff will probably bring plenty of ideas from prepractice, and guys with prior experience on the lake will do the same.
If we get some stained water pushing in that will even things out. We can throw out all the prepractice ideas, throw out all the traditional winter stuff and just go fishing. I don’t want to see the water get up in the bushes, but if it just gets stained in the creeks, some of those fish will get shallow.
Whatever happens, fishing a Classic on Lake Hartwell is going to be very special for me because this lake is where I won my first professional level event in 2011. As I recall, there was a lot of excitement during that event, and I expect there to be tons of people and excitement for this tournament.
That area has plenty of bass fishermen, and I expect it to be a nice event. The lake seems to be in even better shape than it was when I won there, and I’m sure the city of Greenville, S.C., will be a great host. All things considered, I expect this to be an outstanding Classic.
With this being my third Classic, I feel like I’ll enter this tournament with a lot more confidence and awareness than in my previous two appearances. My first two classics, on Grand Lake in 2013 and Guntersville last year, were both great experiences, but there’s definitely a learning curve in this event because it’s the biggest deal in professional fishing.
I’ve been around the right kind of fish in both Classics; I just made some bad decisions. But you learn from that.
Both years, I put in a lot of prepractice time, but I feel like during the actual tournaments, I was fishing for fish I had found pretty far in advance. When things changed during the event, I should have been fishing more current patterns.
That’s why I’ve decided to treat this year’s Classic just like an Elite event. I’ll show up for practice and do my best to develop patterns that I think I can win with.
That’s the thing – you don’t fish the Bassmaster Classic for points – you fish to win. You have eight chances a year to win an Elite event. But you only have one chance to win the Classic, and it’s against the best guys in the world.
You have to be the best guy that week and you need some breaks. The stars have to line up for that to come together, but I think it all starts with having a good handle on what’s going on in the lake the week of the tournament.
I’ve been fortunate over the last few years to win some tour level events. I think a Classic win would be the next step for me. It would allow me to say something.
That’s what Jason Christie needs. That’s what I’ll be gunning for.