We saw a Hack Attack in action last week

The Hack attack is a beautiful thing if you’re watching it from afar. It’s amazing in its intensity, precision and in its ability to destroy everything — anglers and fish alike — in its path.

The Hack attack is a beautiful thing if you’re watching it from afar. It’s amazing in its intensity, precision and in its ability to destroy everything — anglers and fish alike — in its path. It’s not so beautiful, however, if you’re trying to defend against it. There’s no mercy when it gets going.

The man found a grass ledge, at least that’s what I think he was doing, and destroyed us all one day at a time on Cayuga.

Those of us who have had the privilege of watching Greg fish over the years weren’t really surprised at what we saw. We’ve seen it before. He takes a heavy flipping stick, heavy reel spooled with line to match and throws his jig into the toughest stuff he can find.

He isn’t looking for bass. Men with his skill set are way past that. He’s looking for the big ones, the ones that put the competition in his rearview mirror. He did just that last Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It was professional bass fishing at its best. He found his fish, caught them and brought them to the scales for all to see.

There are a lot of things that factor into this man’s success. I want to write about two of them today. Let’s look at his jig first.

If you look up heavy, big fish lure in the dictionary, I doubt you’ll find a text definition. Most likely, you’ll see a picture of his signature bait. To say it’s heavy is like saying Angelina Jolie is pretty — true but hardly accurate.

I suspect you could winch your boat on your trailer using one of those things in place of the snap on your strap. They only have one purpose. They attract the biggest fish in the neighborhood so that they can be pulled back to the boat without any fear of the hook breaking or bending. I suppose you could say they’re a reflection of their designer, compact and serious.

The other thing about this Louisiana angler is that he’s one of the best electronics men in the business. He can find and analyze anything that’s under the water. The delicate and careful way he adjusts the depth range and the sensitivity on his electronics stands in stark contrast to his tackle and his fishing style. Sometimes I think he can see inside the weedbeds he so carefully fishes.

Greg Hackney should get more press than he does. He’s one of the great ones. If you want to learn to be a better bass angler, I respectfully suggest you watch and read everything he does and says. You’ll be better off for it.

I don’t want to leave without mentioning the postseason tournament that is coming up. This is the best format that B.A.S.S. had ever put together for the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year title. The Top 50 are going to battle it out in the Championship on a lake where they have little, or no, history. That’s the very definition of fair. I love it!