Greg Hackney offered tons of respect to his Elite Series competitors, right after handing them all defeat in the GEICO Bassmaster BASSfest presented by Choctaw Casino Resort.
“That’s the bad thing,” he said. “You can’t pull against anybody. They’re all such good guys. You want to win, but you want everybody to win.”
Good thoughts and all, but Hackney’s still selfish in that he’d rather he win, which he wasn’t sure would happen Sunday. He started the day in third place, 3 pounds, 2 ounces behind leader Casey Ashley but just a couple ounces back of Gerald Swindle.
It looked to be a three-man race, but Brandon Card climbed and stood in the way. He was nearly 9 pounds out of the lead but busted the big bag of the tournament (21-2), setting the mark to beat at 64-3. Hackney caught 17-15 for a 66-2 total, just 1-15 ahead of Card
“I’m glad it’s over. I really didn’t think it was going to happen today,” Hackney said, adding he even resorted to rationalizing a defeat. “I said I’ll be second or third. I’ll have a good tournament. You always try to make yourself feel better.”
His fifth win and maintaining a lead in the Bassmaster Toyota Angler of the Year standings made him feel pretty good, but he seemed to empathize with Ashley, Swindle (who’s chasing him in the AOY hunt) and Card.
“That’s impressive — he caught 21 on championship day. We’ve had weather changes and the water went down,” Hackney said, pausing to collect his thoughts. “I’m very proud of those fish.”
The big push for Hackney is winning a second AOY. He came agonizingly close in his rookie season, finishing one place shy on the final day. In 2014, he won the title in nail-biting fashion, and he remains on track this season. At BASSfest, he gained two points on Swindle and leads 572-542
“The other thing is, nobody gained any points on me,” he said. “That’s a big deal. That’s what’s been driving me this week.
“Leading angler the year coming into this, I’ve been thinking about it. I didn’t think about it today. Today I focused on the tournament. But up to that point, it’s what keeps me going. You can’t let anybody get closer. You got to keep going. And so you push hard, and I did. And I was blessed.”
SORRY ABOUT THAT, FISH
Brandon Card said he thought about holding up only one fish because getting two back in the bag can be tricky. Since he had bookend 5-pounders, he went for the double-clutch, but alas, there was a minor slipup. He dropped one on his boat, but quickly recovered on his way to the stage.
“I should have done one,” he said. “I apologize to that fish. Sorry about that.”
Other than that, Card had one of his best days since joining the Elites in 2012, and certainly his best finish. The first B.A.S.S. College angler to make the circuit was oh-so-close, and even though his efforts were great, he also thought of others.
“It was just one of those days that you dream about,” he said. “As happy as I am now, my heart’s with all the people in Orlando. I just want to pray for them.”
Card has reached five Championship Sundays, and Kelly, his wife of almost a year, was in the stands, just like at last year’s BASSfest. Card did seem a little nervous. He was rambling about flipping all week then believing the dropping water made things right for his final-day topwater bite. He abruptly stopped.
“I don’t even know what I’m talking about right now. I think I’m way more nervous than her,” he said. “To be here a year later, we’re getting ready to celebrate our 1-year anniversary and to make another Top 12, it’s awesome. I love you, Kelly.”
Card won that one.
STILL ITCHING TO WIN ONE
Gerald Swindle is funnier when he loses. His most comical lines seem to come out when he’s down and out.
G-Man has the ability to spin misery into humor. It might be he has more time to think if he’s not battling for a title and concentrating on catching the winning fish. He seemed pretty serious at Texoma, explaining how he wanted to beat Hackney for his first Elite trophy.
“We got some foolish pride, and if we want to win one, I want to win it against the best flipper in the world,” he said.
Swindle detailed his patterns and that he finally dialed in to get a lot of bites, just not the key ones to catch up. That’s when the painful truth came out — and it was funny.
“If I could get the fish to bite like the chiggers at the Eisenhower State Park,” he started, “cause I got bites that would take a X-ray machine to put some Benadryl on it. I don’t know if you all have ever done Bass LIVE when you got chigger bites on your beans and franks, it’s kinda hard. Every time I turned around he’d say, ‘We are live,’ and I’d say, ‘I am itching.’
“I got one down there with a pair of tongs biting on me. It’s been a long, hot, day. When I get home, I am getting me an SOS pad …. I might not of whooped Hackney, but I’m going to whoop those chiggers.”
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Ronnie Moore gets the nod for capturing Brandon Card’s intensity on Sunday. Both should get “Tabasco Bold, Spicy Hot Player of da Day, of da Week” awards.
Card began the day in sixth place, 8-14 out of first place, but quickly caught a bag that put him atop BASSTrakk’s unofficial leaderboard, and that had the JM TV production team scrambling. Card was the first man out and didn’t have a LIVE camera in his boat.
Moore jumped into action and took a backup camera to provide live coverage of Card as well as still images for Bassmaster.com.
Huge kudos to both.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
The following line about fishing comes from thequotegarden.com and just seems appropriate after a the well-contested Texoma tournament.
“The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.” — John Buchan