Jacob Powroznik simplified his game plan Friday. The result was a five-bass limit weighing 20 pounds, 6 ounces – the only one of the 102 limits caught on the day to top 20 pounds. It vaulted him from 40th place on Day 1 to 5th place on Day 2 of the Whataburger Bassmaster Elite at Lake Hartwell.
The key elements of the plan were as follows: 1) Stay on the trolling motor; he burned only 6.6 gallons of gas; 2) Rely on the original forward-facing sonar – his own two eyes.
“I caught every one off a (spawning) bed,” Powroznik said. “Yesterday I spent more time running to spots where I’d seen them. Today I just went fishing. I just put the trolling motor down and never let off until I saw one.”
The 46-year-old Virginia native said he spent more time looking than fishing. When he found an active spawning bed, Powroznik would cast an Aaron’s Magic-colored Robo Worm on a dropshot into the bed and go to work.
“The thing is, I still don’t have a grasp of what’s really going on,” said Powroznik, who was the 2014 Elite Series Rookie of the Year and has since topped the $1 million mark in B.A.S.S. winnings. “Are more coming? I went in a pocket that I went in yesterday, and there were three more new ones in there today. I think it’s just kinda like a crapshoot of whether you’re gonna pull in a pocket where three or four pairs have moved up. You catch those and then you end up having a 17-, 18-, 19-pound bag.”
Powroznik’s 20-6 Friday was only the third limit topping the 20-pound mark in the first two days of the tournament, where all 102 anglers have caught a five-bass limit every day.
So how tightly packed are the standings of the top 50 anglers going into Semifinal Saturday? Fifth-place Powroznik trails leader Drew Cook by only 3 pounds, 10th place Luke Palmer is only 4-7 out of the lead, 25th-place Justin Hamner is 6-14 back and 50th place Matty Wong is 9-7 behind Cook.
Whatever happens Saturday, Powroznik will be enjoying himself. In the B.A.S.S. media guide, he lists Lake Champlain as his favorite place to fish. “But that’s just because of the smallmouth,” he said. “This is my favorite lake in the whole country to fish. It’s just so easy to get a bite here. It’s a great tournament lake because it’s so big, and you can spread out, and there’s an abundance of fish in this thing.”
Powroznik has competed in the three Bassmaster Classics here, finishing 5th in both 2015 and 2018 and 36th in 2022. Adding an Elite Series title at Lake Hartwell this week would be a dream come true.
