Elite

Cherry’s old-school grub attack on Guntersville

Hank Cherry has had a storied career at B.A.S.S., highlighted by back-to-back Bassmaster Classic victories in 2021. He’d also won an Open in 2012, and a postseason All-Star event in 2013. But despite 15 top ten finishes, he’d never challenged for a regular season Elite win. The closest he’d come was a 4th place finish at Georgia’s West Point Lake in 2013. He hadn’t cracked the top five since 2021.

Posted on
Written by
Pete Robbins
Photography by
Shane Durrance
Photography by
Andy Crawford
That changed this week at Guntersville, when he gifted himself a true birthday treat as he turned 52. And he did it with a lure that was popular in his childhood, one that might have been known to some of his younger colleagues: a simple chartreuse curly tailed grub.
He said it was “the oldest bait in the field for one of the oldest guys.”
It was a savvy choice from one of the tour’s most workmanlike and versatile technicians. When he won the 2021 Classic on Ray Roberts in Texas, he used a jerkbait, a bladed jig and several soft plastics.
During his first Guntersville win – in the 2020 Classic – he used a jerkbait, a jig and a bladed jig. Given that power fishing history, the former baseball player’s finesse changeup was a thing of beauty.
It was necessitated by the frigid temperatures that preceded the tournament and lasted longer than expected. There was ice in the backs of many pockets and around the shorelines, which causes a shad die-off.
He found the bass suspended in 6 to 12 feet of water, “around or under schools of bait,” so while the grub played the primary role, he supplemented it with a jerkbait.
He said that the fish were relating to irregularities in the vegetation. “You treat the grass points on the grass lines just like they were a clay point in North Carolina,” he explained. 
He’d go over the fish, see them on his down scan and then double back after about 50 or 60 yards and find them holding in the same spots.
It required specific tackle to get the job done: a 6’10” medium light, extra fast Level baitcasting rod, paired with a Seviin 8:1 reel and 10-pound test Xhing fluorocarbon. 
The fast reel enabled him to take up slack to prevent the lure from falling too far as he shook it. The bites often came on the drops, but it had to be a controlled fall.
 
He primarily used a 1/8 ounce jighead, and it required substantial effort to make the long casts necessary to tempt finicky, pressured and chilly bass.
 
Cherry fished in gloves to keep his hands warm.
With such light line he had to fight the large Guntersville bass carefully.
Generally, he’d take his time and lip land or scoop the fish into the boat to avoid losing them.
But occasionally he’d boat flip one. Fortunately, it didn’t cost him the win.
Generally, when the bass were in a feeding mood they’d be hooked in the roof of the mouth.
Occasionally, the fish would bite tentatively. Indeed, Cherry said that “nine times out of ten, when you take up the slack is when you feel the little tap.” That meant that a few times the grub fell out of their mouth once he’d landed the fish. He also straightened out several of the light wire hooks, but attributed that to the cost of doing business.
Cherry found himself in a dismal 64th place after Day 1 with 16 pounds, 3 ounces, but he was only about a pound out of the 50 cut. He moved up each day.
In a tournament where there was the potential for ounces to matter, careful culling mattered. There was also the matter of bass spitting up shad in the livewell, so fish care was at a premium.
On the final day, Cherry caught the biggest bag of the tournament, 27 pounds 11 ounces of Guntersville largemouths. He culled early and often, getting rid of some fish that his competitors could only dream of catching.
By the time weigh-in rolled around, it was a done deal, and through the magic of Live and Bassmaster.com, the fans knew the winning bait.
Cherry claimed his first Elite Series trophy, adding to his overflowing mantel.
The two-time Classic champ didn’t require a two-hundred dollar swimbait or a special JDM lure to do it, either. He got the job done with a simple grub that most anglers used for bank fishing to jumpstart their lifelong passion for the sport.

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