Day on the lake with Hank Cherry

Here's how Elite Series pro Hank Cherry fared during his "Day on the Lake" outing for Bassmaster Magazine.

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Welcome to Bassmaster’s reality series, where we put Elite Series pros on small lakes they’ve never seen , then give them seven hours to locate and catch bass. This month is Hank Cherry's turn. The 40-year-old angler from Maiden, N.C., has fished B.A.S.S. events for two years and has qualified for the Classic twice. Here’s what happened March 28, 2014, when we put Cherry on Lake H, a small, remote reservoir. 7:35 a.m. Cherry begins his day on Lake H by casting a jerkbait to a channel bank.
Welcome to Bassmaster’s reality series, where we put Elite Series pros on small lakes they’ve never seen , then give them seven hours to locate and catch bass. This month is Hank Cherry’s turn. The 40-year-old angler from Maiden, N.C., has fished B.A.S.S. events for two years and has qualified for the Classic twice. Here’s what happened March 28, 2014, when we put Cherry on Lake H, a small, remote reservoir.
7:35 a.m. Cherry begins his day on Lake H by casting a jerkbait to a channel bank.
7:39 a.m. The rain is tapering off as Cherry fishes a jerkbait on Lake H.
7:39 a.m. The rain is tapering off as Cherry fishes a jerkbait on Lake H.
7:52 a.m. Cherry hooks a keeper bass off the side of a main-lake point on a jerkbait.
7:52 a.m. Cherry hooks a keeper bass off the side of a main-lake point on a jerkbait.
8:16 a.m. Cherry catches a 2-pound, 3-ounce largemouth off a laydown tree on a jig.
8:16 a.m. Cherry catches a 2-pound, 3-ounce largemouth off a laydown tree on a jig.
8:31 a.m. Cherry works a jig across a gravel flat on Lake H.
8:31 a.m. Cherry works a jig across a gravel flat on Lake H.
8:38 a.m. As Lake H begins to fog over, Cherry moves to a deep channel bank lined with laydown and standing timber.
8:38 a.m. As Lake H begins to fog over, Cherry moves to a deep channel bank lined with laydown and standing timber.
10:44 a.m. Cherry tries a long-billed jerkbait off a steep bank.
10:44 a.m. Cherry tries a long-billed jerkbait off a steep bank.
10:51 a.m. Cherry fishes a jig on a steep channel bank lined with submerged timber.
10:51 a.m. Cherry fishes a jig on a steep channel bank lined with submerged timber.
12:20 p.m. Cherry launches a good fish that hit his jig into the boat.
12:20 p.m. Cherry launches a good fish that hit his jig into the boat.
12:20 p.m. Cherry’s fifth keeper of the day, 3 pounds, 3 ounces, hit his jig on the bottom in 15 feet of water.
12:20 p.m. Cherry’s fifth keeper of the day, 3 pounds, 3 ounces, hit his jig on the bottom in 15 feet of water.
12:32 p.m. Cherry’s biggest bass of the day, 4 pounds, 5 ounces, hit a jig in submerged timber. “This was a weird day, filled with little windows of opportunity that kept opening and closing,” Cherry says. “I had a ton of bites, but they came in spurts, with plenty of dead time in between. The water is still cold, and the big fish haven’t moved up yet; most of my better bites were around deep wood cover. If I were to fish here tomorrow under these conditions, I’d spend more time keying on deep wood with the jig, and less time fishing crankbaits, jerkbaits and swimbaits around structure.”
12:32 p.m. Cherry’s biggest bass of the day, 4 pounds, 5 ounces, hit a jig in submerged timber.
“This was a weird day, filled with little windows of opportunity that kept opening and closing,” Cherry says. “I had a ton of bites, but they came in spurts, with plenty of dead time in between. The water is still cold, and the big fish haven’t moved up yet; most of my better bites were around deep wood cover. If I were to fish here tomorrow under these conditions, I’d spend more time keying on deep wood with the jig, and less time fishing crankbaits, jerkbaits and swimbaits around structure.”