Hackney’s successful second day on St. Lawrence

See how Greg Hackney fared Day 2 of the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River!

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Photography by
Andy Crawford
Louisiana Elite pro headed into Day 2 of the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River in 13th place. Follow along and see how he began building a bag of bass in hopes of climbing the leaderboard.
Hackney began on the U.S. side of Lake Ontario, working a shallow flat in search of hefty smallmouth bass.
He said he started in this cove, even though his Day 1 weight came from the Canadian side of the lake, because he saw big bass swimming around during practice.
It didn’t take long for Hackney to hook up.
The smallmouth was fiesty …
… putting on some aerial acrobatics.
The solid 3-pounder was the first to go in Hackney’s livewell.
Hackney spent another 15 minutes or so on the flat before pulling up his trolling motor. “I’m seeing fish, but nothing big,” Hackney said.
Hackney signaled he was making a long run. Off to the Canadian side of the big lake.
Hackney went straight to a cove off the lake from which he caught his Day 1 limit of 24-4.
Within minutes he set the hook hard.
It was quickly apparent something wasn’t quite right, as he reached out for his line.
Look closely, and you’ll see the line is wrapped around Hackney’s rod.
Somehow, Hackney pulled the smallmouth over the side of the boat.
“I couldn’t reel,” he explained, after a sigh. “That was a disaster!”
But the smallie, which looked to be heavier than 4 pounds, put a grin on his face.
After a deep breath, Hackney re-rigged so he could get back to work.
Cory Johnston and Hackney met as they worked through the area. They chatted briefly and then went back to work.
Hackney was quickly hooked up again.
The bass did not want to cooperate.
But Hackney soon had the 3-pounder in hand.
A few casts later, Hackney set the hook again.
This bass was smaller, but went in the livewell.
The flurry continued, proving the wisdom of moving back to the Hackney’s Canada waters.
And then he set the hook hard – and high, trying to catch up with what looked to be a good fish.
And then the fish came unzipped, provoking a grimace.
The lost bass was soon redeemed with another hookset on a quality fish.
This was another bass that put a grin on Hackney’s face. By this point, he had 16 to 18 pounds of bass in the livewell – and still had half the day to fish.