Holds 7 pound, 13 ounce lead over Brent Ehrler
After a solid day Saturday with another five fish weighing 22 pounds, 4 ounces, Gonzales’ Greg Hackney has an almost 8 pound lead heading into Sunday at the FLW Tour event on Lake Pickwick.
“Today was a lot harder, and it took me a lot longer to really catch them,” said Hackney, who has one previous career victory on the Walmart FLW Tour – the 2009 Forrest Wood Cup. “The quality was still pretty good, but I didn’t catch the sheer numbers that I had been catching. I only had 12 to 15 keepers today when I’d been catching 30 or so the first two days. It was a grind.”
Hackney said that he thought the increased current had a negative effect on his area.
“It doesn’t make any sense and I don’t really understand it,” Hackney said. “The shad were gone, and that’s been the whole key for the first two days. Today it seemed like the fish were scattered out looking for them.
“I caught all of my fish today on a totally different bait than I had been fishing all week,” Hackney continued. “Everything I caught came on a Strike King Denny Brauer Structure jig, fishing really slow. That jig is the deal when casting off-shore. It’s replaced all of my football jigs.”
When asked if he felt comfortable heading into the final day of competition with nearly an 8-pound lead and the $125,000 top prize on the line, Hackney was realistic.
“I don’t feel comfortable at all. Not on Pickwick Lake. Anybody can catch 30 pounds here. I don’t think I can catch another 30 pounds, but I think I can catch 20. It doesn’t matter to me if I catch 2 pounds. Really, I just want to win.”
The Top 10 pros advancing to the final day of competition on Pickwick Lake are:
1st: Greg Hackney, Gonzales, 15 bass, 75-14
2nd: Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 15 bass, 68-1
3rd: Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 15 bass, 67-13
4th: Troy Morrow, Eastanollee, Ga., 15 bass, 65-11
5th: Jason Lambert, Pickwick Dam, Tenn., 15 bass, 61-6
6th: Robbie Dodson, Harrison, Ark., 15 bass, 61-3
7th: Spencer Shuffield, Bismarck, Ark., 15 bass, 60-13
8th: Michael Wooley, Collierville, Tenn., 15 bass, 60-1
9th: Casey Ashley, Donalds, S.C, 15 bass, 58-13
10th: Shad Schenck, Waynetown, Ind., 15 bass, 58-13
