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2nd Place: Clark Wendlandt's Pattern, Baits & Gear
Texas veteran Clark Wendlandt made a strong bid for his second Tour victory in 9 months (he won at the Potomac River last June). He came up about half a pound short, but his runner-up showing moved him up to No. 7 in the points race and put him in contention for a run at his fourth career Angler of the Year title.
"My practice was good," he said. "I saw some fish on the beds, but what happens in any sight-fishing tournament is a lot of the first get burned up really quick because everybody looks for them. I paid attention to where most of the boats were and developed some other gameplans, too."
He spent the entire tournament in the lower end of Hartwell, fishing shallow bays off the main lake. He looked at about half of the fish he eventually took to the scale – the others weren't quite ready to begin the reproduction process.
"A lot of it was just knowing where they wanted to spawn and where they were setting up. A lot of the ones I caught weren't spawning yet, but they were thinking about it.
"The places where I ended up fishing didn't have spawners when practice started, but the weather was so warm and the water temperature just kept going up."
He caught a lot of fish on a Strike King Ocho from the 3- to 6-foot depth range.
"Coming off the bank to about 2 1/2 feet was just too shallow. There'd be a little break line there and you'd usually see something in the water – a rock, a stump, a piece of bamboo, it could be anything. That's where they'd be.
Soft stickbait gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Cabela's Salt Striker rod, Cabela's Arachnid casting reel (6.3:1 ratio), 15-pound Cabela's No-Vis fluorocarbon line, 3/0 unnamed straight-shank hook, wacky-rigged Strike King Ocho (green-pumpkin).
Sight-fishing gear: 7'2" medium-heavy Cabela's Tournament ZX jig and worm rod, same reel and line, 1/4-ounce Strike King Tour Grade tungsten weight, 2 3/4" Strike King Bitsy Tube (green-pumpkin or white).
Main factor – "I sight-fished where a lot of people were fishing the first day, but then I kind of moved. I fished new water the whole time and I never went back to the same places twice."
Performance edge – "I'd probably say the maps on my Garmin 7612s. That's a big lake with a lot of creeks and pockets and islands and different stuff, and the maps made it a lot easier to decipher it."
3rd Place: Jamie Horton's Pattern, Baits & Gear
Jamie Horton, who notched his second straight strong finish to start the campaign, caught three or four of his weigh-in fish skipping docks. He looked at all the rest.
"I had a lot of fish marked from practice, then on the first morning the first six I went to were gone," he said. "I went to another area and they were still there, and I was able to catch them there.
"My best area that I had from practice I never caught a fish in. It was tough finding new fish during the tournament, but I just kept looking. More moved up (on the night of day 3) – I caught two nice ones that weren't there the day before."
He fished from Anderson Island down almost to the dam, hitting both sides of the lake.
"I wanted to start sight-fishing right out of the gates every day, so I felt like I needed water that was real clear in the early morning," he said. "Then after it got sunny, I needed water that wasn't quite so clear."
Sight-fishing gear: 7'2" heavy-action Phenix M1 rod, Daiwa Tatula Type R casting reel (6.3:1 ratio), 20-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, 3/8-ounce Reins Tungsten weight, 5/0 Owner wide-gap hook, unnamed 6" plastic lizard (green-pumpkin).
Skipping gear: 6'10" medium-heavy Phenix Maxim rod, same reel (8.1:1 ratio), 10-pound Seaguar SmackDown braided line (main line), 10-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon leader, No. 2 Owner wacky-rig hook, 5" Reaction Innovations Pocket Rocket (green-pumpkin).
Main factor – "On Sunday (the first practice day) I got so many bites skipping the wacky-rig that I felt like I could do well in the tournament doing that only. On Monday and Tuesday I didn't even get a rod out – I just looked for fish on beds. I was able to cover a lot more water."
Performance edge – "It'd be hard to say anything other than my Costa sunglasses for this tournament."
Hartwell Patterns 2-5 BassFan 3/28/2016 (John Johnson)
Texas veteran Clark Wendlandt made a strong bid for his second Tour victory in 9 months (he won at the Potomac River last June). He came up about half a pound short, but his runner-up showing moved him up to No. 7 in the points race and put him in contention for a run at his fourth career Angler of the Year title.
"My practice was good," he said. "I saw some fish on the beds, but what happens in any sight-fishing tournament is a lot of the first get burned up really quick because everybody looks for them. I paid attention to where most of the boats were and developed some other gameplans, too."
He spent the entire tournament in the lower end of Hartwell, fishing shallow bays off the main lake. He looked at about half of the fish he eventually took to the scale – the others weren't quite ready to begin the reproduction process.
"A lot of it was just knowing where they wanted to spawn and where they were setting up. A lot of the ones I caught weren't spawning yet, but they were thinking about it.
"The places where I ended up fishing didn't have spawners when practice started, but the weather was so warm and the water temperature just kept going up."
He caught a lot of fish on a Strike King Ocho from the 3- to 6-foot depth range.
"Coming off the bank to about 2 1/2 feet was just too shallow. There'd be a little break line there and you'd usually see something in the water – a rock, a stump, a piece of bamboo, it could be anything. That's where they'd be.
Soft stickbait gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Cabela's Salt Striker rod, Cabela's Arachnid casting reel (6.3:1 ratio), 15-pound Cabela's No-Vis fluorocarbon line, 3/0 unnamed straight-shank hook, wacky-rigged Strike King Ocho (green-pumpkin).
Sight-fishing gear: 7'2" medium-heavy Cabela's Tournament ZX jig and worm rod, same reel and line, 1/4-ounce Strike King Tour Grade tungsten weight, 2 3/4" Strike King Bitsy Tube (green-pumpkin or white).
Main factor – "I sight-fished where a lot of people were fishing the first day, but then I kind of moved. I fished new water the whole time and I never went back to the same places twice."
Performance edge – "I'd probably say the maps on my Garmin 7612s. That's a big lake with a lot of creeks and pockets and islands and different stuff, and the maps made it a lot easier to decipher it."
3rd Place: Jamie Horton's Pattern, Baits & Gear
Jamie Horton, who notched his second straight strong finish to start the campaign, caught three or four of his weigh-in fish skipping docks. He looked at all the rest.
"I had a lot of fish marked from practice, then on the first morning the first six I went to were gone," he said. "I went to another area and they were still there, and I was able to catch them there.
"My best area that I had from practice I never caught a fish in. It was tough finding new fish during the tournament, but I just kept looking. More moved up (on the night of day 3) – I caught two nice ones that weren't there the day before."
He fished from Anderson Island down almost to the dam, hitting both sides of the lake.
"I wanted to start sight-fishing right out of the gates every day, so I felt like I needed water that was real clear in the early morning," he said. "Then after it got sunny, I needed water that wasn't quite so clear."
Sight-fishing gear: 7'2" heavy-action Phenix M1 rod, Daiwa Tatula Type R casting reel (6.3:1 ratio), 20-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, 3/8-ounce Reins Tungsten weight, 5/0 Owner wide-gap hook, unnamed 6" plastic lizard (green-pumpkin).
Skipping gear: 6'10" medium-heavy Phenix Maxim rod, same reel (8.1:1 ratio), 10-pound Seaguar SmackDown braided line (main line), 10-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon leader, No. 2 Owner wacky-rig hook, 5" Reaction Innovations Pocket Rocket (green-pumpkin).
Main factor – "On Sunday (the first practice day) I got so many bites skipping the wacky-rig that I felt like I could do well in the tournament doing that only. On Monday and Tuesday I didn't even get a rod out – I just looked for fish on beds. I was able to cover a lot more water."
Performance edge – "It'd be hard to say anything other than my Costa sunglasses for this tournament."
Hartwell Patterns 2-5 BassFan 3/28/2016 (John Johnson)