12/22/04

Note-Greg Hackney is not only one of the greatest anglers on tour today, he is also a very modest gentleman.  Not wanting to talk about himself, we took a different angle in defining the often written about "Hack-Attack."

What is the Hack-Attack?

"It's more or less something that has just stuck, it is not a technique or anything.  I guess it is just the way I fish."

Still, you are the most feared angler on tour today, in that you always seem to be on-fish, bigger fish, tournament winning fish, and with you in the neighborhood, no lead is safe.  Why is that?

"I grew up fishing in a region where just catching a five bass limit would not put you anywhere in the hunt.  In the bass clubs I belonged to, and in the regional events I fished, you needed to weigh in 18,20, 25 pounds to win, and I guess that is how I kind of developed my fishing mentality, which is to go for big bites all of the time."

Now we are getting somewhere, it is about fishing for bigger bites.  OK, How does Greg Hackney target bigger fish?

"I always look for quality, not numbers.  I start out each day looking for one five or six pounder.  I may not catch a limit, but my three fish will be close to what some of the limits are weighing.  When I come to an area to fish, I look for what sticks out.  Big fish are dominant fish and they will get the best cover.

If I come to a brush line that has old dead brush, the green brush, or living pieces might hold the better fish.  If there are flooded trees, the ones with the most limbs.  A lot of the places I target are obvious."

Is there a lure at the center of your arsenal?

"I like to start out big with whatever I am fishing.  A big jig, a big crank bait, big is how I start, although I am comfortable with going smaller and finesse fishing."

Shallow water or deep?

"Either, I am a cover oriented angler, whether I can see it on my electronics or whether I can flip a jig to it, I try to make sure that every cast I make is coming in contact with cover that I think a bass may be holding in."

In terms of the Hack-Attack, we have found that it is more of a mind set then anything else.  Greg Hackney is not interested in targeting "limit fish."  Limit fish, limit anglers, and Greg Hackney has been able to train himself to avoid settling for 13" squeakers.  Does he ever catch them?  Sure, but he does not target them.  There is a special mind set for an angler who fishes for big fish.  This we have found is the essence of the Hack-Attack.

In California, we have anglers who throw swim baits and little else, these anglers are not happy with limit fish.  When one bite can out weigh five keepers, you can see why these anglers do it.  However it takes a disciplined approach to fish in the Hack-Attack Mystic.