ANDERSON, S.C. — Two South Carolina anglers who know Lake Hartwell used the same word – funky – to describe the fishing here now. But both expect the funk to end when the four-day Bassmaster Elite at Lake Hartwell begins Thursday.
“Fish are roaming and staging,” said Patrick Walters of Summerville, S.C. “They’re in one of those little funky times. They’re just kind of in limbo. They want to be spawning.”
Brandon Cobb of Greenwood, S.C., echoed those thoughts, saying, “It’s not fishing like I’m used to. I definitely had a pretty poor practice. I feel like the fish are kind of acting funky with the water coming up and dropping, and we’ve had all these cold nights. They want to come up and do the spring spawn thing. But they’re just not there.”
According to the forecast, those cold nights ended when it got down to 35 degrees before sunrise Wednesday. Highs are predicted to be in the 70s and lows in the 50s the rest of the week.
“It’s going to get consistent and stable,” said Walters, who is fourth in the Angler of the Year standings after two tournaments. “I think it’s going to get good from here on out. The guys that are fishing Saturday and Sunday are going to be fishing a completely different tournament — way different.
“I’m almost thinking it’s going to be like the St. Johns (River) again, where nobody had a good practice, and all the sudden it just clicked. Everybody will be going, ‘Where did all these fish come from?’”
Cobb agreed, with one exception, saying, “In my experience here, it’s not like Florida where they show up overnight. I think you could start seeing a lot of big ones, but I don’t think they’ll be easy to catch for a couple of days. By the end of the tournament, it could be drastically better.”
It consistently takes an average of 16- to 17-pounds a day to win a tournament on Lake Hartwell’s 56,000 acres, no matter what time of year. The three previous Bassmaster Classics here, held in February and March, fit into that formula. The winning weight in those three-day events was 47-1 when Jordan Lee won in 2018, 50-1 when Casey Ashley won in 2015 and 49-7 when Alton Jones won in 2008.
So there weren’t many guesses outside that range – a four-day total of 64 to 68 pounds – during the anglers’ meeting Wednesday afternoon. But there were some.
“I think it’s going to take 18 to 20 pounds a day to win,” said Hank Cherry of Lincolnton, N.C. “I think it’s pretty much going to be a sight-fishing derby. I didn’t think so after the first day of practice (Monday). But after the last two days, and what I saw, I’m pretty sure that’s how it’s going to be won.”
The question is whether one warm day, like Wednesday, and a warm night, will have the bass shallow and catchable – en masse – by Thursday.
“I think it’s going to be a matter of survival to the weekend,” said Shane Lineberger of Lincolnton, N.C., who has been fishing Hartwell for decades. “Then it’s going to be a full-blown bed-fishing tournament.”