Classic: Practice Day on Hartwell

Take a look through the 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk practice day, featuring the various fishing structures and environments that Lake Hartwell offers.

We first caught up with Bryan Schmitt, who perfectly demonstrated the shallow water creeks of Lake Hartwell.

Schmitt spent a few hours of his morning trolling to the backs of the creeks along the river run, searching for shallow water structures such as brush piles.

He fished a few backwater areas locating a few brush piles and even getting a few bites.

Being that it’s practice day, once Schmitt found fish or structures in the area, he moved along to similar spots within the river.

It is important to mark certain brush piles that you find productive. Whether fishing shallow or deep, it can be difficult to relocate brush piles if they aren’t marked upon discovery.

Schmitt continued to locate structures and fish in the backs of creeks while using a variety of tackle to see what works best in that area.

Satisfied with that area, Schmitt moves on to locate new creeks that could help him in the tournament.

Hunter Shryock wasn’t much further along the way, fishing a similar pattern in deeper waters.

Along the river runs of Hartwell are an abundant amount of sunken brush piles. These deeper water brush piles produce fish all year round and are especially important during the winter and summer months when water temperatures are more extreme. Hartwell is notorious for brush piles, and if you find the right ones, you’ll find the right fish.

Next up is the shallow water and sight fishing guru, John Cox, demonstrating another popular technique on Harwell. Dock fishing.

Docks are abundant on Hartwell, and they hold fish all year round. A lot of docks are great, some not so great. Finding the right docks in the right area can easily be the key for a shallow water fanatic.

Cox scouted a few popular areas and informed us that he was merely searching for new stuff after finding some good spots during his previous practices.

With the weather lining up nicely, we should definitely see some shallow water action.

Shortly afterwards, we caught up with Matty Wong who is fishing some deeper water flats and humps.

Hartwell is very versatile when choosing between deep water or shallow water fishing, especially this time of year. Deeper humps and flats should be productive at any given time on this lake, especially if they hold brush piles.

Wong decided to hang out with us and fish for a little longer before moving to his next spot and managed to hook up.

And it’s a nice Lake Hartwell spotted bass.

Not wanting to compromise his spot, he moves to the next area after landing that fish.

Next, we found two-time Bassmaster Classic champion, Hank Cherry.

Cherry is getting a feel for the structure along creek banks. With an abundance of creek arms and river runs, Hartwell offers plenty of bank structure to pick apart such as rocks, hard bottoms and lay downs.

Cherry keeps the trolling motor running, making plenty of casts is search for potential areas for tournament time.

A quick example of the structure sought after along these creek banks in the river.

Cherry searched around a creek with plenty of potential before making his next move.

Lastly, we caught up with Tristan McCormick, making his Bassmaster Classic debut after winning the 2021 Bassmaster College Classic Bracket.

McCormick is practicing a known deal on Hartwell which is bridge and riprap fishing.

Fish tend to stack up on the columns and hide out in the rocks along any given bridge in Hartwell. Fishing these spots can be very popular and crowded at times.

After checking out the bridge and marking fish on the graph, McCormick moves along to try new areas before tournament time begins.

Defending Angler of the Year Seth Feider started his final practice day in a marina, working the boat stalls methodically.

Feider switched baits a couple of times, making sure he knew what the best option for the start of competition on Friday.

Boat docks are definitely in play on Hartwell, but will the structures hold enough fish to win the Classic? Only time will tell.

Feider studied his graphics, presumably looking at a map to determine his next move.

We moved back into a creek to find John Cox running from the far back of a small creek.

He pulled off plane and then began trolling the bank, looking for bass on the bank. He didn’t even have a rod in his hand.

Cox finally picked up a rod to probe a laydown, but the angler remained within 10 yards of the bank.

Water temps were in the upper 50s early in the morning, but hit 60 degrees by noon. That could push bass up on the banks, right into Cox’s target zone.

Cox was all smiles when he idled by. I asked if he had forgotten all his rods at home, and he said, “I have one on the deck.”

And that’s all he had out — a single rod.

We caught up with first-time Bassmaster Classic contender and Elite Series rookie Matty Wong in a creek doing what you would expect a West Coaster to be doing: throwing a big bait.

Wong was working the middle of the creek, while Elite Series veteran Jason Christie was easing along the bank.

Wong was about to leave when a bass busted in the center of the creek, so the young angler quickly put a bait out to see.

And then Wong headed out to other parts of the lake to refine his Classic plan.

We ran into Christie a couple of times, but he never stayed in one place long.

Caleb Sumrall was working a bridge when we caught up with him.

Bridges always seem to hold bass, but will the pilings be a player during this event?

Sumrall then moved into the back of a minor creek, using a moving bait to see if he could pattern shallow fish.

There’s plenty of bank cover in which bass can hide.

Anglers dug deep during the final day of practice, often going into their compartments looking for a new bait to help nail down their patterns for the start of competition.

I asked Sumrall if he was looking for new water or confirming what he’d found in the previous practice days, and he said he was doing the latter. “I’m looking for new water; I’m definitely not confirming what I’ve found,” he said. While saying his practice was “quite bad,” he was optimistic when he left to check another area.

We idled way back into a creek to find flooded bushes galore, and we were shocked no one was flipping them. If bass charge to spawning beds, it’s hard to imagine these areas won’t be in play.

Water clarity in the backs of the minor creeks was stained to muddy, although there still was some visibility. With no rains forecasted this week, however, it’s likely those creeks will clean up.

Water clarity in the main lake is not an issue: It’s crystal clear.

Elite angler KJ Queen zoomed past as we headed in. He was running into a marina, so we spent a few minutes watching his practice.

While Feider earlier had focused on boat stalls, Queen spent almost all of his time in the open water between the docks. His eyes were glued to his electronics, looking for bass.

And then it was time to study his map to find the next spot to check.

On the last official morning of practice for the 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic, we started our day at the mouth of the Tugaloo River in hopes of intersecting the anglers as they drove by.

To our surprise, only a few boats started in the Tugaloo. Roughly six anglers decided to start their day in the westernmost river on Lake Hartwell.

Austin Felix, Marc Frazier, Brandon Palaniuk, Brock Mosley, and Brandon Card were some of the first anglers to make it to the mouth of the Tugaloo.

Brandon Palaniuk headed to his first spot.

Palaniuk makes a quick stop and instantly begins his search for these bait-oriented bass.

Utilizing his electronics, the 11-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier was mostly searching. Not necessarily trying to catch anything.

Given the nomadic nature of Blueback Herring, Palaniuk was more or less following around a school of bait.

It didn’t appear that Palaniuk had many bites, but as I previously mentioned, I believe he was just checking in on a spot that he had previously found in practice.

Almost within sight of where Palaniuk was fishing, Toyota pro Matt Arey was dissecting a stretch of shallow docks.

Arey, a North Carolina native, is no stranger to fishing boat docks. Rotating through a variety of baits, Arey was making pinpoint casts to each crack of the dock.

The black floats of the docks hold heat, which is why floating docks like this one can be so effective in the prespawn period as the water warms.

Arey calls it quits on this row of docks, and makes a move to the next set.

Just around the corner was another North Carolina native – Brandon Card.

Card never made a cast while we were with him. Instead, he was using electronics to survey what was going on underwater, then moving on to the next area.

Bird activity can be huge on a Blueback Herring lake such as Hartwell. Oftentimes, the birds will indicate where the bait is at.

Kentucky’s Matt Robertson made his way into the Tugaloo during the mid-morning hours. Much like Arey, Robertson was fishing smaller pockets then making a move to the next one. Likely just checking areas that he previously found success during practice.