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By Ron Hancock
Lake Hartwell hosted one of the biggest Bass fishing events in the world February 22nd through the 24th. Fifty of the world’s best anglers competed for over 1 million dollars in prize money with the winner taking home a check for $500,000. That honor went to Waco Texas pro Alton Jones with a three day catch of fifteen fish and weighing over forty nine pounds, true justice for a real class man. I had the honor to meet and get to know Alton during my time fishing the Bass trail several years ago. We had the opportunity to fish together a couple of times as well. A truly good guy and along with a lot of talent fishing and promoting his sponsors he relies on the support of his family and faith in God to lead his way. Alton has appeared in the Classic 11 times and this is his first Classic win. His professional career started about 17 years ago. The event brought Lake Hartwell national exposure through ESPN sports television and many other publications that will carry the story for months to come.
The anglers were greeted with a variety of weather conditions that required daily and sometimes hourly adjustments to their fishing patterns. The first day was cold and rainy and produced the biggest day catch with some anglers bagging 20lbs of Bass. Then the skies cleared and fishing changed and got tougher for most anglers battling
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wind and bluebird skies. But Alton stayed focused on basically one pattern, fishing an under water ditch and tree line near Long Point. He used a Jig and Craw to catch most of his bigger fish. He did have to adjust and fish other areas the last day to get the limit. The standing timber held some deeper fish waiting for the water to warm and begin the ritual of feeding on Shad and Herring before the spawning season begins, probably in late March.
Most of these anglers qualified for the tournament through a tournament trail called Bassmasters Elite
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Series that was fished in 2007. The fishermen fish a trail that carries them from California to Florida. It’s a demanding sport that requires these men to be away from home up to several months a year but I don’t think many of them complain because they are doing something they are very passionate about. There were also four fishermen from the grass roots trail called Federation Nation. These guys are mostly weekend anglers that compete in local and then regional events to get here. The rest come from other trails and the 2007 Classic winner.
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When I heard the Classic was coming here I had some mixed feelings of what it would mean to have this exposure. From a business standpoint it was a positive for some areas because it brings new people and a lot of money to the economy. Greenville hosted the Fishing Expo and the weigh in and also housed most of the anglers since Anderson and towns like Hartwell Georgia did not have the facilities to accommodate the crowd although Anderson’s Portman Marina was the blast off site. From a fisher-man’s standpoint, I am a little selfish and want Lake Hartwell’s great Bass fishing to be my little secret. Seriously though overall I think it will be a memorable event and a plus for the area and the lake. There has been a lot of activity at least in Hartwell and with the Corps of Engineers to build a “Mega Ramp” to host bigger tournaments but personally I think the upgrades in existing ramps and more courtesy docks at existing ramps would benefit the lake more.
Congratulations to all the fishermen even though there is only one winner the entire field will take home a check based on the place finished with the 50th place getting $10,000.00, Maybe that will help those who did not fare as well but I am sure they will be back at it again and looking for the next one.
If you have comments or questions on fishing Lake Hartwell, please e mail me at rh4lake@yahoo. com.
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