THE LATEST NEWS
Swindle Not Smiling Over Hackney DQ
Cynical souls might grin over Gerald Swindle vaulting to the top of the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year points race in the wake of former leader Greg Hackney’s disqualification late Thursday. But bass fishing’s funniest man wasn’t smiling one bit prior to Day 2 launch at the Busch Beer Bassmaster Elite at Cayuga Lake.
“I don’t like getting ahead at the expense of somebody else’s misfortune,” said Swindle in a tone loaded with heartache.
“Greg Hackney is one of the most honest guys out here, he got caught up in the moment, and got into an area of the lake where he shouldn’t have been apparently,” reflected Swindle. “But I’ll promise you it wasn’t on purpose. Anybody out here could make that same mistake, including me.”
Swindle and Hackney have been in a two horse race for several weeks atop the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year points list, but Hackney appeared to be in a “his to lose” position given the fact that events down the stretch at Cayuga, the Potomac River and the Mississippi River at La Crosse played perfectly to his love of fishing aquatic vegetation.
Now, everything changes. Everything perhaps …but Swindle’s love and respect for Hackney as a friend.
“Make a list of 10 guys I feel closest to out here – pros that I respect and like the most – and Greg Hackney is on that list,” Swindle proudly stated.
Hackney and Swindle survived a tumultuous fishing trip to the Amazon Jungle years ago, share Quantum rods and reels as a longtime sponsor, and love to talk whitetail deer hunting with one another.
“I feel like you could turn Hackney and I lose together in the Talladega National Forest for a month with nothing but our bow and arrows and a bucket of cookin’ grease, and we could survive together,” Swindle once stated.
Swindle says his new position in the catbird seat won’t change his approach on the water. “Greg’s disqualification won’t change what I do one bit. I gotta take care of Gerald. My goal is to catch 19-pounds today, and I feel like I have to catch at least 17 pounds just to assure I get paid here.”
“I’ll throw soft plastics – some weightless – some Texas-rigged – using a new 7’ 2” prototype rod I’m testing for Quantum, and the new Smoke HD reel,” said the 2004 Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year.
Then, before the National Anthem played, and prior to Swindle’s boat number being called for takeoff came another somber heart-driven thought of his longtime friend.
“I just can’t imagine how Hackney’s feeling this morning,” Swindle added.
Day 2 Cayuga Lake 2016 (morning)
Day two is underway here at Cayuga Lake. Here are a few videos from this morning’s take off.
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Day 1 Cayuga Lake 2016 (weigh in)
Cayuga Lake showed out in a big way today with twelve twenty plus pounds and a top fifty day one cut weight sitting at a record 16-14 lbs. Cayuga is on fire! Here are a few videos from today’s weigh in.
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From Sea Monsters to Sea Like Depths
Terry “Big Show” Scroggins has competed in 194 B.A.S.S. tournaments, but just prior to the start of the Busch Beer Bassmaster Elite, he confessed he’s never experienced a lake like Cayuga. From ocean like depths, to a reverse order spawn, and rumors of a sea monster – indeed this one is different for the highly likeable Floridian and his fellow pros.
“Man this lake is crazy,” smiled a wide-eyed Scroggins. “I was running along yesterday during practice, and glanced down at my sonar screen, and it read 378 feet deep – heck, I thought I was in the ocean off of Key West.”
Scroggins’ sonar wasn’t wrong. In fact, Cayuga’s maximum depth is 435 feet, and it’s the longest of the glacial Finger Lakes, running 37 miles from north to south.
Its length, and especially its depth, creates huge lake temperature differences like Scroggins has never witnessed in his pro career. While a 10 degree difference in temperature is not uncommon in many reservoirs, he’s noting a 17 degree difference from one end of Cayuga to the other.
“Right here at the weigh-in dock on the north end, I’m reading 71 degrees, but it gets as cold as 54 degrees down south, and that’s got the order of the spawn all messed up,” says the former auto body technician.
“The largemouth on the north end are actually spawning before the smallmouth here – and I’ve never seen that in my life – smallmouth typically always spawn before largemouth,” he explains.
“The largemouth here are in all phases of the spawn,” says Scroggins. “I’ve seen some on beds, and I’ve caught some skinny post-spawn largemouth as deep as 14 feet, but all the smallmouth I caught in practice were fat and chunky pre-spawners.”
So does all this uniqueness have Scroggins spun-out mentally? “Nah, this lake is loaded with fish, I had a pretty good practice, and because of those extreme depths, you know the bass obviously aren’t living in a large portion of the lake where it’s several hundred feet deep, so you can eliminate a bunch of water really quick,” he explains.
That’s good news. But there is one last Cayuga curveball for the former high school baseball pitcher. A sea monster they call “Old Greeny” that’s rumored to live here.
“I’m good to go – I don’t believe in sea monsters,” grinned Scroggins.
Day 1 at Cayuga Lake (morning)
Here are a few pre take off videos from the ramp at Cayuga Lake.
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