Kerry Partain: Local tournament angler Kerry Partain said he expects some heavy limits to be weighed in by anglers fishing deep and shallow at this month’s Bassmaster Classic.
Casey Ashley: Following an FLW Tour win on Hartwell early last March, hometown angler Casey Ashley is a favorite headed into the Classic.
Lake Hartwell Is Fishing Lights Out As The Classic Approaches
Hometown hero Casey Ashley is the favorite to win “the world championship of bass fishing” at this month’s Bassmaster Classic on Lake Hartwell, at least according to our hometown boy Kerry Partain.
Partain, who fishes tournaments on the lake at least weekly, said there are several different patterns that could come into play when the Classic qualifiers hit the sprawling reservoir Feb. 20-22. They will launch from the new mega-ramp at Green Pond Landing in Anderson, S.C. That means anglers will start on the north end of the lake, on the South Carolina side of this 56,000-acre reservoir, which straddles the South Carolina/Georgia border.
The relevance of the launch location is that the most consistent pattern of the three-day event will likely be down-lake by the dam, said Partain. Obviously leaving wiggle room for weather variations, Partain said the most consistent bite right now, a bite that should continue through February, is on deep ditches and timber around the main-lake pockets in 25 to 40 feet of water. And it’s been a very good bite so far this winter. Local tournaments have been weighing in five-fish limits in the 25-pound range.
Partain said he thinks Hartwell is seeing benefits of the rebound from extreme low-water conditions at the end of the last decade. When water level fluctuations returned to normal three years ago, the vegetation that had grown on the then dry land was flooded, providing largemouth bass with excellent spawning and foraging grounds. Individuals in that 3-year age class are approaching 5 pounds, and there are a lot of fish that size being caught right now. The spotted bass are also thriving on plentiful blueback herring, so the potential for some heavy sacks this month are good. And the spots and largemouths are all mixed in together, being caught on the same pattern.
That deep-water pattern is what Alton Jones, of Waco, Texas, used to win the Classic last time it was on Hartwell during the low-water period in February 2008. He was fishing football jigs, drop shots and jigging spoons through heavy timber in 30-foot depths. Those are the same three baits Partain has been using successfully all winter. And it’s a similar pattern to the one used by Casey Ashley to crush the competition in an FLW event on Hartwell early last March. Ashley, of nearby Donalds, S.C., had several locations of 25- to 40-foot brush where he jigged up a four-day total weight of 68-pounds, 5-ounces. That’s why Partain said he is betting on Ashley to place high in the standings at the Classic.
But weather is always a huge factor, especially in fickle February, when up-state South Carolina can feel like the arctic one day and like a spring picnic the next. Two or three days of warm weather that time of year on Hartwell will push bass shallow into the pockets with the shad. Then, a spinnerbait, Chatterbait or small jig fished around trash and the remaining flooded grass in the pockets could become very productive.
“Someone is going to really whack them shallow,” said Partain. “There could be three or four patterns, but that deep one will be the most consistent.”
There are two other patterns Partain said could play a significant role in late February, when the pressure is on. A jig crawled slowly under and around brushed-up deep-water docks is a good way to pick up that one big kicker fish on Hartwell. A shaky head fished in the same areas will produce numbers. Sounds a lot like Ashley’s winning pattern, doesn’t it?
Another good way to pull fish off those deep docks is with a jerkbait fished slowly. And that same jerkbait will produce in the pockets around baitfish if what amounts to a prespawn bite shows up.
No matter how they catch them, it will be interesting to see how the world’s best bass-tournament anglers do it when the big stage comes to Hartwell. If this winter so far is any indicator, we should see some consistently heavy sacks at the top of the board.
Partain said the only thing he sees messing up the fishing at this point would be heavy rains that flush muddy water down the lake. But even if that happens, it could cause the creeks to warm quickly and set up an awesome shallow bite. We’ll all have to wait and see.