ANDERSON, S.C. — Warm weather. Tons of bass staged up ready to rush the bank. And no shortage of ways to catch them.
Lake Hartwell is typically a fun place to fish, and that should never be more true than when the Savannah River Division of the Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine visits for its second stop of the season this Saturday.
What to expect
If not for a severe cold front earlier this week, Hartwell local Jayme Rampey fully expected this weekend’s event to be dominated by bed fishing.
“I fished a tournament last weekend, and you could tell they were really getting ready,” Rampey said. “They were on the move and staging really hard. Then this week got cold weather, and it might’ve put a stop to that.”
That may or may not be a bad thing. Once the fish stage up like they had, Rampey said, they’re not going to leave. They’ll just stack up more, and that’s going to happen all throughout the lake.
“Oh, the whole lake will be in play,” Rampey said. “I could see this tournament won way up the Tugaloo in the dirty water or next to the ramp in the clear. A pro is just going to have to go somewhere, settle down and hope they catch more than 20 pounds.”
Forward-facing sonar will play a big role in this derby with so many fish staged up on secondary points and in flat pockets. Plus, Rampey noted there is always a herring bite in the morning on Hartwell. However, as the day goes on, he expects docks to really come into play. And depending how much the weather warms, he wouldn’t be surprised to see the first big females sneaking onto beds.
In terms of species, Rampey expects plenty of mixed bags of largemouth and spotted bass, but anyone going for the win is going to need to focus on catching those kicker largemouth, as the spotted bass alone tend not to be big enough to get over the 20-pound mark.
But whether with largemouth or spots, sore thumbs are bound to happen.
“There will be so many fish caught this weekend,” Rampey said. “Hartwell can sometimes be a little mean, but this weekend is not going be one of those times.”
Baits to bring
As noted, anglers taking advantage of their three hours with forward-facing sonar is going to be important, but Rampey doesn’t expect the typical jighead minnows to play as much. Instead, he sees worms being the go-tos, whether it be shaky heads, Ned rigs and Neko rigs.
Outside of the FFS period, pros can open up the tacklebox. One variable to watch will be whether the wind gets up, as a spinnerbait or jerkbait could really produce some big bags.
What will it take?
It’s Hartwell in the spring, meaning it almost assuredly will take 20 pounds to win. Rampey acknowledged there will be a logjam of pros in the upper teens, but finding those bigger largemouth to get over 20 is going to be necessity for anyone looking to hoist the hardware.