JEFFERSON COUNTY, Tenn. – The final day of practice for Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by MillerTech Stop 4 Presented by Phoenix Boats on Douglas Lake has largely been a damp one. Tied by points for second in the 7 Brew Angler of the Year standings, Ryan Lachniet took us along for the final day of practice. The young Virginia pro has a lot riding on this event from a points perspective, and he’s obviously off to a great start to the season, with three Top 25 finishes and a Top 10 in the opener at the Harris Chain. Here, in the hills of East Tennessee, Lachniet is out of his comfort zone in some ways, but more than capable of a good finish despite his doubts.
On about the same schedule as the rest of the field, Lachniet dumps in above takeoff, looking to fish the upper end of the lake on the final day of practice. Not at home idling for schools offshore, he’s hoping to find a shallow bite that suits his strengths. Almost as soon as he launches his boat, he needs rain gear, and the misty, light, but always present rain will be a feature throughout the morning.
Running up the lake, Lachniet starts on a steep rock bank. He’s tentatively looking for a shad spawn, although the lake hasn’t given him many signs of that so far.
“I can’t see them visually spawning,” he said. “I’m trying to see if they’ll follow my ChatterBait or something.”
Unfortunately, on this starting hole, the shad are pretty scarce, and he moves on relatively quickly.
Up the river farther, you can see glimmers of how pretty the mountains are, but it’s also hard to see the real scope of the scene through the rain. Lachniet drops the trolling motor on another bluffier bank, but rapidly fishes his way into a pocket and then a dock, hunting a little more irregularity than long rocks have to offer.
Fishing his first dock of the day, Lachniet pops one off the back corner and puts it on the scale.
“It’s a 2.47, which I think is a really good one,” he said. “Because I think if you catch 12 a day, you’ll do well. I just have to survive this one.”
After pausing to make his bait fishless, Lachneit continues down the bank, poking and probing around docks, shallow wood and the little bit of vegetation that the rising water is slowly consuming. Once, he spots a fish seemingly inches from the boat, and he drops his bait on it.
“Positive reaction,” he said. “That’s the best thing about practice. You can just throw a ChatterBait at a floater.”
At this point, Lachniet gets on the phone, and from here out, it’s fair to assume that he’s on the phone with Drew Gill, Connor Jacob, or both the entire time. Practicing while on the phone the entire time is a pretty modern innovation when it comes to bass fishing, and it might not square with an old-school mentality. But, Lachniet, Gill and Jacob are all having a good time, and they’re all earning good finishes, so it’s hard to argue against the method. Sometimes the three of them are just joking about whatever is in front of them, from the “huge shad spawn” that is one shad all the way to video games. On the other hand, they’re occasionally deep in the nitty-gritty of fishing, breaking down gravel, channel swings, and sticks. If there’s a takeaway from this morning, it’s that Gill is winning practice by a wide margin.
Zipping up to a bridge, Lachniet quickly notes a few bass on his LiveScope and then catches a few bass on a jerkbait. On the phone, Gill is against this – he would prefer the fish get caught on tournament day. On the other hand, there seem to be plenty of bass in Douglas.
Our next stop is shallow, but it doesn’t last too long. Plying a ChatterBait and a popper in flooding grass, Lachniet spots some carp, and some shad, but no bass. It’s unfortunate, because it looks really good, and not far off from some of the productive patterns we’ve seen this spring on the Bass Pro Tour. However, Lachniet is basically making a living winning locally in Virginia, and he’s a consistent contender in national competition. So, when he leaves something, it’s probably at the right time and for a good reason.
Now working his way back down the lake, Lachniet starts hitting pockets, docks and a lot of the irregularities he sees. He’s seeing some fish, and deliberately not hooking them, but it’s not fast and furious.
“Hopefully, I survive,” he said. “I don’t need a great tournament. I just don’t want a horrible one. I don’t want to blow my year after the way it started.”
At the next stretch of docks, Lachniet shakes off a big one, maybe 3 or 4 pounds on ‘Scope, and wrangles with one little fish that wanted his bait so bad that he came back up to take it off the surface after it already let go once. It’s hard to call his shallow picking and poking a winning program right now, but certainly things seem to be going alright.
Lachniet is a tournament junkie; he’s fished three events with MLF this year, plus Bassmaster Opens and anything he can get his hands on locally. As such, you can tell that he’s been everywhere and been doing everything. He has dead worms and minnows all over the boat, enough jigheads on the floor to stock most folks for a year, and enough nail weights to get into carpentry. The cockpit doesn’t look very organized, but whenever Lachniet dipped into the center compartment, he had what he needed in seconds – so, maybe don’t judge the book by the cover.
At this point, Gill is becoming insufferable on the phone. He’s clearly and audibly having an excellent time. So, Lachniet heads down the lake a little more – maybe farther than he would on his own, but not really to seek out Gill. More to seek the circumstances. Turns out, after dipping into a couple more pockets and throwing at a couple more sticks, Lachniet can get some fish moving, too.
Despite a college career with Campbellsville University, Lachniet isn’t big on schools, which can sometimes put you behind the eight ball on TVA fisheries. So, he’s not thrilled with practice.
“I’ve got some shallow stuff I’m going to run. I know I’ll catch a bunch of fish,” he said. “But I don’t know about good ones. That’s the story of everyone’s week, I think. But I’m sure a couple of people have schools they think they’re going to catch good ones out of.”
With the weather clearing, it’s time for me to get to work, and time for Lahcniet to buckle down for the last hours. Making the Top 10 nearly a third of the time with MLF, his percentage is reminiscent of early-career Bryan Thrift or Brent Ehrler. So, even if there are fish grouped up offshore that he’s not in on, it doesn’t mean he won’t be in the check line on Day 3.
Follow along
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