Most every bass fishing fan who meets Bassmaster Elite Series angler Hank Cherry asks the same question – what was it like to lose the potential winning fish in a Bassmaster Classic?
That’s what happened to the Maiden, N.C., pro in 2013 Classic on Grand Lake. Cherry might very well have lost the fish to secure victory in his first championship.
“I just didn’t put the ones in the boat that I needed to win,” he said last week while testing lures for Livingston. “Everything was working in my favor that day. I just had a couple misses.”
On Day 3, Cherry caught two fish on his primary pattern then switched to main lake bluff points. Wind was helping his jerkbait bite and he was rallying. He just needed a kicker fish, but that was a lot to ask. Then in the final minutes of fishing, Cherry hooked up with a big fish.
“If I told you it was less than 7, 8 pounds, I’d be lying,” he said at the time.
It might have given him one of the most dramatic Classic victories, but instead it came off at the boat and the bass fishing world was left with images of him screaming in anguish.
“It was heartbreaking,” he said. “I knew at that point that was my – I knew at that point I had lost it.”
Cherry started the final day in fourth place, almost 12 pounds behind leader Cliff Pace, but he made a charge while Pace struggled. At one point, BASStrakk had Cherry leading. Pace caught two late but his four fish only totaled 11-8, which left the door open.
A 2:14 p.m. post in the Classic live blog was titled “Cherry loses a big fish.” It described how he played a huge fish around the boat, and as it surged toward the bow, “Cherry jumped up, then flopped on the deck and reached for his fish. His line went limp. “Gaaaaaahhhhhh!” he screamed as he hit the deck face-down. He laid there on the deck of his boat for 30 seconds or so motionless.”
Cameramen, as well as a flotilla of spectators, were there, and that video of his miss quickly became infamous. It first appeared at the weigh-in show that afternoon then numerous times during the Classic shows on ESPN2, which in part is why that question is posed to him so often.
“I get asked about that fish and the Grand Lake Classic all the time,” he said. “The No. 1 question everybody wants to know – ‘How did it feel to lose that fish?’ You can’t really explain it until you’re in that situation.”
He has put it behind him.
“You go through all these experiences in life and everything happens for a reason,” he said. “I firmly believe that. I take it and go. I can’t change that. It happened. Best thing I can do is just keep trucking along.”
Earlier that day, Cherry said he lost a 4- or 5-pounder at the same spot as the 7-plus. Learning the correct approach to fishing those points was key to getting bites and gave him the chance.
“The way that the rock formation was, I figured out if you get the jerkbait to touch the top of it before you get out to deeper water, that would trigger the bites,” he said. “That second time around, I came up from a different angle and stayed out deep. Instead of throwing shallow to deep, I threw deep to shallow. It kind of fooled me when I hit the rock – the fish bit at the same time.”
That prevented him from burying the hooks, but the fish had the entire bait in its mouth. As it swam near the boat, Cherry couldn’t see any of his 6-inch jerkbait, and that turned out to be the problem.
“That’s usually going to turn out really well, or really bad,” he said. “It’s just wedged in there. You don’t have a good hookset. The front half of the bait slipped out of the fish’s mouth – only left one hook in it, and it came off.”
In hindsight, Cherry said he should have attempted to grab the fish the first time it came near the boat. But wind was blowing him toward the rocks and he feared breaking his line.
With two fish around 5 pounds each, Cherry weighed in 17-4 and came up 5-12 short of Pace’s winning weight. Cherry said there was no doubt in his mind that big missed fish would have made up the difference. It was a conservative 7, potentially 7-1/2 to 8 pounds. It would have culled a fish that was under 2 pounds.
“If I don’t win, it’s by mere ounces,” he said.
In his B.A.S.S. career, Cherry has had some significant finishes. He’s won a Southern Open, beat Kevin VanDam head-to-head in the 2013 Evan Williams Bourbon Championship, and was Rookie of the Year that same season. But that Classic close call might be his most memorable moment.
“It was my first Classic, and I had a good showing, which was extra special, I guess,” he said.
Cherry won’t get another shot at Grand Lake March 4-6 when the 2016 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro heads back to Oklahoma. He didn’t qualify and instead will work his sponsors’ booths at the Expo, where he’s sure to entertain more questions about the missed fish.
His answer: “I just tell them, imagine something you’ve dreamed about as a kid, had right there in your hand and somebody just took it from you.”
Hank Cherry landed some nice bass fishing last week.
Bass fishing fans over 21 years of age can enter the Team Evan Williams Elite Angler Experience for a chance to win a day fishing with Cherry and fellow Elite Series angler John Crews, as well as a selection of pro fishing gear. The contest opened today and runs until March 21.
TRAGEDY HITS TEXAS TOURNAMENT
There was one fatality after two bass boats collided early Saturday morning during a fishing tournament on Lake Conroe in Texas.
A 58-year-old Magnolia man, Michael Wayne Conaway, died after the incident that happened around 7:50 a.m. According to a report from the Houston Chronicle, witnesses told Montgomery County officials it appeared both boaters were going around 45 mph and seemed confused about which way to veer to avoid one another.
The tragedy serves as a reminder to everyone taking their boats out – for the first or 50th time this year – to check everything and think safety first.
WALKER SAVED MAN ON HARTWELL
A year ago on Feb. 16, David Walker followed a hunch that something odd was going on. He was in the final day of practice for the 2015 Classic, but unusual activity at a boat ramp made him look twice and finally move that way.
That’s when he saw a man flailing in the water. Walker helped pull the man from the frigid, 40-degree waters of Lake Hartwell. It was later discovered to be Brandon Ardister, an angler from Elberton, Ga., who’s boat sank. Ardister provided a sobering thought if he had died – he would have been buried on the day his mother died a year earlier.
But Ardister told us he believed Walker was an angel sent by his mother. And during the Classic, Walker received a Certificate of Appreciation issued by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to recognize his exemplary act.
BASS PRO SHOPPING SPREE, ANYONE?
A win at Fantasy Fishing will get you a shopping spree at Bass Pro Shops. All you have to do is pick five anglers and have the highest scoring team of around 30,000 entries.
Winners of each event this year will get a $2,500 BPS gift card, and, adding to the fun, second-place finishers will get a GoPro Hero 4 Black Camera.
Get your team for the Classic March 4-6 at www.bassmasterfantasy.com. And be sure to come back for Elite events for a shot at 10 more cards and cameras. Also, the overall winner after 10 events will win a boat.
Last year, Tyler Courtney of Lubbock, Texas, joined Fantasy Fishing for the first time after his buddies invited him, and he ended up upgrading his Triton from a 1998 model to the latest. You never know.
MUELLER’S RECORD DAY
Paul Mueller (above) will long remember this day. Two years ago on Feb. 22, the Federation Nation qualifier from Naugatuck, Conn., caught a five-fish Classic record 32 pounds, 3 ounces to climb from 47th place to fifth place in the Guntersville Classic.
It was his personal best bag and included his personal best largemouth at 8-3. Despite a solid Day 3, Mueller finished second to Randy Howell by 1 pound. He could have been the first B.A.S.S. Nation qualifier to win since Bryan Kerchal had it not been for weighing only three fish on Day 1.
There sure are a lot of what-ifs in bass fishing.
CULLING
- For some expert advice, you can see the pundits’ choices on the Fantasy Fishing page. If you want to know what former Classic champions think, there’s a slideshow providing their picks, as well as some Classic history. While 21 of the 55 anglers in the Classic field received multiple votes, the top vote-getter was Oklahoman Jason Christie. Read Classic winners pick next champ for more.
- Jacob Powroznik’s decision to move over to B.A.S.S. has been proven wise. He’s burned up the trail, cashing in 23 of 26 events, and he won the Toledo Bend Elite event and the 2014 Rookie of the Year. He was fifth in his first Classic and hopes good decisions on Grand Lake help him improve on that. Check out his take on the 2016 Classic, “It comes down to decision making.”