Hartwell Fishing Great

Jason Christie brought 20 pounds, 14 ounces of Lake Hartwell bass to the scales to take the lead on Day 1 of the Bassmaster Classic. Bassmaster photo by Seigo Siato.

A very simple conclusion after one day of competition at the Bassmaster Classic is that Lake Hartwell is in good condition and producing well. The top of the board certainly shows that, with Jason Christie's 20-pound, 14 ounce sack and seven 16-pound-plus limits. Looking farther down, 32 anglers from a field of 52 weighed at least 12 1/2 pounds of bass, which is a solid 2 1/2-pound average for a five-fish limit, and 51 of 52 anglers brought a limit to the scales.

That shouldn't be a surprise, I suppose. The lake is fairly full, which hasn't been the case very often for the past couple of years, newly flooded grass is providing a lot of shallow cover along the edges, the fish are in a solid pre-spawn mode, and the weather has been warm and fairly stable. All very good things.

I will be interesting to see how things change as leaders have to contend with increasing numbers of spectator boats and anglers fishing "spots" or fairly small areas continue to target the same fish. One interesting thing this morning is that yesterday's leaders were among the first to fill their limits, so it really seems they are on to some specific things that the others might not be seeing.

We''ll keep watching!