Gilbert Gagner says his 2012 championship was a“ life-changing moment.”
feet over a rock ledge, then retrieve it with jerks and 10- second pauses. Most fish hit when the bait was at rest.”
Hard-fishing but ever humble, Harkness is quick to acknowledge that Mother Nature helped fuel his rally.
“ The leader [ after the first and second rounds ] was catching 18 to 20 keepers a day throwing medium-diving crankbaits off a point where the fish were stacked up. He wacked them the first two days. But when a cold front came in for day three and shut everything down, my slow jerkbait retrieve was the key,” Harkness recalls.
As for the impact of winning the championship and $ 100,000 Living the Dream package, Harkness says it’ s hard to describe.
“ It was the most exciting moment in my life outside of family milestones like marriage or the births of my children and grandchildren,” he says.“ On top of that, fishing the Living the Dream was truly that – a dream. The chance for a weekend angler to fish the Tour against the Larry Nixons of the world was unbelievable. Those experiences are some of my favorite memories ever.”
apRIL 2018 I FLWFIshIng. COm
For anyone preparing for the upcoming event, Harkness offers some advice.
“ Finding out where the fish are and what stage of the spawn they’ re at will be critical. Prespawn bass stage close to spawning areas in the back of bays and cuts, so I’ d start looking in deep water, 100 to 200 yards off a nice spawning flat.”
Vermont Bass Federation member Gilbert Gagner also has a history on Bull Shoals. He represented the Green Mountain State on the reservoir during the 2012 TBF National Championship, which was held in late March. When changing conditions put his rivals on the ropes, he tweaked his tactics to win the event with a 35-pound, 5-ounce total.
“ The lake was up a little, but falling fast,” he says.“ In practice, I struggled to find a population of fish that I could stay on. I could see lots of fish cruising the shorelines, but they wouldn’ t hit. Back at the docks, everyone was talking about seeing but not catching, so it wasn’ t just me.
“ I listened to all the dock talk that said you had to throw fast-moving baits,” he
admits.“ When the tournament started, I left that behind and slowed way down. I spent the first two days of the tournament throwing weightless Senkos and caught two limits of largemouths.”
Gagner’ s day-one catch went 11 pounds, 2 ounces. The weight was considerably less than the 20-5 sack weighed by Michigan’ s Marc Snyder, but it kept Gagner in the running – as did his 10-9 limit on day two. After qualifying for the finals, Gagner shifted his tactics due to falling water levels, an adjustment his competition was unable to pull off.
“ The top guys were concentrating on flooded bushes,” he says.“ The water was dropping astronomically, and by day three they flatout ran out of bushes to fish. I switched to dragging a tube jig for smallies on gravel and put together a solid limit. It was an overwhelming, life-changing moment.”
Gagner opted to fish the Costa FLW Series Northern Division in 2013 instead of the FLW Tour for his Living the Dream package. He enjoyed a consistent season, finishing as high as ninth at the Potomac River event and ranked fifth in the overall standings. Gagner also fished the 2012 Forrest Wood Cup on Lake Lanier, where he pocketed a $ 10,000 paycheck.
“ It was humbling,” he recalls.“ I finished dead last. But I’ ll never forget how FLW pro Scott Martin told me to keep my head up, because the same thing happened to him on Lanier. He told me not to think anything of it and to just keep on fishing.”
Gagner took Martin’ s words to heart. He went on to compete in numerous other TBF tournaments, and won the 2015 TBF National
Championship as a co-angler on Grand Lake in Oklahoma.
“ Bull Shoals fishes very similar to Northern fisheries that have a lot of chunk rock and bushes, especially when the water is high,” adds Gagner.“ I fished toward the dam and in mid-lake areas, concentrating on gravel and flooded bushes along submerged shorelines.
“ Conditions could be similar at this year’ s championship, and weights could vary hugely depending on whether the females are on the beds,” he continues.“ Everyone fishing it needs to be flexible and ready to switch things up when water levels or other conditions change.”
ANTICIPATION BUILDS
Kentucky Bass Federation member Steven Taylor can’ t wait for the showdown to begin. He punched his ticket to compete in the championship at the District 3 National Semi- Finals event Oct. 21-22 on Kentucky Lake, finishing seventh overall and topping the Bluegrass contingent with eight bass for 18-7.
“ My wife says I’ m worse than a kid before Christmas,” he jokes.“ I’ m 58 years old and still get so excited I can’ t sleep the night before a tournament. I’ m absolutely looking forward to the championship.”
Considering the purse at stake – including the $ 100,000 Living the Dream package – such anticipation is understandable.
“ Winning would be an unbelievable accomplishment,” he says.“ I’ ve been fishing the Federation since 1992, so I’ ve been aspiring to this for a long time. I never fished Bull Shoals before qualifying, and it’ s unlike any lake I’ ve fished. I’ ve been down there three times since the Semi-Finals,
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