northern pressure cooker
I t takes a lot of poise to tussle with acrobatic smallmouth , even when there isn ’ t hundreds of thousands of dollars ( and a Polaris Rookie of the Year award ) on the line . When the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit heads north to finish out the season each year , the pressure is on , and there ’ s nothing that can make or break an angler quite like the result of a heart-stopping battle with a fish that just won ’ t quit .
When the Pro Circuit headed to Lake Champlain to close out the 2022 regular season , Nick Hatfield had one thing on his mind : winning ROY honors . He did just that with a 17th-place finish , thanks in no small part to tenacious fish like the one pictured here , and in doing so , also locked up a berth in the Tackle Warehouse TITLE at the St . Lawrence River ( in which he finished seventh ).
Hatfield , a Tennessee native who knows a thing or two about catching southern smallmouth , proved “ a bass is a bass ,” green or brown , north or south , in his recent northern exploits , punctuating a tremendous rookie season with $ 29,000 in winnings between the final two events and adding his name to an impressive list of anglers who hit the ground running in their first season on the big stage .
PHOTO BY JODY WHITE
OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2022 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM 83