How rookie Paul Marks Jr won the Hartwell Elite

Herring lakes have always been their own bassin’ world. FFS has opened up that world to non-herring guys, but herring spotted bass fisheries are still kinda their own deal. So I guess it’s not a big surprise that just like Casey Ashley back in the day, an experienced herring-lake fisherman (even if he is a rookie) won a herring-lake tournament.

Here’s how Paul got his first blue trophy.

Going in and practice

> “Going into it I knew I could catch a lot of fish, it was just going to be running into the right ones in practice. I had about 16-17 lbs every day and I was pretty much just running new water….

> “I’ve spent a little bit of time on Hartwell, so I had a decent bit of stuff I already knew I was gonna fish. So all of practice I’d look for new stuff and try to find a new bait. I had 19 rods out on my deck every day of practice trying to figure something out.”

[ I asked him if there’s 19 herring baits?? I mean, I could maybe name 6. He said: “Yep.”]

What is new stuff:

> “Particular structure – hard bottom, rock and clay points, sneaky little hard spots going down a bank or something where some herring might be spawning and bass are set up, brushpiles I didn’t have marked. Some places where they might be set up on a bank that has a steep drop that you can’t see on a map, where they’ll be schooled up and eating topwater in the mornings.

> [On day 1] I was just going to run around in the morning and hit as many places as I could topwater and a Fluke Stick.”

Tournament

> “Day 1 started out pretty quick. I caught 15-16 lbs by like 8:30 or 9:00.

> “I’d found a bed fish the last day of practice I knew was over 4 lbs…I caught it in like 10 minutes. That jumped my bag up a lot – it ended up weighing 5 lbs. I ended up finding a bed fish right after that that was 3.5 and it barely helped cull again.

> “After that I pretty much ran around and looked for the next day…for bed fish and stuff like that.

> “The 2nd day of the tournament I started out on some herring stuff. It was a little bit slower. I moved out to 10-20′ of water and started throwing a shakey head with a Fluke Stick Jr on it – I caught 17 lbs by 11:00.

> “I looked the rest of the day for bed fish but that was all I had.

> “Day 3 started out I caught 3.5-lb largemouth on the Zoom Fluke Stick on a herring-spawn point and another 3.5-lb spot on the same point.

> “The rest of the day I ran around and it was pretty tough. I had 14 lbs at 12:00. I went and fished some brushpiles my dad and Mark Hardin sank in 2018-19, long before I even dreamed of fishing the Opens or anything. It’s pretty cool they’re still there and holding fish.

> “I caught a 3.5 on the first one I hit and…the 3rd brushpile I hit I caught a 4-lb spot on topwater.

> “The last day I don’t even remember [laughs]. I started on some herring spawn stuff and struggled. I didn’t have any that I threw in the box – some non-keepers and some keepers because I didn’t want to risk one dying.

> “I went down to where I caught ’em the 1st and 2nd day and caught 14 bs. I pulled up on a random spot around 11:00-11:30 and threw my Fluke Stick over a little sand drop, and a 3.5-lb spot came up and ate it…got me over 15 lbs.

> “The rest of the day I ran around like crazy and just never ran into any. I looked for some bed fish for like an hour and a half, never found any. I ran brushpiles the rest of the day. Really had no clue I won.”

He said his best areas were:

> “…around herring-spawn points and shoals, and around mid-morning they’d move out around 10-15′. They’d quit schooling and move out there a little bit. I caught a few [of those fish] around rocks and brush, but mostly just swimmers.”

He weighed 4 largemouths, of which were 2 bed fish.

Baits

> Zoom Fluke Stick (natural shad) weightless with an exposed 5/0 Gamakatsu Nano Alpha Offset Worm Round Bend Hook, 15-lb Seaguar Smackdown Braid to 15-lb Seaguar Tatsu Fluoro, Shimano Vanquish C3000 Reel, 7′ 4″ M XF G. Loomis NRX+ Rod.

> All the morning fish he weighed were on this rig.

> “I was just reeling it real subtle – as straight as I could reel it, with minimal action. It’s just something different. These fish have seen so much stuff getting ripped over their face real fast. So I just slowed down and gave them a pretty subtle representation, and it worked out.”

> Why the big hook: “I used that big a hook for the weight [for casting] and the hookup ratio.  When they hit it real fast you need to hook ’em quick.”

> Why that heavy a leader: “I had the drag really tight and a lot of stripers were around – I wanted to flip ’em all in the boat. And you have to set the hook really hard or they’ll spit it out quick.”

> Shakey head: Zoom Fluke Stick Jr (natural shad) on a 3/16-oz SPRO Skip Gap Football Shakey Head (gp) with a 3/0 Gammy hook, 15-lb Seaguar Smackdown Flame Green Braid to 12-lb Seaguar Tatsu Fluoro, Shimano Stella XG C3000 Reel, 7′ 1″ M XF G. Loomis NRX+ Rod.

> “I’d throw it out there and the majority would eat it before it hit the bottom.”

> Why the Fluke Stick: “Because it looks like a herring, the color of it – it looks like a dying herring.”

> Topwater on 3rd day over bruspiles: SPRO Walking Haint (chrome), 40-lb Seaguar Smackdown Stealth Grey Braid, Shimano Metanium DC XG Reel, 7′ M F G. Loomis GLX Rod.

Electronics

> “I used FFS to see schools of fish and single fish swimming around. From 3′ of water to 30′ of water.

> “I side-imaged to find some brushpiles, and rocky and clay hard spots.”

Shoutouts

> “Big thanks to everyone that showed up from my hometown, that drove over 1.5 hrs to watch me weigh in. That was really special.”