New Yorker loves Toledo Bend
By Bryan Brasher
BASS PRESS RELEASE
For three days, Jamie Hartman has made southern fishing look easy.
Now, he needs one more good day to make his dreams come true.
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| Spawn key to Hartman's pattern. (Photo: BASS) |
The New York resident, who has readily admitted that he isn't familiar with the patterns and practices observed by bass that live in the lakes of the South, caught five Saturday that weighed 17 pounds, 14 ounces to push his three-day total to 56-15 in the Bassmaster Elite at Toledo Bend presented by Econo Lodge.
He will lead the remaining 12 anglers into Championship Sunday with a chance to earn $100,000 and his first B.A.S.S. victory.
"I'm absolutely, 100 percent pleased with the way things went today," said Hartman, who caught 23-5 and 15-12 the first two days of the tournament. "I'm just winging it, piecing things together, but it's all working out so far."
Hartman said he came to Toledo Bend this week expecting the spawn to be over. But when he realized it was still in full swing, he adjusted and turned his attention to spawn and prespawn fish.
They were his target again Saturday.
"I caught three fish on beds today," said Hartman, an Elite Series rookie fishing only his 13th B.A.S.S. event. "Then after that, the shallow stuff was over. I caught my next 12 fish in 32 feet of water. Those fish in deep water were all prespawn fish — big and fat."
