Brent Ehrler has won at Lake Hartwell before, but he has not competed at the lake since live sonar came on the scene. (Photo: MLF/Phoenix Moore)
February 18, 2026
By Todd Ceisner
The Bass Pro Tour makes its first stop at Lake Hartwell this week, which seems improbable considering virtually every other major trail, including the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit that serves as the main feeder trail for the BPT, has made a recent stop at the 56,000-acre reservoir along the Georgia/South Carolina border.
The 51-man field will encounter a fishery where the bass seem to be in their late winter and pre-spawn modes. Water temperatures are primarily hovering between 48 and 54 degrees and the key challenge this week will be satisfying the minimum weight threshold of 2 pounds.
BassFan caught up with James Elam, Brent Ehrler and Spencer Shuffield to get their take on practice and their expectations. See their thoughts below:
Describe your level of confidence coming into this event? James Elam : “I’m pretty unsure. I’m not super confident about this one. It feels like a 50-50 deal. You can tell the fishing and fish habits are different now. The lake has gotten tougher, in my mind. They’ve had a lot of big tournaments on it the last 5 to 10 years and the fish are very smart.”
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Brent Ehrle r: “I’m a 5 on a 1 to 10. It’s been tricky for me. It hasn’t been exactly the normal Lake Hartwell that I have fished before. That last time I fished here forward facing wasn’t a deal. I haven’t found any big schools of fish. It could go the right way and I could do ok or it could not go the right way and I could be headed home early.”
Spencer Shuffield : “Honestly, it’s about the lowest it’s been in a long time for a tournament. I can catch some the first period scoping. After that I know where they’re at but it’s about impossible to get them to bite after 10 o’clock. I’m catching a ton of fish – that’s not a problem. The deal is catching 2-pounders and that’s going to be hard. I can catch plenty of 1-12s, 1-14s.”
What’s going to be the biggest challenge at Hartwell this week for you? Elam : “It’s been hard to catch them to be real honest. I feel like I’ll be around fish. It’s just hard to figure out how to make them bite. It might be the pressure or a little funk the lake is in.”
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Ehrler : “Probably capitalizing on the scope period. I know a lot of guys are going to do well during that period. If I can stay in the mix during that period, we’ll see what happens after that. I didn’t catch a lot during practice, so I don’t know what all is there. I’m not as confident coming into this as I have been in the past.”
Shuffield : “Finding an area that has those 2-plus pounders and staying on them.”
Do you feel you’ll be more focused on spots or largemouth and why? Elam : “I’ll be fishing for spots with some largemouth mixed in as well.
Ehrler : I’ve caught plenty of largemouth where the spots should be and vice versa, so I can’t focus and prepare for one or the other here. I’m not good enough to do that.”
Shuffield : “It’s going to be a mix of both for me. Mainly, I’m going after largemouth in my scope period. After that it could be half and half, if any at all.”
