A year ago Hank Cherry of Maiden, N.C., had his eyes set on finishing high enough in the Southern Opens to qualify for the Bassmaster Elite Series and, hopefully, earning a shot eventually at making the Bassmaster Classic.

He had finished 17^th in the first Southern Open of the Year on the Harris Chain of Lakes in Florida and the next Open was to be on Lake Norman where he is one of the top anglers year in and year out in local tournaments.

Sometimes being the home lake favorite is more a curse than a help. As luck would have it Cherry managed to catch just a little over 18 pounds and finished 41^st at Lake Norman.

Although his winning ways continued in BFL and other tournament series in the Carolinas, he knew he had to score in the last Open of the year or his dream of being an Elite angler would be dashed.

“I told my wife when I left for Smith Lake I would either make something happen there or I would pretty much just hang it up and fish around the house,” he said.

Well, he found a way to make something happen, winning the final 2012 Southern Open on Smith Lake at Jasper, Ala., by one ounce and earning a ticket to the 2013 Bassmaster Classic this past week on Grand Lake of the Cherokees at Tulsa, Okla.

And he made the most of his rookie appearance in the Classic, finishing third and earning a check for $40,000. Combined with the $50,000 he won at Smith Lake and a little over $3,000 he earned at the Harris Chain, Cherry has picked up $94,112 in B.A.S.S. tournaments in the past year.

In the first day of the Classic Cherry put the field on notice that he was there to make some noise, weighing in 21 pounds, 8 ounces, just 9 ounces back of the leaders.

“I thought about the first 10 minutes of fishing I really had a chance when I caught a bass that weighed a little over 6 pounds,” Cherry said.

After averaging almost 4 1/2 pounds a fish the first day his bag dropped off to about 2 1/2 pounds a fish the next day when he brought in five bass that weighed 10 pounds, 13 ounces.

“Every fish I weighed in the Classic came on a jerkbait and the second day I had absolutely no wind,” he said. “I actually got one good bite the second day on a jig, but I lost it. That was the only jig bite I had the whole tournament.

The third day he was right back in the ball game – his first fish was a 4 pounder.

“But then I went about four hours without a bite,” he said. “I switched areas and began running some corners than had wind on them and started catching them again.”

He brought in five bass that weighed 17 pounds, 4 ounces, to take third place in the Classic behind the winner, Cliff Pace of Petal, Miss., and runner-up Brandon Palaniuk of Rathdrum, Idaho, with a three-day total of 49 pounds even.

Cherry said fishing tournaments in Lake Norman and Lake Wylie near his home prepared him for fishing against some of the biggest names in bass fishing.

“Our area is full of some of the best fishermen around, in my belief,” he said. Some of them have just not had the opportunity to travel and fish, but week in and week out they are tough competition.”

“I love fishing around the house, just for bragging rights,” said Cherry who planned to take a day off when he gets home from Tulsa, “just to sleep,” before gearing up to head to the Sabine River at Orange, Texas, for his very first Elite Series tournament March 13-17.