Santee Cooper Slugfest at Elite Series Event?

Luke Palmer - Photo courtesy of BASSMASTER

The Bassmaster Elite Series begins at Santee Cooper tomorrow, and it’s another one of those national tournaments that I’m excited about as a fan and as a part of the fishing media. No doubt, I will have the live tuned in while I work tomorrow and will be glancing at BASStrak throughout all weekend, no matter what I’m doing.

This one intrigues me at a few levels, beginning with the likelihood of a bunch of big fish being caught. Santee is a world-class largemouth fishery, with outstanding habitat and diverse and abundant forage, and all reports say the fishery is the healthiest it has been in decades.

Santee Cooper is also very familiar to me, which invariably magnifies interest in a major event. I’ve spent dozens of days fishing all over the 170,000-plus acres that makes up lakes Marion and Moultrie, so I know what areas look like and how they differ from a fishing standpoint as I watch the action unfold.

I’ve actually spent a lot of fishing for other species, including catfish, crappie, bluegill and stripers, on the Santee Cooper lakes, but time on the water doing any kind of fishing builds familiarity, and I’ve also enjoyed some outstanding bass fishing on these storied waters.

Adding a third layer of interest, the company I work for, PRADCO-Fishing, sponsors half a dozen Elite Series pros. One of them, Luke Palmer, won the most recent Santee Cooper Elite and finished fourth the year before. Jason Christie won a National Pro Tour event on Santee a couple ago.

About Santee Cooper 

Although often dubbed Santee Cooper Lake, two distinct reservoir and system of canals make up Santee Cooper, which was created in the 1940s. 

Lake Marion, known locally as the Upper Lake, covers 110,00 acres and has extensive flooded timber, a swampy upper end and vast shallow backwaters along its edges. 

Lake Moultrie (the Lower Lake) covers 60,000 acres. It’s basically round and looks wide open, but its bottom is completely covered with hills, valleys, ditches and other structure. It’s bound by vast, swampy backwaters.

Shallow areas of both lakes are loaded with cypress and tupelo trees and vast stands of vegetation, including hydrilla and eelgrass. Local anglers say the grass coverage is as extensive as they remember, undoubtedly contributing to the health of the bass population.

Santee Cooper is also fertile and is home to several shad and herring species, along with crawfish and various sunfish species to keep the bass well fed. 

Variety Likely

Unlike many major tournaments, where a couple of key approaches make the most sense, causing virtually everyone to fish the same way, a host of approaches are apt to produce at Santee Cooper right now, so anglers will be fishing a lot of different ways. It is also one of the Elite Series events where live sonar is not permitted, which tends to bring out more diverse angling approaches.

Topwater, pitching plastics to trees, cranking humps, swimming vibrating jigs and swim jigs, flipping grass, frog fishing, targeting a shad spawn… The possibilities go on and on. Big bags are apt to be caught with a variety of techniques and from all over the lakes. 

I look forward to seeing how it all unfolds - and hopefully with a story to write to start next week about a YUM or BOOYAH bait producing a win at Santee Cooper!

Full Stride for Bass Tournament Season

The 2018 bass tournament season hits full stride this week, at least from my perspective. The season is well underway and has been for a few week. In fact, an FLW Costa Series event, an FLW Tour event and a Bassmaster Open are in the books. The Bassmaster Elite Series begin this week, though, and to me, the tournament season hits full stride once the FLW Tour and the Elite Series are underway.

The Elites are fishing Lake Martin in Alabama this week. Practice begins this morning. Last word I heard was that the lake was muddy and the water was cold. This week's weather looks pretty mild, though, so it will be interesting to hear practice reports and more importantly see tournament results!

I don't suppose will see anyone bring 31 pounds and change to the scales, like Bobby Lane did on day 1 on the Kissimmee Chain! That said, I suspect some of the guys will unlock good patterns and bring in some fat sacks of pretty spotted bass.

Christie Continues Giving Back

Forrest L. Wood presenting Jason Christie the second annual
Forrest L. Wood Sportsmanship and Community Service Award.

A couple of weeks ago, I watched Jason Christie receive the Forrest L. Wood Sportsmanship and Community Service Award on stage at the Forrest Wood Cup. That came as no surprise, given all I've ever heard about Christie and his character and all I've seen in him as he interacts with fans or talks on stage in front of a weigh-in crowd.

Christie continues to back that solid reputation with his hopeful plans for the Bassmaster Toyota Trucks All Star Week. If he gets voted in, Christie plans to donate all of his All Star Week earnings to the Make-A-Wish America Foundation. Not 10, 20 or even 50 percent. 100 percent. That decision, when combined with his all-star fishing performance this year, easily earns my vote. With a week left in the voting, Christie sits in fifth, one place out from making All Star Week.

Ten anglers earned their way into All Star Week strictly through their fishing. Those ten include the top eight in the Angler of the Year standings, the Rookie of the Year (Hank Cherry) and last year's Bassmaster Classic winner (Cliff Pace). The other four are chosen by fans, who can vote for four anglers daily through Sept. 6. Click here to cast your vote.

By the way, do you know where you would find Jason Christie if you went looking for him this morning? He'll spend this morning pond-side at a children's fishing derby, signing autographs, posing with children in photos and encouraging young anglers.

Auburn System Rocks College Series Championship

The Auburn University and Montgomery team of Jacob Frink and Tom Nummy took first place in the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series on Lake Chatuge this weekend. B.A.S.S. Photo by Shaye Baker.

Of the fifty-four teams that qualified for this weekend's The Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Championship at Lake Chatuge, two represented Auburn University, and one represented Auburn University at Montgomery. Yesterday, when the field was narrowed to only the top five teams after two days of competition, all three teams from the Auburn system remained. When all the fish from all three days had been weighed, it was the AUB team of Jacob Frink and Tom Nummy who got to hold up the championship trophies.

Members of the top four teams from the championship, AUB, Young Harris College, one of the two Auburn teams and Eastern Washington University, will compete individually in late September in the Carhartt Bassmaster College Bracket Championship to qualify for a spot in the 2013 Bassmaster Classic. It's a head-to-head, bracket-style, elimination event.

Last year's bracket championship finals featured plenty of drama, with two Auburn anglers, brothers Jordan and Matt Lee, competing on the final afternoon for a Classic bid. Matt Lee won and got to represent Auburn University and college anglers in the 2013 Bassmaster Classic. This year Jordan Lee will be among the eight anglers competing for a Classic spot. Matt was part of the Auburn team that finished fifth yesterday and will not be in the bracket championship.

Going back to Auburn's recent prominence in the Carhartt College Series, last year's finalists in the Championship Bracket (Lee brothers) were both from AU, and half the eight in this year's championship will represent AU or AUB. Oh, and the 2014 Bassmaster Classic, it will be held on Lake Guntersville in Alabama.

College Championship: First Day Stories Worlds Apart

B.A.S.S. Photo by Shaye Baker.

The stories of the top teams after one day of competition at the Carhartt College Series Championship couldn't differ much more dramatically. The first-day leaders, Nick Barr and Jarred Walker of Eastern Washington University, traveled farther than any other team to fish Lake Chatuge. Still, they felt right at home in the Georgia mountains because they are used to using finesse strategies in lakes that are far clearer than Lake Chatuge. By way of contrast, the second place team, from the University of Louisiana at Monroe, had never drop-shot fished prior to the practice days earlier this week and are accustomed to fishing heavy tackle in thick cover and at close quarters. Contrasting the distance traveled by the leaders, in third place after one day is the "home team" from Young Harris College, the school that is hosting the event. Also noteworthy, the teams of Auburn angler and defending college champion Matt Lee and his brother Jordan Lee, who is fishing on a different Auburn team, are both within striking distance in 10th and 7th places, respectively, after one day.

The Carhartt College Series Championship is a three-day event. Visit the college home page to keep up with the action.

Three Days, Three Leaders at West Point

Tommy Biffle led at West Point after the Day 3 weigh-in. Day 4 competition is going on now. B.A.S.S. photo by James Overstreet.

Only the Top 12 anglers remain in the hunt for title at West Point Lake, where the B.A.S.S. Elite Series has been competing this weekend. Each of the first three days has ended with a different angler atop the leaderboard, and based on BASSTrakk, which keeps a live tally of estimated weights, none of those three is in the lead early this morning (although one is in second place).

All three anglers who have led -- Greg Vinson, Aaron Martens and Tommy Biffle -- made the Top 12, so one of those three certainly could emerge as the West Point Champion. More so than is the case in many tournaments, all the anglers who are fishing today are in legitimate contention. Only four pounds and one ounce separate first and twelfth place, and while West Point has been extremely stingy this week, it has some very large bass in it that could be real game changers.

The top of the leaderboard isn't all that has changed during this tournament, though. The weather has been sporadic, and the pros don't seem to locked onto patterns or fish. Most have been searching anew each day, and the same thing is likely to be going on today, as yesterday's all-day rain almost certainly poured a bunch of new mud into the lake and changed things even more. They have found a few. BASSTrakk shows half the remaining field with at least one fish caught as of 8:05 eastern.

The pros will weigh in this afternoon at 3:15 eastern, and you can watch the weigh-in live on Bassmaster.com

Video Channel Growing

The YouTube Channel that Nathaniel set up a couple of months ago is gradually growing in content. Thirteen videos now posted include what I think is a quite a bit of practical information. He typically adds one or two videos per week.

Most of the videos are tips from pro anglers, including bass pros and crappie pros, but there is also a bit of trout stream material and some redfishing action from Louisiana in the mix. I leave for Minnesota tomorrow, so soon we'll have ice videos as well. Next stop after Minnesota is Oklahoma, where I'll be spooning for a mix of species.

Video view numbers are growing gradually as well, with a little more than 500 views as of this morning. A crappie fishing video with Ronnie Capps on Reelfoot Lake has gotten the most views so far. Our most recent video, which includes great tips for fishing extra shallow by Bassmaster pro Pete Ponds, is a good example of the type of content you can find on the channel.

Bassmaster Classic Blog

Photo courtesy of B.A.S.S.

Having been unable to attend the Bassmaster Classic this year, I've enjoyed the exceptional event coverage on bassmaster.com. The live cameras put you on the docks during fog delays, allowing you to see just how soupy it has been, and watch the anglers pacing in their boats or on the docks -- all eager to get out and fish. There are also live cameras at the expo, at the weigh-in and even on some anglers' boats.

BASSTrack, which provides a live estimated leaderboard based on reports from in-boat observers, is really cool to watch. It's far from exact and spotty cell service within the huge Delta keeps some anglers off the screen for a while or even hidden until the fish are weighed. Still, it give you an idea about how things are unfolding.

Best of all, though, is the live blog, which includes the voices of several excellent reporters who are scattered all over the event, on shore and on the water, making continual updates about what they are seeing. Blogs range from nuts-and-bolts catch reports to great stories about fan interaction, competitors' perspectives, observations about conditions. You really couldn't get much closer to being there - without being there. Yesterday I was away from home most of the day, and I was able to follow the blog even with my only-semi-smart phone. I commend and thank the bloggers, the technical folks and the decision makers who have made such a thing possible.