While none of the home state anglers have led a day at the Marathon Bassmaster Elite Series at Lake Murray to this point, the anglers who call South Carolina home have been lurking in the shadows.
Now with only one more day of fishing to go, three of those anglers are within reach of $100,000 and a big blue trophy.
Leading the way for the home team is Summerville, S.C. native Patrick Walters, who is third after three days of competition with 62-8. While the Santee Cooper Lakes (next week’s Elite Series venue) are his home fisheries, Walters went to college in Columbia at the University of South Carolina and won a college national championship on Lake Murray.
“I’m happy to have a chance,” he said. “In your home state, you don’t want to disappoint more than anything. The fear of failing is almost more than (wanting to) win sometimes. You just want to make sure you catch them.”
From Day 1, Walters said he wanted to achieve consistency in this event and so far, he has been successful, catching 22-11 on Day 1 followed by 20-9 on the second day and 19-4 on Semi-Final Saturday.
History on the lake has guided him all week and with conditions changing and has even caught bass on spots that helped him win that national championship.
“I fished some of those same spots today and that’s where I caught a couple of good fish,” Walters said. “And they weren’t there in practice so I feel pretty good about it. It got me a little fired up. It was nostalgic.”
Jason Williamson is in position to win his third Elite Series event and his first since 2010. Williamson grew up fishing all of the Blueback herring lakes in South Carolina. The Aiken, S.C. pro finished 48th the last time the Elite Series visited Columbia was 2011 and he was excited to see the trail come back to Lake Murray.
“Lake Hartwell, Clarks Hill and Murray are the lakes I grew up fishing a lot. We haven’t been here in a long time and it means a lot just to get to come here,” Williamson said. “B.A.S.S. picked an excellent time of year to come here.”
Williamson vaulted up the leaderboard on Day 2 with a 24-4 bag and carried that momentum into Semi-Final Saturday with 17-1 despite a 2-pound penalty for a culling infraction.
“The lake is fishing really strong right now. I’ve been out here 18 years and it’s been awhile since I’ve won one,” he said. “If you make the Top 10 and you are in contention going into the final day, that is all you can ask for. It means the world to me, my family and my sponsors. It is so cool to ride around on a lake that you know. There are a lot of positive vibes here.”
Although his time on this body of water has been limited in recent years, Lake Murray sets up really well for Greenwood, S.C. native Brandon Cobb and that has shown this week as Cobb enters the final day in ninth with a three-day total of 60-11.
He feels a lot of his is getting better as well.
“Making a Top 10 is awesome. When I weighed-in I think half of Greenwood County was here,” Cobb said. “Anytime there are a lot of people here watching, it is pretty cool. The year is going pretty well and I am trying to be consistent.”
You can follow all three of these pros on Bassmaster LIVE on Championship Sunday starting at 8 a.m. on FS1 and check out Bassmaster.com for updates on BassTrakk as well as stories and photo galleries from the water.
