The 2023 Gamakatsu Bassmaster Elite at Lake Seminole is set to start in just two days. At the midway point of practice, we sat down with south Georgia’s native son Drew Cook to see what his thoughts were on how this one will go down.
“I’ve been fishing Seminole my whole life,” said Cook. “But I really started fishing it when I turned 16 and got a driver’s license. Now I live closer to Bainbridge. But when I was going up I lived about 20 minutes from Wingate’s.”
When the Bassmaster Elite Series last visited Lake Seminole in 2014, Cook was just getting going good in the local tournament scene. But the eager young angler of 19 already had his eyes on the Elites.
“Back then, all I wanted to do was be on the Elites, and then to have one at home. Now we’ve obviously made the Elites. The year after the Elites came here, in 2015 I fished my first Open and that was on Lake Seminole.”
A confident but understandably nervous Cook set out on his home pond to see how his skillset stacked up against the likes of many Elite anglers who were competing in the 2015 Opens.
“I’ll never forget this, ever. The first day I ran down to the lake, and I’m flipping a grassline and Gerald Swindle was maybe 50 yards from me and I think (Greg) Hackney was really close to me. I was fishing behind Swindle, and I caught an 8- something punching and that kind of sealed the deal. Like this is what I want to do. I can catch one behind Swindle? Bring it on.”
Since the Open
Since that event, and even before, Cook has waited anxiously for his shot at an Elite Series win on Lake Seminole. There’s a lot of consolation prizes that could come Cook’s way this week, but anything short of a win will be a disappointment. The weather is lining up for an all-out whackfest though, so he’ll have his work cut out for him.
“It will be a lot different by Thursday. I think overall the weights will be good. I think I would have had a better shot of winning it if it was really cold.”
Cook has a home-field advantage no doubt. Especially on Seminole which amounts to a maze of standing and submerged timber and stumps in many places. This labyrinth encircles many of the better spawning flats and hosts a handful of little hidey-holes that the bass will stage in and pull out of given colder conditions.
Cook has had a lifetime to locate these key little areas. But with stable and warm weather, these diamonds in the rough won’t play as big of a role as he had hoped. And the playing field will be leveled, at least a little bit.
Current lake conditions
When asked if we should expect to see a few fish spawning, or if we’d see be a big wave moving shallow, Cook’s response was emphatic.
“Oh son, they’re swimming as hard as they can to the bank. It was 30 something degrees three days ago here. It got to 76 today, and it’s going to be in the 80s the next three days. And we’ve got a new moon tonight.”
The water temps to start practice on Monday morning were reading 58 degrees on Cook’s electronics. By the end of the day, they were at 62. Cook expects them to rise into the upper 60s by the end of the event.
“And 61 is all we need. You’ll see a lot of people sight fishing in Spring Creek, Fish Pond Drain, all the clean water stuff. For at least the first two days.”
Though sight fishing will play this week as the fish move to their beds, Cook pointed out that a lot of the fishery is pretty muddy. So looking at the bass on bed will be limited to a few specific areas.
“I think you’ll see people punching. And you’ll see people flipping a big heavy jig, like a 3/4- or 1-ounce jig in some of the milfoil and hydrilla that’s still barely topped out. And then obviously you’re going to see the same old same old lightweight Texas rig flipped around lily pads and reeds for spawning fish.”
With all these big fish shallow, Cook believe we will see a heavyweight slugfest, with the winning weight topping out in the 90s.
“I don’t think we’re going to get to 100 pounds. But I think the 50 cut will be close to 16 pounds a day. That is strong, but there are so many 3-pounders that it wouldn’t surprise me at all.”
Productive areas
When asked if Cook thought we’d see something similar to last week’s event on Lake Okeechobee, where there were only a handful of productive areas that concentrated most of the competitors, he offered assurances that there would be much more elbow room for the anglers this week.
“It won’t be anything like Okeechobee. There will be some places where there will be three or four boats within a couple hundred yards. But it won’t be 12 people within 100 yards of each other.”
So does this mean Seminole won’t be won in an area, but instead will be more of a run-and-gun pattern type tournament? Well Cook’s answer was twofold.
“I don’t think it’s going to be an area deal. And the only reason I think that is because I know too much. If you didn’t know much, I think you could probably stick it out in an area. I just don’t know that there’s an area that’s going to be that good that long.”
Though he doesn’t believe this event will be won in one particular area, he does believe there will be a few parts of the fishery where anglers will do the most damage. Seminole is essentially comprised of three fingers. There’s the Chattahoochee River to the west, the Flint River to the east and Spring Creek splitting the two.
“You’re going to have three players: the lower third of the Hootch, the lower third of Spring Creek and the whole area where it all comes together. That’s where it’s going to go down.”
Don’t mistake Cook’s confidence for cockiness. He has been preparing for this event his whole life, he’s sleeping in his own bed and he’s feeling good about his chances.
Everything is lining up for the 2023 Gamakatsu Bassmaster Elite on Lake Seminole to be at absolute joy to watch. Be sure to tune in Thursday morning for LIVE coverage on Bassmaster.com. This is one you’re not going to want to miss.
