Despite the fact that the bass were in a bit of a limbo stage, the Elites put on a show once again in South Carolina at the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at Santee Cooper Lakes.
Luke Palmer notched his first Elite Series win in dominating fashion, falling just shy of a Century Belt. As always, there were a few surprises in Rapala Bassmaster Fantasy Fishing.
Let’s get into the best and worst picks from Santee Cooper Lakes.
The overall winner of the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at Santee Cooper Lakes was (“EthanThoele10”), who selected three of the five picks that would have made up the perfect roster. Overall Rank: No. 1, Total Points 1,345.
BUCKET A: Drew Cook
BUCKET B: Luke Palmer
BUCKET C: Brandon Palaniuk
BUCKET D: Caleb Kuphall
BUCKET E: Paul Mueller
The perfect Fantasy Fishing roster for the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at Santee Cooper Lake would have been:
BUCKET A: Drew Cook
BUCKET B: Luke Palmer
BUCKET C: Matthew Robertson
BUCKET D: Hank Cherry
BUCKET E: Paul Mueller
Total: 1,437
BUCKET A: COOK
While Drew Cook didn’t go back-to-back at Santee Cooper, he was still the highest scoring angler in Bucket A. Cook was selected by 9.7% of players and scored 290 points.
Second best selection: Brandon Cobb continued his excellent season by notching another Top 10 at Santee Cooper. Cobb scored 285 points while being selected by a whopping 22.3% of players.
Lowest scoring angler: Coming off of a Top 10 at Lake Murray, Kyoya Fujita wasn’t able to keep the momentum at Santee Cooper. The Elite Series rookie scored just 75 points and was selected by 1.7% of players.
BUCKET B: PALMER
Luke Palmer got his revenge on Santee Cooper by notching his first Bassmaster Elite Series win in dominating fashion. The Oklahoma pro was selected by 7.0% of players and scored 310 points.
Second best selection: Despite being the lowest selected angler in Bucket B at 0.2%, Bryant Smith was the second-best angler in Bucket B. The Elite Series rookie scored 272 points.
Lowest scoring angler: Austin Felix never got it going at Santee Cooper. The Minnesota pro scored just 81 points for the 3.3% of players who selected him.
BUCKET C: ROBERTSON
After leading the event on Days 1 and 2, Matt Robertson stayed inside the Top 10 for a solid finish at Santee Cooper. Robertson scored 310 points for the 8.5% of players who selected him.
Second best selection: If it wasn’t for Robertson’s added bonus points, Mark Menendez would have easily been the highest scoring angler in the Bucket with his second-place finish. Menendez scored 295 points and was selected by just 0.4% of players.
Lowest scoring angler: David Fritts wasn’t able to get a solid pattern established at Santee Cooper. The legendary angler scored just 67 points for the 0.4% of players who selected him.
BUCKET D: CHERRY
Hank Cherry got back on track at Santee Cooper with a solid 13th place finish. The two-time Classic Champion scored 251 points and was selected by 4.1% of players.
Second best selection: Bucket D was once again a tricky one pick from, but Cliff Prince was the second-best choice in the Bucket. Prince scored 225 points for the 0.3% of players who selected him.
Lowest scoring angler: Caleb Sumrall wasn’t able to get it going at Santee Cooper Lakes. The Louisiana pro scored just 71 points while being selected by 2.1% of players.
BUCKET E: MUELLER
Paul Mueller was the only angler in Bucket E to make the final day with a 6th place finish. The Elite Series veteran scored 276 points for the 1.6% of players who selected him.
Second best selection: Josh Stracner was the second-highest scoring angler in Bucket E with 241 points. The Alabama pro was selected by 0.7% of players.
Lowest scoring angler: John Soukup never got it going at Santee Cooper. The Elite Series rookie scored just 87 points while being selected by 3.4% of players.
