Elite

Catching up with Cook

Follow along with Drew Cook as he tackles Day 1 of the 2023 Gamakatsu Bassmaster Elite at Lake Seminole!

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Photography by
Kyle Jessie
After notching a Top 10 at Lake Okeechobee, Drew Cook had all the momentum headed into his home lake in the Gamakatsu Bassmaster Elite at Lake Seminole.
Cook has spent his entire life fishing Lake Seminole, and said that he has been waiting for an Elite event to come to his home lake for years.
First thing this morning, Cook pulled up to an offshore spot and immediately went to work.
Just moments into the day, he hooks up with a solid fish.
Cook palms his first fish of the morning. You could sense the relief from a mile away.
Cook’s travel partner, Drew Benton, starts just a couple hundred yards away. Benton is also a local to Lake Seminole, so it wasn’t surprising to see the two favorites fishing so close to each other to start with.
A few cast later, Cook hooks up with another solid keeper.
Just 20 minutes into the day, Cook has two solid keepers in the boat to ease the nerves.
Stetson Blaylock also started just up the way from Cook.
Cook makes a short move down the lake and immediately gets on a flurry.
This specific area was a small, protected cove that Cook thoroughly worked over.
The majority of bites came from one particular cast.
Cook went from having two keepers in the boat to five in the matter of just a few minutes.
It was hard to tell from the distance that we sat, but it appeared that Cook was also looking for bedding fish in between fishing around.
This spot eventually fizzled out, and Cook made a longer run to another part of the lake.
It’s well known that Cook is one of the best sight fisherman in the world, so things were looking up when he got the push-pole out and began looking for bedding bass. Unfortunately, he didn’t see what he was looking for and eventually moved on.
KJ Queen was also in the ares, looking at one on bed.
Cook hooks up in some thick vegetation, but this fish wouldn’t be an upgrade.

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