No one who’s followed the sport of professional bass fishing for over about 5 minutes should be surprised that the Elites smashed ‘em today. Santee Cooper Lakes have a storied history that’s been repeated endlessly this week, and despite the tiresome practice griping and sandbagging, a return during prime warming conditions could mean only one thing: a smashfest. The weights were stout, and it never gets old to hear Elite pros sheepishly say that they “only caught 16 pounds.”
Leader Drew Cook turned in the only 30-plus pound bag, with Caleb Kuphall coming within one big gizzard shad of the mark. The expectations are that we’ll see more of them as the event goes on. In the meantime, here are some of my Day One takeaways:
Now and Then: In 2006, the last Elite here in the springtime, there were five bags over 30 pounds on Day One and it took 27-06 to crack the top 10. For a while, it looked like the field would come nowhere near those marks. At noon, Cook reportedly had 29+, but otherwise the weights were unimpressive. Per BASS Trakk it took 15 pounds to make the top 10, and 7-09 to be in the top half of the field. At Santee, though, that’s one bite, and true to form things turned on in the afternoon. By day’s end, we had 14 bags over 20 pounds, and 10th place was 21-10. The cut line is 15-10 vs. over 18 in 2006. It’s packed super-tight.
Now and Then, Part Two: Nine of the pros competing today fished the 2006 event here won by Preston Clark. Eight of them earned checks that week, and Steve Kennedy (4th in 2006), John Crews (9th) and Greg Hackney (11th) all made the cut to Day Four (back when BASS used to cut to 12). Hackney (3rd, 27-14) is in prime position to match or better that mark.
Fishing Big and Small: Early today, Davy Hite commented that for a huge fishery, Santee often fishes small: “You’ve really just got to settle down into one area,” he said. The team cited Jason Christie’s statement that it fishes like Florida insofar as you typically have to fish around other anglers to do well. That makes earning each cut critical. We heard the word “survival” a lot at weigh in. With fish expected to constantly move into prime areas, by Saturday or Sunday, there could be more fish and fewer anglers in the best places.
Taku Time: Taku Ito (10th, 21-10) keeps telling us that struggles with largemouths and can’t lift heavy things. Judging from his recent tournament results, his big bag and the way he hefted his 8-07 largemouth, he’s bulking up by getting in a lot of reps.
Masa’s Moments: While Taku may have quickly become a fan favorite, right now he’s behind fellow countryman Masayuki Matsushita (7th, 23-08) in the standings. Coming into this event, after a disastrous 83rd place finish at the Harris Chain, Matsushita was the first man outside of the Classic bubble, but he’s shown early and often this season that he can whack 20+ pound bags. At the St. Johns he was far back in the pack after Day One with 12-01, but then vaulted up the charts with 23-05 on Day Two. He eventually finished 3rd, 5-07 behind winner John Crews. Today was a good showing for the four Japanese pros, with Kenta Kimura in 21st and Daisuke Aoki in 29th.
BP’s Waiting Game: BASS Live picked up 2020 Santee Cooper winner Brandon Palaniuk early, and with good reason – he had three quality fish in a hurry. He also had several competitors’ boats drop a wake over his offshore area. He commented that they must’ve been in a hurry to some bed fish. Despite only having four bass for much of the day, he never seemed to get in a hurry himself, and finally landed his limit fish around 1pm. That’s the sign of someone confident in his game plan and willing to stay the course to win. He never panicked, never unnecessarily changed gears, just kept after it. No one should be surprised that he’s in striking distance.
Fishing Term of the Day: “Scratch bark.” From Davy Hite, meaning to cast precisely to cypress trees.
What’s the Cut Weight? Traditionally the cut weight to Day Three has hovered around the (2X+1) formula. Today’s 48th place weight was 15-10, so that would put us at 32-04. Even assuming the fishing might get a little better tomorrow, that means that we could see tremendous movement on the leaderboard tomorrow. Right now, 12-01 is in 77th place. With a 20 pound bag, he could be fishing on Sunday. With 30, he could become a player.
Prediction: We will see at least one angler move from outside the cut into the top 10 tomorrow.