Smith steamrolls into lead on day two at Santee Cooper
South Carolina pro sets new EverStart Series weight record
MANNING, S.C. – His given name may seem rather common, but William Smith has a talent for snagging monster bass at Santee Cooper – lots of them – that is truly unique. On Thursday Smith landed his second five-bass catch weighing over 20 pounds in two days, broke the EverStart Series opening-round weight record and crushed the rest of the field to take over first place in the Pro Division at the $210,000 Eastern Division contest in Central South Carolina.
Smith’s five-bass total today weighed 26 pounds, 4 ounces and was the second largest catch of the day as well as of the tournament so far. Combined with his day-one weight of 22-6, he piled together an opening-round total of 10 fish weighing 48-10. That weight sets a new EverStart Series record for a two-day combined weight. Rick Gunter of Holly Hill, Fla., held the previous opening-round record with a 43-15 two-day weight that he caught at Lake Okeechobee, Fla., in 2000.
The next closest pro to Smith following Thursday’s action was Steve Thornhill, who landed the day’s biggest stringer at 26 pounds, 9 ounces and vaulted into second place with an opening-round weight of 37-5. Following the top two in the Pro Division were Brent Riley (3rd place) of Ridgeville, S.C., with nine bass weighing 36-2; Ken Ellis (4th) of Bowman, S.C. with 10 bass weighing 35-15; and Steve Kennedy (5th) of Hoover, Ala., with nine bass weighing 35-6.
Smith, a 31-year-old Moncks Corner, S.C., native who placed second on day one, said he used the same approach as he did Wednesday to catch his big fish. He lives on the shores of lower Lake Moultrie, so he feels pretty comfortable making the long run to the southern end of Santee Cooper lakes to fish spots with which he is intimately familiar.
“For some reason, these bass spawn at the same spot every year,” he said. “My fish are just now getting up into shallow water. There are just more and more fish coming in there and they’re not being pressured. I’ve haven’t had to pull out and catch ones that have already spawned.”
While he only caught six bass Thursday, they were all in the 5-pound range. Smith used a combination of floating and big worms, lizards and brush hogs in relatively shallow water to catch his total. He said that he wasn’t technically sight-fishing for the spawning bass since the wind had stirred up the water a little bit and kept him from seeing the fish.
“The wind threw in a lot of color (to the water),” he said. “I think that made the fish less skittish.”
Also not skittish is Smith himself, who seemed to take news of his new EverStart record in stride. Asked what it means to be the only angler ever to catch over 48 pounds in EverStart Series opening-round competition, he replied, “Not a thing. I just came here to fish. The high off the competition is what motivates me.” He added that he wasn’t trying to catch so much weight; it just happened that way.
His apparent nonchalance might also be attributed to the fact that Smith has already held an EverStart record. In 2000 at Santee Cooper he set the final-round record with a weight of 21-3 and won the tournament – the first one he’d ever entered. (Ricky Shumpert of Lexington, S.C., broke it a year later, also at Santee Cooper, with a weight of 28-2.)
Or maybe it’s just that Smith knows what such a record means in the grander scheme of this four-day tournament, which is only half done. For Friday’s semifinals and Saturday’s finals, everybody restarts the day with zero weight. “Last year I made this cut and then zeroed on the third day,” he said. “There are a lot of locals who can come in with 30-pound stringers all week. I know it because I compete against them all the time.”
Still, Smith, who is slowly becoming one of the most feared anglers at Santee Cooper lakes, is heading into the semifinals with no lack of confidence – if only because he knows he still has a lot of fish left at the lower end of Lake Moultrie.
“I’ve only fished about a third of what I know down there,” he said. “There’s still a lot of virgin water where I’m fishing.”
Thornhill musters a big sack for second
Thornhill’s leading weight of the day wasn’t easy to come by. He didn’t start catching bass until after 10:30 a.m. and, even then, only managed to hook five fish sporadically throughout the day. Fortunately for him, four of them were massive enough to contribute to a leading total weight of 26 pounds, 9 ounces. His fifth bass was a short fish. His two biggest bass weighed 7-4 and 7-0 respectively.
“I didn’t cull and I didn’t miss any bites,” he said. “(My catches) were spaced out a lot. I caught my last good one about five minutes before I had to come in.”
Thornhill, who hails from nearby Pineville, S.C., and calls Santee Cooper his home waters, was justifiably happy to perform well on day two. “I feel great about it. My brother has always done well at Santee in particular, and my father is a guide on Santee,” he said.
Pro big bass
The Pro Division big-bass award and $750 on day two, like day one, went to another bass over the 9-pound barrier. Tim Johnson of Dallas, Ga., caught a 9-pound, 1-ounce behemoth largemouth by dead-sticking a trick worm in about six inches of water.
“And I mean dead-sticking,” said Johnson. “If you were moving at all, you were moving too fast.”
It was the second-heaviest bass caught in the Eastern Division this season.
Notable semifinalists
One thing to note about the pros fishing tomorrow: There are three former EverStart Series Santee Cooper tournament winners fishing in the semifinals this week. Two of them, Smith (won in 2000) and Roger Crafton of Boca Grande, Fla., (1998, the first year of the EverStart Series) have each already led the field here (Crafton led day one). The third, Shumpert (2001), has qualified in 14th place. The only EverStart Santee Cooper former winner not represented in the semis is Larry Inman of Greensboro, N.C., (1999), who is not competing this week.
Presnell holds onto first in Co-angler Division
John Presnell of Shelby, N.C., who was the only co-angler with over 20 pounds on day one, maintained his lead in the Co-angler Division with an opening-round weight of 26 pounds, 1 ounce. He caught one good bass Thursday weighing 5-8 off of a tree in four feet of water using a 10-inch red Shad worm .
“I wasn’t fishing all that hard,” he said, knowing that he likely had enough weight from day one alone to make the cut. “I just wanted one fish. I was just kind of along for the ride.”
Kindle Nelms of Lake City, Fla., held onto the second spot with a two-day total of five bass weighing 23 pounds, 1 ounce. Rounding out the top five co-anglers were Roger Brown (3rd place) of Tallahassee, Fla., with five bass weighing 17-0; Ed Dixon (4th) of Cookeville, Tenn., with five bass weighing 16-15; and Pat Cox (5th) with just two bass that weighed 16-13 on day one.
The co-angler big-bass award and $250 went to Joseph Webster of Brilliant, Ala., for a nice 8-pound largemouth.
Coming up
Both the Pro and Co-angler divisions were cut down to the top 20 anglers apiece following today’s competition. The pro cut weight settled on a hefty 26 pounds, 7 ounces and for the co-anglers it was 10-9.
Competition continues Friday when the semifinalists take off at 7 a.m. from John C. Land boat ramp south of Manning on Lake Marion. All competitors will restart the day with zero weight and fish in a one-day shootout to determine the 10 finalists for each division’s final round Saturday. The pro winner will receive $15,000 and a Ranger boat and the co-angler winner will receive $6,000.
Day-two links: