Right now is one of the best times to fish Santee Cooper in South Carolina. This week the anglers crushed the fish throwing many different baits around Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie. Here are the baits that made the most money this week in the Costa FLW Series.
1. Bryan Thrift used just about every bait in his boat, which isn’t uncommon for him, however his primary bait was the Damiki Mamba Jig with a Damiki Knock Out trailer. He skipped the combo up under cypress trees for much of his catch.
2. Pat Fisher caught most of his weight this week using a green pumpkin Bass Pro Shops Stik-O Worm rigged on a custom heavy-cover weighted wacky-rig hook.
3. If Glenn Browne makes the top 10, you can almost guarantee he did it with a Lew’s flipping stick in his hand with a jig on the end of the line. Browne primarily flipped mats this week with a homemade black and blue jig and Zoom Big Salty Chunk trailer. He also flipped a 1-ounce Reins TG Punch Shot tungsten sinker with a black and blue skirt and Gambler Why Not trailer.
4. Bradley Dortch lived and died with a 3/8-ounce Picasso spinnerbait this week. His color choice was white and chartreuse or solid white with gold blades and a white NetBait BK Swimmer swimbait as a trailer.
5. Preston Clark threw down some big weights this week punching mats with a 1-ounce tungsten weight, punch skirt and a Bass Assassin Jingle Bug in black and blue.
6. Tim Malone tore up a lot of spinnerbaits by casting them around cypress trees. On the final day he used a 3/8-ounce chartreuse BOOYAH spinnerbait with a silver willow-leaf blade and a silver No. 5 Colorado blade. He said a gold blade also worked for him throughout the week.
7. Jay Kendrick used an out-of-production worm from Gitem Baits in black and blue that he got from a friend. He only has three or four left in a plastic bag after this week’s top-10 finish. Kendrick also used a green pumpkin Zoom Trick Worm. He Texas-rigged both worms with a 1/16-ounce Scottsboro Tackle tungsten weight and a 4/0 hook.
8. Todd Smith made his first Costa FLW Series top 10 with a D&M Custom Baits Sniper Triple Threat Spinnerbait and a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver.
9. Rob Digh targeted staging fish with a 1/2-ounce black and blue Shooter jig with a Zoom Big Salty Chunk. Digh fished with a heavy-power Cashion rod, 7.3:1 Daiwa Zillion reel and 20-pound-test Izorline.
10. Zach Crider a had tough final day of fishing, but he got to the top 10 by fishing a Zoom Magnum Ultravibe Speed Worm around cattails.