CLARENDON COUNTY, S.C. — Perhaps more so than any other time of year, succeeding in a tournament in the late summer/early fall is about taking advantage of every bite you can scratch up. That was certainly the case Friday on cut day at the final Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Southern Division tournament of the 2024 season, on South Carolina’s Santee Cooper.

South Carolina pro Bennett Lawshe brought 25 pounds, 7 ounces to the scale Friday to grab the lead heading into the final day with a two-day total of 45-2. Fishing only his third MLF event and first Toyota Series tournament, Lawshe will leave the dock Saturday with just over 6 pounds of cushion on Chad Mrazek (38-14) and almost 9 pounds over Reid Heard (36-3).

Bucking the trend

As was the case on Day 1, Moultrie and Marion proved to be in classic later summer/early fall shape, surrendering only three 20-plus-pound bags for the second day in a row. That’s a far cry from the proliferation of mega-bags the world is accustomed to seeing at springtime tournaments at Santee Cooper, but according to Lawshe (who grew up fishing these lakes), bags over 18 pounds are nothing to sneeze at in September. And there have been enough hints at 25- to 27-plus-pound potential to keep everyone guessing.

“It usually takes around 15 or 16 to do good here this time of year,” Lawshe confirmed. “I’m pretty happy with 25.”

While both Mrazek and Heard improved significantly over their Day 1 weights, the more consistent Lawshe built on a solid 19-11 Thursday bag that had him sitting in third to start the day. Lawshe stopped fishing around 11 a.m. on Day 1 and went hunting for new areas, trusting that his 19 pounds would put him in good shape heading into Day 2.

That proved to be the case as the Waccamaw High School (Pawleys Island, S.C.) grad topped his Friday bag with a 7-pounder and a trio of 5s after settling his nerves down with a handful of small fish first thing in the morning. Keeping his pattern and baits tight to the vest, Lawshe believes that he can maintain the momentum at Santee Cooper that encouraged him to sign up for the event in the first place.

“I’ve been catching them pretty good out here, I feel like I know what’s going on,” he said.

That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows Lawshe, fishes the Carolinas Bass Challenge circuit or knows who’s who in the area. Lawshe has fished the Santee Cooper Lakes “Every chance I can get since I was 13 years old,” competed on them as a student-angler at Maccawaw High School on nearby Pawleys Island, and dedicates nearly 100% of his fishing time to Moultrie and Marion.

“I just like to fish here, I’d rather fish these lakes than anywhere else,” he said. “(Santee Cooper) is really about the only place I fish.”

Lawshe’s only hesitation about his chances on Championship Saturday is a forecast that calls for a northeast wind blowing 10 to 15 mph, but with possible bigger winds.

“If it’s blowing hard, it makes it hard to get around here,” Lawshe said. “You’re not going to win here fishing one spot, you have to move around. The first day was pretty rough and it wasn’t even blowing that hard, so I honestly don’t have a clue yet what I’m going to do (Saturday).”

Mrazek, Heard hope to keep rising

Chad Mrazek’s Day 2 improvement vaulted him into second place.

Mrazek improved significantly on his 15-pound Day 1 bag Friday, bringing 23-9 to the scale to leap from 11^th to second place. Heard’s improvement was even more dramatic: he caught only four fish for 8-14 on Day 1 but busted the biggest bag of the tournament on Friday, adding a 27-5 limit to rocket from 48^th to third place.

Mrazek attributed his surge on a slight tackle adjustment – “I threw a lighter leader on my drop-shot” – and a game time decision to fish a spot that he had been hoping to save for the final day.

“I just said ‘Screw it’ and went out to what I thought was my best spot,” Mrazek said. “It’s slap in the middle of the lake, an offshore spot. I broke my graphs, fished without them both days, so I had to find that spot again. Once I got there, it was good. I only fished there a couple of minutes (on Thursday), but needed 100% to fish my best stuff today.”

Heard flipped the script Friday by capitalizing on fish that he was frustratingly unable to bring to the boat the day before “Those fish were all there yesterday,” he told MLF emcee Mark McWha after weighing in the biggest bag of the event.

“I lost four giants (Thursday), just couldn’t get them in,” Heard said. “I’m not getting that many bites a day, you have to capitalize on every one you get.

Foster takes co-angler lead into final day

Georgia angler Billy Foster improved by two spots on Friday, adding 8-14 to his first-day total for 21-7 to take the Strike King co-angler lead. He’ll have a 4-11 cushion over Dan Basham (17-12) and 4-14 on Wendell Grantham (17-9) on the final day.

Mizell still leading Fishing Clash AOY

Jessie Mizell entered the week with the scantest of leads in the Southern Division’s Fishing Clash Angler of the Year race, with 511 points to Robert Camp’s 510. Mizell made the final-day cut in 16^th place while his closest pursuers faltered. Casey Warren, who currently sits in fifth at Santee Cooper, trailed Mizell by 28 points entering the tournament.

Top 10 pros:

Bennett Lawshe – 45-2 (10)
Chad Mrazek – 38-14 (10)
Reid Heard – 36-3 (10)
Bryan Cook – 34-3 (10)
Casey Warren – 33-10 (10)
Mitchell Robinson – 31-10 (10)
David Goshorn – 30-6 (10)
Michael Neal — 28-13 (10)
Nicholas Hoinig – 28-0 (10)
Wade Grooms – 27-2 (10)

Complete results