Southern Division showdown starts on Santee Cooper
CLARENDON COUNTY, S.C. – For the final event of the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Southern Division, which is presented by Suzuki, pros and Strike King co-anglers will take on Santee Cooper, which is comprised of the legendary Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie. Sprawling over 170,000 acres between them, it’s a massive playing field that has been the site of some historic showdowns. Big lakes with bigger fish, Santee Cooper holds the South Carolina state record for just about every species that swims in the Palmetto State, and it can be a truly electric place to fish.
In 2006, Preston Clark broke the four-day weight record at Bassmaster with 115 pounds, 15 ounces (since bettered). Just this year, in the Knockout Round of the Bass Pro Tour event on Santee, Justin Lucas caught a stunning five-bass limit worth 37-3, which works out to an average of more than 7 pounds.
Later summer on Santee Cooper is not likely to produce fishing nearly as productive as the springtime, but there’s no doubt that truly incredible fish swim there. Thus, even if it is a bit of a grinder, it should be a worthy season finale.
New-look Santee could be defined by vegetation
While never a lake devoid of vegetation, history on Santee Cooper centers heavily around the myriad cypress trees and brush piles, which always seem to hold fish. While there will doubtless be plenty of bass caught off wood this week, the increased presence of offshore hydrilla and eelgrass could make this event especially interesting.
“There is a lot of grass right now, which is really going to help some people and really going to hurt some people,” Wade Grooms said. “It spreads the fish out and makes them pretty hard to find. But if you can find the right area, it can definitely create a lot of opportunities.”
Grooms said that he expects he will be fishing a mix of grass and stumps.
“It’s going to be a lot like Florida fishing,” the South Carolinian added. “An early morning topwater fish is going to be extremely important in this tournament. Everyone will have limits, but if you can have four keeper fish and one larger than average fish, that will really shoot you up the leaderboard.”
Leading the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year race, Jessie Mizell is looking to ice it down, and getting to fish on familiar looking ground could be a good thing.
“Normally, this time of year, if you were going to fish this place, it’d be a brush pile deal or ledges,” said Mizell. “But with all the grass that came in, which I love it, it’s making it tough for that pattern.”
The grass may not make things super easy this week, as there are now basically an infinite amount of cozy places for bass to hide. But the lake is full of life according to Mizell.
“It seems like the whole lake is just all hydrilla now, which I love,” said Mizell. “I think it’s gonna be amazing if they don’t kill it — in a couple of years, it’s gonna be crazy. And what’s more, I have never in my life seen so much shad. Like, everywhere you ‘Scope, it’s just balls and balls of shad, and they’re just flickering everywhere.”
What will lead to success?
Due to the timing, the grass and even the weather in play for this one, there’s no sure thing going into it.
Mizell’s experience with the grass fishing is a great example of that. In theory, in the summer and fall on lakes with lots of hydrilla, locking a flipping stick in your hand should be a dominant pattern.
“The key for me right now is where I’m finding, like, the edges of the hydrilla where it goes into 10 foot, 12 foot of water and I can find balls of bait on the edges,” said Mizell. “That’s when I start catching some fish. For me, it’s moving baits. But all this topped-out hydrilla, I’ve punched miles of it. And I can’t get bitten in the hydrilla punching it. That’s surprising.”
Grooms thinks a lot is up in the air as well.
“I live here, and normally I’m pretty good and can predict within a pound or two of the winning weight, but I’m struggling with this one because there are so many unknown variables,” Grooms said. “There is a cool front coming, water levels could be dropping at any time, there is so much grass – and we don’t know if it will help the fishing or make it tougher. I think we’ll see a few limits in the low 20s the first day, but that’s hard to maintain. I think 18 pounds a day, over three days, will be extremely strong in this event.”
Mizell is about on track, figuring that 17 pounds a day will do well but also reckoning that consistency will be hard to come by. One thing he is looking forward to is the dreary weather in the forecast for Friday and Saturday.
“I’m actually looking forward to it because that’s the way I caught my fish at first,” he said. “When I did catch them, it was cloudy and kind of gloomy and little bit of sprinkle. And I like that. So, I feel like it’s gonna work out for me for the moving bite.”
Fishing Clash Angler of the Year is basically tied
The Southern Division standings are extremely tight at the top this year, with both Mizell and Robert Camp turning in excellent seasons so far. In the lead, Mizell has 511 points, while Camp is right behind him with 510. In this case, it’s worth noting that Mizell has a pretty firm grasp on the first tiebreaker. If total weight for the season comes into play, Mizell is starting this event with a 109-12 total, while Camp has amassed 100-11 pounds on the season.
For his part, Mizell is absolutely thinking about AOY.
“It’s definitely on my mind,” he said. “I wanna do good. I’m trying to put as much effort as I can in here. I’ve been here a few times, but never this time of year. So, I feel like I’m gonna have to figure them out just like everybody else.”
Camp is also well aware of the stakes, and he values the title very highly.
“For the last three years, I’ve been chasing that little trophy that says ‘MLF,’ and I finally got one at the Harris Chain. Do I want the big one? Yes. But Angler of the Year to me says more about the fisherman than anything else.
“It’s a big task, for sure,” said Camp. “I’m not trying to downgrade winning one of these tournaments, but I think if you can do it on a consistent basis, that’s just the pinnacle for my way of thinking.”
Whoever ends up on top will take home an additional $5,000.
On the Strike King co-angler side, Brady Lunsmann leads with 514 points and Fernando Rosa is second with 509. There tends to be lots of room for fluctuation from the back of the boat, so nothing is set in stone yet there.