Week 13 saw four open/ tournament trail events reported on SCFishingReport.com; an ABA Weekend Series event on Lake Hartwell, two CATT tournaments (Santee and Wateree), and a BFL NC Division tournament on Lake Wylie.
ABA Weekend Series Lake Hartwell
The American Bass Anglers Weekend Bass Series had its second event of the season on Hartwell out of Green Pond on Saturday. 32 boaters and 21 co-anglers fished the event, and more than half of the anglers brought double digits to the scale. A familiar name came out in first place, Brock Taylor of Pendleton with 21.37 pounds.
Rounding out the top 5 were:
2) Brian C. Gunn of Savannah, Georgia with 19.80 pounds;
3) Vince Smith of Westminster with 17.71 pounds;
4) Woody Parks of Lincolnton, Georgia with 16.31 pounds; and
5) Danny Kirk of Bartow, Georgia with 14.48 pounds.
Brock had the big fish at 6.09 pounds.
On the co-angler side Charles “Chuck” B. Padget of Greenwood took first place with a 3-bass limit of 11.59 pounds.
For complete tournament data visit: http://www.americanbassanglers.com/BWS/results/8614.pdf
I caught up with Brock to hear how he caught his big bag, and he said that before the weekend cold front came through everything was moving up shallow with a lot of fish on or heading towards the beds. However, the cold front pushed the fish back out a little and he caught every one of his fish on a Megabass 110 jerkbait in the ditches. Most of the fish he caught were in about 10 feet of water. With warm weather and the full moon coming up this weekend he expects bedding activity to be wide open from here on out, although he still expects that fish will be catchable on a jerkbait in the ditches first thing. After that anglers will have to go to the bank and look for beds.
CATT Santee Cooper
The Carolina Anglers Team Trail had its third Santee Cooper Spring Qualifier Saturday out of John C Land, and as would be expected in late March on Santee there were some big bags at the top. Twenty teams fished the event, with more than 1/3 of the teams weighing 19 pounds or better.
First place went to Bob & Judy Whitgreave with 5 bass weighing 26.10 pounds. They also weighed the tournament big fish at 8.35 lbs. All total they took home $1,140.00.
Second place went to Mike Watson & Craig McFadden with 5 bass weighing 23.55 pounds, and they also took the bonus money to earn $750.00.
Third place went to Zeke Lyman and Jason Morse with 5 bass weighing 23.15 pounds worth $200.00.
Fourth place went to Perry Holloway & Tim Sox with a limit weighing 21.15 pounds, worth $120.00.
Second big fish went to Roby & Bynum Kelly with an 8.02 pound hawg worth $60.00.
For complete tournament data visit: http://www.carolinacatt.com/2015-spring-q-3-santee-march-28.html
CATT Lake Wateree
The Carolina Anglers Team Trail had its fifth and final Lake Wateree Spring Qualifier Saturday out of Clearwater Cove, and the fishing continued to be excellent. 39 teams teams fished the event, with ¼ of the field weighing in 20 pounds or more, more than ½ of the field weighing in more than 15 pounds, and approximately ¾ of the field weighing in 10 pounds or better.
Andrew Boykin and Charles Keith were the big winners with 5 bass weighing 25.33 pounds worth $865.00.
Second place and the bonus money went to Scott Williams and Robbie English with a limit of bass weighing 23.61 pounds worth $950.00.
Third place went to Dustin Horne and Shawn Knight with 5 bass weighing 23.33 pounds worth $325.00.
Fourth place went to Cleve Yarborough and Kyle McElveen with a limit weighing 23.26 worth $200.00.
Fifth place went to Freddie Faulkenberry & Trent McLaughlin with a limit weighing 23.14 lbs worth $140.00.
Sixth place went to Tim and Craig Haven with a limit weighing 22.82 pounds. They also brought in the big fish at 6.76 lbs, earned a total of $383.00, and won the points. They will fish the Spring Final on Lake Wateree free of charge!
Seventh place went to Jeff Hatfield and Kevin Hinson with five bass weighing 22.76 pounds, as well as the second big fish at 6.63 pounds. Their total winnings were $217.00.
For complete tournament data visit: http://www.carolinacatt.com/2015-spring-q-5-wateree-march-28.html
BFL Lake Wylie
The Walmart Bass Fishing League North Carolina Division had its second tournament of the season Saturday on Lake Wylie. 123 anglers fished the event, and more than half of the field weighed in 10 pounds or better.
Todd Walters of Kernersville, North Carolina was the big winner with a five-bass limit totaling 17 pounds, 2 ounces. For his victory, Walters earned $4,350.00.
Rounding out the top ten (eleven with ties) were:
2) John McDonald of Thomasville, NC with five bass weighing 16-12 (worth $2,175.00);
3) Rob Digh of Denver, N.C. with five bass weighing 16-8 (worth $1,451.00);
4(t) Jay Keith of Camden with five bass weighing 16-3 (worth $942.00);
4(t) Brian Travis of Conover, N.C. with five bass weighing 16-3 (worth $942.00);
6(t) James Buchanan of Monroe, N.C. with five bass weighing 16-2 ($761.00);
6(t) Eric Moser of Salisbury, N.C. with five bass weighing 16-2 (worth $761.00);
8(t) J.D. Barber of Charlotte, N.C. with five bass weighing 16-0 (worth $549.00);
8(t) Christopher Brown of Lexington, N.C. with five bass weighing 16-0 (worth $549.00);
8(t) Klaus Hadschin of Granite Falls, N.C. with five bass weighing 16-0 (worth $549.00); and
8(t) David Williams of Maiden, N.C. with five bass weighing 16-0 (worth $549.00)
Marty Williams of Thomasville, NC won the co-angler side and $2,175.00 with five bass weighing 14 pounds, 11 ounces.
On the professional side Walters reported that he was surprised that his bag was good enough for the win, and he said that he expected it to take 20 plus pounds to win on Lake Wylie with the quality of the competition. Perhaps the recent cold snap depressed the weights, and Walters reported that he fished points near spawning pockets in Allison Creek because of the front. He targeted offshore fish in 8-12 feet of water and focused on isolated rocks at the ends of points; everything was caught on a pearl blue-colored Keitch swimbait. Four of the five fish that he weighed were caught within 45 minutes of blast-off, but his 5-pound kicker came around 1:00 off a deep floating dock.
For complete tournament data visit: http://www.flwfishing.com/results/2015-03-28-lake-wylie.
To view the full tournament calendar on SCFishingReport.com visit http://www.scfishingreport.com/tournaments/; tournaments are still being added, and if you know of an open/ trail event that should be included please email us at jay@usfishingreport.com.