The Day 1 totals at Santee Cooper were extraordinary: 14 limits topping 20 pounds, headlined by Drew Cook’s 31-13; an 8-pound, 15-ounce big bass by Todd Auten and two 8-7s (Taku Ito and Caleb Kuphall); and an average weight of the 424 bass brought to the scales of 3.45 pounds.
However, the prevailing mood at Thursday’s weigh-in was that this was only the beginning of bigger things.
“I expect that,” said Greg Hackney, who finished 3rd with 27-14 Thursday. “I just hope that I can move around. I’m so afraid it’s going to get better other places.”
The field will be cut to the top 47 anglers after today’s weigh-in. Jeff Gustafson was in 47th place as we start Day 2. There are 16 anglers bunched within a pound of the cut-line, ranging from 38th-place Chris Johnston (16-11) to 53rd-place Bernie Schultz (15-1).