There wasn’t a single 20-pound limit caught over four days in the Elite Series tournament at Lake Guntersville last week. There were three bags over 20 pounds on Day 1 at the Santee Cooper Lakes, including Carl Jocumsen’s tournament leading 25-8.
However, the totals for Day 1 at both places were surprisingly the same. It’s just one more indication of the fickle nature of fall fishing.
The total number of fish weighed-in and their total weight on Day 1 were as follows: Lake Guntersville – 85 anglers, 346 bass, 934-13
Santee Cooper Lakes – 85 anglers, 349 bass, 952-12
The difference was in the “haves” and the “have nots.” In addition to Jocumsen’s first-place bag, Brandon Palaniuk caught a limit weighing 23-1, before a 2-pound penalty reduced his official weight to 21-1. Palaniuk self-reported the fact that he made a cast – several casts, in fact – when, in the excitement of his last big catch, he forgot to cull. It’s a 2-pound penalty for making a cast with 6 fish in your livewells.
Palaniuk had the big bass of the day – 7 pounds, 9 ounces. There was a bigger bass caught at Guntersville on Day 1 – Chris Zaldain’s 8-6.
The big difference in “have nots” at the bottom of the standings was evident in the number of anglers who didn’t weigh a bass. There was only one zero at Guntersville. There were six at Santee Cooper.
The middle of the standings was where the similarities existed: 25th place was 13-11 at Santee Cooper and 13-15 at Guntersville; 45th place was 12-0 at Santee Cooper and 11-3 at Guntersville.