I’m sharing the B.A.S.S. Media Center trailer with Gettys Brannon, a former University of South Carolina teammate of Patrick Walters. Gettys said he and Walters frequently fished the St. Johns River in collegiate events, oftentimes choosing the river channel for its consistency.
This morning Walters told me he planned to key on big bass this morning and hang with that bite as long as he can.
“The wind is not going to affect me because I’m not looking at them,” he told me. Which means he is not sight fishing but targeting bedding fish.
Gettys told me Walters is likely using tactics that are familiar to them both from fishing on the Santee Cooper Lakes, which are laden with cypress trees and random cover.
“What we learned to do well was literally pick apart and dial into the angle being used by the bass to hold on a particular piece of cover.” Gettys explained that the Santee Cooper way of flipping involves analyzing each lure target and placing the bait where the bass are likely to be. Once an angle is dialed in it becomes a pattern.
“He’s likely treating the grass like we do cypress trees, which the bass spawn on and around at Santee,” continued Gettys. “He’ll position his boat so he can make that presentation at the ideal angle.”