With most of his competitors dispersing throughout Lake Marion, Patrick Walters knew he wanted to get away from the crowd. But that doesn’t mean he chose Lake Moultrie. Rather, the young, but impressively savvy Elite from Summerville, S.C. opted to start his day in the 6 1/2-mile diversion canal linking the Santee Cooper Lakes.
Leveraging current-centric areas, Walters has been patiently throwing a moving bait. Multiple such spots exist within this linking waterway, so picking his way through what he called “juice holes” could prove to be a wise choice.
Around 8:47, his pattern produced back-to-back keepers on a key spot and settled him down for what will likely be a steady grind.
“That’s what lives here,” Walters said. “Those two fish calmed the nerves. You can’t catch five without catching one.”
Walters knows that committing to this opening strategy means foregoing the greater numerical productivity that others are finding around Marion’s cypress trees and aquatic vegetation, but he hopes this game plan will serve him well today.
“You can’t worry about that, you just have to go fishing,” he said.
It will be interesting to see how much of his day Walters spends in the Diversion Canal; and whether any other competitors find keepers in this inter-lake zone.