After a disappointing finish at the Bassmaster Elite at Arkansas River, it sure felt good to leave South Carolina with a Top 10 at Lake Murray and a top 20 at Santee Cooper Lakes. I felt confident going into those two events, and I really performed how I wanted to.
I feel comfortable in the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee because you typically have to fish the way I like to fish. It all just makes sense to me, so I tend to do better on the fisheries in those states.
By contrast, when we go to fisheries like the Arkansas River during the spawn, where you can’t see into the water, it doesn’t give me the opportunity to fish my style. That becomes a mental struggle for me, and I have a hard time keeping my head in the game.
That’s why I enjoyed fishing at Lake Murray. Herring fishing is one of my personal favorites and Murray allowed me to settle into a good rhythm and fish my way to a fourth-place finish.
I wouldn’t call this an easy way to catch ‘em, but I love running and gunning and trying to trick those well-educated fish into biting. My grandparents live near Lake Nantahala in Western North Carolina, so I have a lot of experience on this largemouth herring lake.
I don’t have as much experience as guys like Paul Marks or Emil Wagner who regularly fish herring lakes, but I do it at least a couple of weeks out of the year. I feel like I’m getting better at it.
Herring fishing is intriguing to me because it’s not like any other type of fishing. All the bass want to do is chase those herring, and if they live around cover, it’s a scenario where they’re in prime position to ambush the baitfish.
Santee Cooper Lakes was very different, and even though grass fishing typically is not my strong suit, this one fit in my wheelhouse because most of the fish were postspawn. I pride myself on being good at this seasonal stage.
Growing up, I fished a lot more in the summertime because I played baseball and our prime time was during the spawn. That allowed me to develop a knack for finding where those fish like to funnel out from their spawning areas to group up and feed.
We weren’t allowed to use forward-facing sonar at the Santee Cooper event, so I just went old school on ‘em. I picked up some worms, ChatterBaits and jerkbaits and tried to find those midrange places where postspawn bass would get.
I considered the deep places where I would have liked to fish, and I met them in the middle. In practice, I figured out I couldn’t catch the deeper fish, so I focused on the midrange bass.
I lost some key fish that would have gained me some points, but I’m ecstatic with a 20th-place finish. Heading to lake Murray, I was in 74th in Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year points, and after those two tournaments, I’m sitting inside the Bassmaster Classic cut at 38th.
I made a big jump and now I’m looking forward to finishing strong in the final three Elite events.
