Elite

A look at Santee Cooper Lakes 2026

The sixth Elite stop heads to a record-setting South Carolina fishery.

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Written by
Mike Suchan
After a tight tournament at South Carolina’s Lake Murray, the top circuit in B.A.S.S. moves about two hours southeast for the Yokohama Tire Bassmaster Elite at Santee Cooper Lakes, where records have been set.
Kyle Austin, an Opens pro and guide on Santee Cooper, gives a rundown of what to expect this week. Austin won the 2024 Open in March with 83 pounds, 7 ounces, the second-best in a Bassmaster three-day event.
“It is fishing as good as it ever has,” Austin said of Santee Cooper. “Certainly, the best I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. I think it will be the best tournament the Elite Series has seen here. I expect it to take between 110 pounds and 120 pounds to win.” 
Bassmaster TV analyst Davy Hite said that might be an ambitious total for a postspawn tournament, but Santee Cooper has consistently produced big weights, including a number of B.A.S.S. heavyweight records.
After Hall of Fame anglers Roland Martin and Jimmy Houston won events there in the 1970s, O.T. Fears set the three-day weight record at 77-4 and the five-fish mark of 34-4 in May of 1994. In the first Elite season of 2006, Preston Clark (above) set the all-time weight record in the tournament ending on April 2. Clark landed the third-largest bag at the time, 39-6, and won with 115-15, while five others topped 100 pounds.
Santee Cooper Lakes, perennially ranking high in Bassmaster Magazine’s top lakes, is named for the two rivers feeding the New Deal era reservoirs. At 110,000 surface acres, Lake Marion (top) is the largest in the state, and Lake Moultrie (60,000) is the third largest. There is a six-mile canal connecting them.
The John C. Land III Boat Landing at 4404 Greenall Road in Summerton is tournament central. The 99 anglers blast off at 6:30 a.m. ET each day and return for weigh-ins starting at 3 p.m. The family friendly Expo opens at noon on Saturday and Sunday with live music and activities. All B.A.S.S. venues are free.
This is the 18th pro level event on the fishery and the fifth Elite, the fourth since 2020 when Brandon Palaniuk won in a stingy October event. After six Century Club belts in 2006, two were added in 2023. Santee Cooper Lakes now has produced eight belts, standing third all-time behind Falcon (15) and Lake Fork (29).
Drew Cook started the 2022 Elite with 31-13 in his wire-to-wire victory. A lake wind advisory canceled Saturday’s round, initially cutting the event to three days, but B.A.S.S. later decided to finish on Monday. That allowed Cook, aided by a late 7-12, to earn his Century Club belt with 105-5. Runner-up Caleb Kuphall also earned a belt with 103-1. The big bass was Pat Schlapper’s 9-10 on Day 2.
Flipping cypress trees near deep water, Oklahoma pro Luke Palmer won the 2023 Elite with 96-14. He was the only angler to catch limits all four days and won by 14-3.
Palmer came close on Santee Cooper the year before, finishing fourth despite a tournament best day of 33-5. He was grateful to win his first title. “You work your whole life and you start second guessing yourself and you wonder, ‘Am I good enough to do it?’ I was good one time and one time is better than no time,” he said.
Austin believes this week could be even better as hydrilla and eelgrass has flourished, giving bass more areas to hide and feed. “This is by far the most grass there’s been in the lakes since I’ve been alive,” Austin said. “And there is 10 times more grass than there was since the last time the Elite Series was here. I’d say both lakes are fishing equally well right now.”
Austin reports tournament weights have been stellar, as several 10-pound bass have anchored winning bags over 30 pounds, including postspawn events in the past weeks. Low rain totals also present the cleanest water Austin has seen here. “There’s like 8 feet of visibility. It’s like fishing in an aquarium,” he said.
The forecast gives no threat of storms and only one day with winds over 10 miles per hour.
Austin said multiple patterns could shine in this non-LiveScope event. Anglers could ply morning threadfin shad spawns, and the vegetation around cypress trees should provide topwater bites along with flipping and worm bites. “I think whoever wins it will be utilizing both lakes,” Austin said. “It wouldn’t surprise me to see someone start above the I-95 bridge in the swamp on Lake Marion and end up at the bottom end of Marion or even in Lake Moultrie by the end of the day.”
Bassmaster LIVE will air daily on Bassmaster.com, FS1 and FOX. Visit Bassmaster.com for the full live schedule. 

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