Elite

AdvBassStats: Lake Murray report

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ADVBassStats
The 2023 Marathon Bassmaster Elite Series event at Lake Murray, SC was marked by fabulous fishing.  The first two days collected 32 bags over 20lbs and both days averaged over 16lbs/angler.
 
The great catching was not limited to a few at the top end, and that showed best in how close the weights were. 10th through 50th were separated by less than 6lbs heading into semi-final Saturday. That would set up for some extreme scoreboard shuffling.
Day 3 was more of the same. Despite half as many anglers fishing, there were still 13 Day 3 bags over 20lbs.  Drew Cook and Bernie Schultz tied for biggest of the day and of the event so far, with matching 26-1’s. Both were propelled into the Top-10 from way back in the field of 50.  Cook jumped from 38th to 5th and Schultz from 44th to 6th. Kyoya Fujita took over the lead with his 3rd consecutive 20lb+ bag.
Drew Benton started championship Sunday in 10th place, only 4lbs-15oz off the lead. He set a new mark for best bag of the tournament with 26-7, more than 5lbs ahead of everybody else on Sunday. Hunter Shryock held the BassTrakk lead for most of the day using some acrobatic dock work and Fujita patiently waited for his late-day finesse bite to emerge, but neither one was able to hold off Benton.
Final Standings – 9 anglers over 80lbs;  less than 9lbs separating 1st and 10th. Lake Murray was great host.
What was Benton’s secret recipe? Catch the most big bags. He claimed 3 of the 10 largest weights for the tournament – nobody else had more than 1. His only stumble was a 14lb Saturday which put him on the bubble for the Sunday field. His epic Sunday response earned an Elite Series victory.

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