Lake Murray definitely showed out this past week for the Bassmaster Elite Series, but now the more storied South Carolina fishery gets its turn to shine and try to retain bragging rights as the king of South Carolina bass fishing.
Santee Cooper Lakes is well known for its propensity for giant bass and eye popping 30 lb+ five bass limits over the years. Santee Cooper has exploded with vegetation growth since the Bassmaster Elites last visited in 2023 and reports suggest that bass fishing has trended up as well.
I believe we will see everything from shallow power fishing around grass and cypress trees to offshore fishing even though anglers will not have the use of forward-facing sonar for this event.
I expect to see lots of big bass and limits brought across the scales, but unlikely the consistency of 3-pounders that Murray shelled out. Several key big bites each day will likely carry anglers into the weekend and propel a few anglers over the 100-pound mark for this week.
BUCKET A: COOK
Drew Cook has never finished worse than 12th in his three Bassmaster events at Santee Cooper and grass fishing is a comfort zone for Cook. The spawn should be largely over, but I have a feeling that Cook will still find a few key sight fish to bolster his daily bags.
Captain Cobb
Brandon Cobb has two Top 10s in the last two Santee Cooper events and is fishing good in his home state of South Carolina right now. Cobb prefers to fish shallow without FFS, so he should continue his strong run in 2026.
BUCKET B: WALTERS
Patrick Walters had a super tough event in 2023 that probably cost him an AOY title on his home waters. Stripping back and not having FFS should only help Walters this week and I expect him to have a super strong event.
Hunch pick
When I hear about all this vegetation at Santee Cooper, it makes me think there could be a flipping bite. Seth Feider dominated the scene in Minnesota flipping grass and vegetation as a young angler. Plus Feider has made the Saturday cut in all three of his visit to Santee Cooper.
BUCKET C: SCHLAPPER
Pat Schlapper seems to vibe with Santee Cooper and has two strong finishes there and being from Wisconsin, he is comfortable fishing grass and was an offshore angler long before FFS. If you think of how he fished in La Crosse and Muskogee, he can probably find similar cover this week.
360 Pick
Long before FFS Brandon Palaniuk was a force on the Bassmaster Elite Series leveraging Humminbird 360 sonar and had some strong events at Santee Cooper. Don’t be surprised to see BP hanging around for cut ice cream this weekend.
BUCKET D: HACKNEY
Shallow fishery with grass and cypress trees should be a magic combination for the Hack Attack to get his season rolling again. Greg Hackney has seen success at Santee and other similar fisheries.
Wacky Pick
We should be looking at a strong postspawn bite. When bass get finicky sometimes a wacky rig is just the ticket. Look for Jacob Powroznik to sling a little worm around and potential haul in some big bass.
BUCKET E: KUPHALL
Caleb Kuphall nearly won on Santee Cooper without looking at any of the bass and loves to power fish around heavy cover. Being slightly later in the year should only play into Caleb’s hands even more.
Risky Business
Steven Kennedy has a track record for humbling Fantasy Fishing teams, but he also has a stellar track record on Santee Cooper. Might be worth the risk this week!
Falcon Rods Bassmaster Drain the Lake Challenge
Drew Cook
Caleb Kuphall
Cody Meyer
Matt Messer
Kyler Norsetter
Luke Palmer
Pat Schlapper
Jake Whitaker
