Big bass of Santee Cooper Lakes

A look back at the lunkers that made the limits so hefty during the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Santee Cooper Lakes.

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Captions by
Mike Suchan
The massive South Carolina lakes of Marion and Moultrie are known for big bass, and many were caught during the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Santee Cooper Lakes last week. Big bass and big bags on the big stage brought Drew Cook’s big dream to reality as he won his first Elite. Let’s look at some of the catches that made a difference in the third Elite Series tournament of the season.
Greg Hackney was dreadfully low on his BassTrakk estimates, but on the scales he weighed a limit going 27-14 to stand third after Day 1. He had one of 14 bags topping 20 pounds on the day.
Brandon Palaniuk, who won a fall Elite on Santee Cooper Lake in 2020, had a solid first day, weighing in 26-2. Hank Cherry was right ahead of Palaniuk in fifth with 26-14, as the next angler was three pounds back.
On Day 1, 74 of the 94 Elites brought in five-fish limits that averaged 3-7. Takumi Ito was among those who brought in bass more than twice that. His 8-7 bolstered his 21-10 limit that put him 10th.
Todd Auten had the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the day, an 8-15 that helped him stand fourth with 27-2. Auten couldn’t catch the limit the next two days and fell to 43rd.
Caleb Kuphall, who won last year on Lake Guntersville by the second largest margin in Elite competition, had the second largest bag of the day at 29-10, and his best was an 8-7.
Drew Cook brought in the lead weight for the VMC Monster Bag of the event at 31-13. The sight fishing guru caught five that averaged almost 6 and a half pounds.
On Day 2, there were 30 bags eclipsing 20 pounds, and the average fish size went up to 3-12. The day’s top bag was caught by Josh Douglas. The Elite rookie from Isle, Minn., had two late fish, a 5-7 and 6-13 that culled to 28-2 and jumped him up the standings 42 spots to seventh. Only three fish on Day 3 dropped him to 38th.
Wisconsin’s Pat Schlapper also made a big move, and it also came late in the day when sight fishing for bedding bass was at its best. Schlapper landed a 9-10 at 12:51 for quite the dramatic cull, then finished out his bag of 26-4 with a 7-3 coming at 1:30. He moved from 25th to fifth, then finished 10th. The 9-10 was the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the tournament.
Clifford Pirch also doubled down on the bigs, catching an 8-4 and 7-5 in his 26-13 that catapulted him from 37th to eighth. Pirch caught 21-1 on Day 3 to total 64-11. He missed fishing the final day by 2 ounces.
John Cox, another sight fisherman extraordinaire, equaled Pirch with 26-13, adding to his Day 1 19-3 to move to fourth. He never really landed the mega bass like his 11-pounder on the Harris Chain and finished seventh. That, along with his seventh at Harris Chain and fourth at St. Johns River, gives the Debary, Fla., angler the lead in the Progressive Elite Series Angler of the Year race.
Jay Przekurat came into the event leading the Falcon Rods Rookie of the Year race, but he gave it away on Day 1. He rebounded with 24-8 on Friday, climbing to 15th. He finished 24th in the event to head into the Chickamauga Lake tournament leading the ROY race with 232 points. Joseph Webster is second with 183 and is followed by Jonathan Kelley with 167 and Masayuki Matsushita at 150.
A big bass can mean the world to an angler. Palaniuk had fallen off the radar on Day 2, plummeting down the leaderboard. A late 8-pounder helped him salvage the day with 22-13 to stand second, but he would start Day 3 7-10 out of the lead.
Kuphall struggled on Friday as well, and only brought in four fish. Yet one was the right one, a 6-8 that made up half his 13-0 and helped keep him in the hunt.
Oklahoma’s Luke Palmer was moving up from his starting spot of 43rd after suffering a poor day on the northern end of Lake Marion. He popped into the Top 10 at ninth with 26-7, with bigger things to come.
With 24-12, Cook was putting distance on the field and threatened a runaway. His sight bite was on point, but he was disappointed when a lake wind advisory cancelled Saturday fishing. At first the 47 anglers were to finish on Sunday. Cook said that gave him an advantage to win his first Elite, but said he was disappointed he wouldn’t get a chance to total 100 pounds. Later Saturday, B.A.S.S. announced the event would be four days, finishing on Monday.
Bryan New started with 19-3 but only three fish on Day 2 knocked him down to 38th, and it could have been worse but his three went 15-14. He found more of the same on Semifinal Sunday, bringing one of the bigger bags at 29-2 to finish 12th, just 10 ounces from the cut. Drew Benton, roommate of leader Drew Cook and also blessed with sight-fishing prowess, had 28-13 to jump 14 spots to fifth.
Palaniuk re-found his consistent big bite in totaling 27-7 to stay in second place, even cutting his deficit to Cook. He started Championship Monday within range at 4-6 back, and Palaniuk needed just 23-10 to earn his first Century Belt for topping 100 pounds.
Kuphall, who missed a 30-pound bag by 6 ounces, hit the mark on Day 3, weighing in 31-4 from his deep spot around cypress trees. On 14 fish, Kuphall’s three-day total was 74-13, leaving him 26-2 from the Century Club.
Palmer fished near Kuphall, and behind a 7-8 and 9-4, the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the day, he weighed the VMC Monster Bag of the Santee Cooper Lakes event. Palmer had 33-5 to win that $2,000 bonus, and it left him 4-9 behind Cook and needing only 26-2 to reach 100 pounds on Monday.
Drew Cook kept finding the bedding bass. His 24-4 gave him the lead with 80-12, and he held hope of winning wire-to-wire and earning a belt as he needed only 19-4 on Monday.
With Cook’s bite slowed on Championship Monday, Palaniuk and Kuphall each took the lead. Kuphall landed a big bass to total 26-12 on his BassTrakk and top the unofficial standings first at 100-10. At the scales, Kuphall weighed 29-3 and officially earned his Century Belt with 103-1.
Cook kept scouring Lake Marion for bedding bass and, moving into a new area, found the one he needed. His 7-12, the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the day, came at 2:20. It helped him finish with 24-9 and win wire-to-wire with 105-5.
Cook, who lives in Cairo, Ga., won the slugfest, the second time Santee Cooper Lakes has produced Century Belts. In 2006, Preston Clark set the modern four-day total of 115-15 while five others topped 100. Santee Cooper Lakes now has produced eight Belts, overtaking Clear Lake for second on the all-time list. Cook was glad to win his first blue trophy in a sight fishing event.