Santee Cooper Elite Series

Photo: Rebecca Edwards

It was a pretty windy day for most of the day, but I stumbled into a little area this afternoon and got healthy real quick. I caught a couple of 6s, and my partner caught an 8. They were coming in pretty good.

I was bed-fishing the whole tournament, and I caught one casting a Yamamoto Senko today. I know that guys caught them a little more casting today, but I stuck to bed-fishing. I needed to look for big ones.

I had 8 on this morning and it came off, so I definitely had my chances to do really well.

I really don't feel too bad about not making the cut. It would have been nice, but if you're in 12th or 11th here, you don't really have a chance to win.

And I don't mind the extra drive day for at least 1 good day of practice on Beaver for the FLW. That's a pretty important tournament for me. I've done poorly in my first three FLWs, and I need to do well in this one to have a shot at making the Championship.

Photo: Rebecca Edwards

Today I stuck with my sight-fishing gameplan and caught a quick limit. I culled a lot of nice bass also on a 5-inch Yamamoto Senko in green-pumpkin.

Today was my 1-year anniversary of being diagnosed with cancer. It was a emotional day for me. It feels great to just be alive and kicking, let alone to have the opportunity to fish and promote full-time with a great wife and family, as I have. Let me tell you, life doesn't get any better than that.

The weather is supposed to get nasty tomorrow and I'm not sure what that will do for the sight-bite. I will just have to give it my best shot. KeelShield keel protectors owners Sue and Scott Smith dropped by the tournament for a nice surprise.

Speaking of surprises they gave me a PlayStation2 mobile with some great looking war games to play on the road. Sounds like I won't be getting any sleep tonight. Wish me luck and God Bless.

Today was a decent day considering that I have never caught many fish here before. I caught five bass for 17.15 pounds.

I was struggling during practice so I decided to pull out my sight-fishing gear and go at it. I was fortunate to catch what I caught. The weather is supposed to remain stable for tomorrow but turn ugly on Saturday. I'm sitting in 51st place right now a little out of the money, but if the weatherman is correct I believe that more big bass will move up shallow overnight and the weights will go up.

Time will tell. Today I caught my sight-fish on a white jig with a Yamamoto twin trailer and 50-pound PowerPro line. I'm using a 7 1/2-foot St. Croix pitching rod and I'm yanking their heads in the boat.

My day did not go perfect though. I dumped an 8-pounder this morning on a Storm bluegill swimbait. I have a gut feeling that that one fish might cost me a $10,000 check. I'm disgusted right now but I have no other choice but to pony up and catch them again tomorrow. Goodnight.

I saved my day. I lost about an 8, and two more about 5, and had a small limit. But right at the end of the day, I caught one of the 8s I'd seen. That sort of saved the day and I got in the cut in 24th.

That's an important figure right there – $10,000 for getting in that Top 50.

I'm going to go fishing tomorrow. I'll just go to some new areas. I got locked into a cove today, and a couple of other guys came in on me. I sort of got frustrated. They were both locals and pros. Sometimes you get penned it when you're locked on a fish. Some guys start sticking them and you get kind of frustrated.

I'm just going fishing tomorrow. I'll be more wide-open.

I'm mostly throwing Yamamoto Senkos, Mission Fish (swimbaits) and a Matt Lures bluegill. Those big ones – they don't get too responsive to the little baits. You want to get them going with the big baits, then throw the little bait. But they kept biting the big baits. You don't want them to do that because you lose too many.

My day was pretty good. I got two good ones and ended up with 26-02.

In practice I just drove around and looked. I never even caught a fish. Today I just sight-fished. I saw some areas yesterday, when they started moving up, and I just went to a sort of community hole today. Nobody came in there.

My biggest were and 8-09 and an 8. It was a nice day.

I should move, but I don't really know where to go. So I don't know what I'll do tomorrow. I'll just try to scrape out another good limit and make sure I make the Top 50.

Well, I wish I had a lot to tell you about an exciting prefish but for me, but I've had a brutal prefish. If you take a look back at my tournament standings you'll see that Santee Cooper is the toughest lake for me to catch fish on.

This year is no different than the last two major Bassmaster events we've had here – the same time of year with the same sight-fishing bite happening. I'm dazed and confused. The last few years I've tried to go against the grain and not sight-fish, and I've gotten whooped. This year I promised myself to sight-fish. Live or die – hero or zero – that's what I'm going to do.

I'm seeing lots of bass, some good ones too, but not too many of them are locked on. I'm sure it doesn't help with 100 boats looking at the same fish, throwing the same baits. It'll be a lot of work. Plain and simple, just trying to grind a limit out here will be extremely tough for me.

I'm just trying to survive this lake. Say big prayers for me, 'cause I'll need every one.