Santee Cooper Bassmaster day 3 leader Mark Kile had 21-13 today, a good sack on any lake, even this one. With a 7-pound lead, that should've been enough to give him his first tour win. But it wasn't enough. Instead, Kelly Jordon, who was in 2nd yesterday, brought 32-02 to the scales to make up the stagger and win his third Bassmaster Tour event.
Jordon ended up with 93-13 to Kile's 90-07 for a 3-06 margin of victory. Second-year Florida pro Terry Scroggins had the second-biggest limit of the day (26-08), which moved him into 3rd with 83-03. Cody Bird had 17-03 today for 74-09 total and 4th, Matt Reed had 16-05 today for 73-04 total and 5th, and day 2 leader Mike McClelland fell to 6th after boating just 14-02 today for 72-11 total.
The weather today wasn't rainy as was forecast. Instead, it was pretty much the same as the last 2 days, making sight-fishing the most productive technique.
All Big Ones for Jordon
"You can't describe it," Jordon said of his win. "This is the third one I've won, and you'd think I wouldn't be as nervous. But I think I was more nervous this time. I was coming from so far behind – I knew I caught them great, but Mark had such a big lead I figured it was insurmountable."
Kile weighed in last, and had to have 25 pounds – not out of the realm of possibility since he weighed 32-03 yesterday. "I figured he had to have 25 pounds, and then he weighed in," Jordon said.
Jordon had all his weight – "a couple right at 8, a 7, a 6 and a 4" – by 11:00. Like everyone fishing today, he went out with the intention of only fishing for big fish, and his were bigger than everyone else's.
He went to some of the same areas he'd fished before. "I knew a bunch of beds were there with bucks I didn't catch. I went and checked them out, and there were big females there," he said. "It was unbelievable. The first bed I looked at today had a 2-pound buck from yesterday, and (with it was) a 7-13. I caught that one in the first 10 minutes."
He caught "probably 8-9 keepers" today. "I was just flying down the bank, passing up 3-, 4- and 4 1/2-pounders. I was just looking for big ones, trying to win."
> Jordon sight-fished all week. The details of his winning pattern will be up soon.
A local prevented Mark Kile from fishing his best spot today, and that hurt him.
Kile Happy/Mad
"That's my luck," Kile said. "I work my butt off to catch 22 pounds and still lose."
How does he feel? "It was pretty exciting. It was great. Actually, I'm bummed out. I wanted to win. The only thing good about it will be when I get the check for 40 grand. I also think I made the Classic, which is good, and this will be good for the World Rankings. (Editor's note: This is Kile's second year on tour so he isn't ranked yet, but will be this year.)
"I wanted to win, but I don't feel bad because I thought I did good today," he noted. "I had a hard, tough day. By 1:00 I had three fish, and I just kept looking and fishing. I saw a 4 and a 7 and caught them both."
Why the big difference between his weight today and his weight yesterday? He didn't get to fish his main area today. "One of the local guys was sitting in the little patch of pads I caught the big ones out of (yesterday)," he said. "I went up to him real nice and asked him to leave. He said, 'I've been here for 2 weeks and I'm not leaving.'" Naturally Kile wasn't thrilled, but noted: "He had as much right to be there as I did."
This is Kile's second 2nd-place finish in 2 years. "I want (to win) one bad," he said. "I want one really bad. This will just keep making me work harder at it."
Scroggins Sight-Fished for First Time
Scroggins fished differently every day, and today was no exception. "I was 11 pounds behind and needed to catch a big bag, so I just went sight-fishing," he said. "I put the trolling motor on high and went and found some." His 26-08 was impressive, but he noted that he "left a 10, three 5s and a 6-pounder down there. Other than that it was pretty good."
"Pretty good" was the same reaction he had about finishing 3rd. "I would have rather won, but I did everything I could do. I think I made all the right moves. I caught them different every day – I had to make a lot of adjustments. Kelly Jordon is just a great fisherman. They don't get any better than that."
> Scroggins won the Okeechobee Bassmaster last year, which was his rookie year on tour.
Reed Went for Broke
Reed was in 5th yesterday, about 12 pounds out of 1st, but wasn't shooting for 2nd today. He went for the win and ended up with just 4 fish, good enough for 5th.
He'd been sight-fishing new water every day, and today ran to the lower lake for the first time. He found plenty of fish, but only a few of the ones he was looking for. "I really gambled," he said. "I was trying to catch a big sack and drove by probably 30 to 40 3- to 4-pound fish. I didn't fish for them because I needed a monster sack."
He spent a long time on an 8-plus female he wanted for his limit fish, but didn't get her. "I shook the male off over and over, trying to get her to bite," he said. Eventually he looked elsewhere, but at the end of the day decided to go and catch that male to finish his limit. He hooked him, and lost him. "That was a $5,000 fish," he said. "I needed a pound to move up one place.
"Boy was I harebrained for not catching one more, but I wouldn't do anything different."
This was his second year on the Bassmaster Tour, and this is his highest finish yet (he had an 8th last year at Clear Lake). "It feels really good, but I'm kind of dejected that I didn't finish any higher," he said. "But when you finish 5th in one of these, you've had a great week. There's a ton of great fishermen here, and I'm lucky to finish where I did."
> Last year's Clear Lake event also was dominated by sight-fishing.
McClelland Happy/Disappointed
McClelland said it "feels great" to finish 6th, but added that "it's a little disappointing after leading the event on the second day and feeling like I legitimately had a shot to win."
He noted that the conditions changing to favor sight-fishermen hurt him because he "wasn't prepared to change that way," in large part because he doesn't consider himself a good sight-fisherman. As a result, he chose not to sight-fish today.
"I did change the way I fished," he noted. "I chose to stay in some dingier water and caught a limit doing that, but it was smaller than the fish I'd been catching." He was flipping and pitching a jig around cypress trees in the lower lake. Today he went back to what he had been doing later in the day and culled a couple, but said: "I think I missed the main part of (that) bite."
His main pattern was fishing cypress trees that were in "at least 2 1/2 feet of water, and preferably were close to some kind of channel or funnel leading into the backwater areas where fish were spawning. I was fishing depressions and things of that nature." His best area was what he thought was "part of the old Santee canal. It was 7 1/2 to 8 feet deep, and cypress trees lined whole drain system. The shallow side was 2 to 2 1/2 feet deep, and the deep side was 3 1/2 to 4 feet deep." He fished both sides of the canal from both sides of each row of trees.
The biggest key to the pattern was the presentation. "It wasn't your typical pitch to the stump, let it fall to the bottom and maybe hop it to get a bite," he said. "I was fishing the root system around the trees, not just the base. And slow was key."
His bait was a 5/16-ounce Jewel Jig (Bakersfield, Mo.) in green-pumpkin with 3-4 strands of orange tipped with a green-pumpkin Zoom Super Chunk Jr. He fished it with a 7' 3" Rapala medium-heavy rod, Quantum PT reel and 15-pound line.
> This is McClelland's first year back on the Bassmaster Tour after taking time off to be a sales rep for Champion Boats. "This year I set pretty high goals for myself," he said. "I haven't totally accomplished them, but I feel pretty good about it." One goal he has going forward is to learn how to sight-fish better. "Over the next 2 months I'll be spending as much time on my (home) lakes as I can. The fish are in spawning mode, and I'll be learning how to catch them."
Notable
> McClelland had an amazing 21-02 less than Jordon.
Final (Day 4) Standings
1. Kelly Jordon – Mineola, Texas – 20, 93-13 – $103,000
Day 1: 5, 17-12 – Day 2: 5, 15-06 – Day 3: 5, 28-09 – Day 4: 5, 32-02
2. Mark Kile – Tonto Basin, Ariz. – 20, 90-07 – $40,000
Day 1: 5, 16-03 – Day 2: 5, 20-04 – Day 3: 5, 32-03 – Day 4: 5, 21-13
3. Terry Scroggins – Palatka, Fla. – 20, 83-03 – $23,000
Day 1: 5, 16-13 – Day 2: 5, 20-02 – Day 3: 5, 19-12 – Day 4: 5, 26-08
4. Cody Bird – Granbury, Texas – 20, 74-09 – $20,000
Day 1: 5, 19-11 – Day 2: 5, 16-13 – Day 3: 5, 20-14 – Day 4: 5, 17-03
5. Matt Reed – Madisonville, Texas – 18, 73-04 – $15,000
Day 1: 5, 18-02 – Day 2: 4, 16-12 – Day 3: 5, 22-01 – Day 4: 4, 16-05
6. Mike McClelland – Vella Vista, Ark. – 20, 72-11 – $14,000
Day 1: 5, 22-04 – Day 2: 5, 18-07 – Day 3: 5, 17-14 – Day 4: 5, 14-02
Big Bass
Day 4 – Kelly Jordon – Mineola, Texas – 7-13 – $1,000
Day 3 – Mark Kile – Tonto Basin, Ariz. – 9-10 – $1,000
Day 2 – Denny Brauer – Camdenton, Mo. – 9-07 – $1,000
Day 1 – Gerald Swindle – Hayden, Ala. – 8-03 – $500
Day 1 – Paul Elias – Pachuta, Miss. – 8-03 – $500
