Allan Glasgow, a husband and father of two, lives quite a ways from Santee Cooper. But the Ashville, Ala. plumber has certainly made his mark at the sprawling South Carolina impoundment.
He won a Southeastern EverStart there in 2005 (when he edged JT Kenney in a tiebreaker), he won a Bassmaster Southern Open there in 2009, and on Saturday he clinched the Bassmaster Weekend Series Championship, operated by American Bass Anglers.
As the champ, he pocketed $100,000 plus a coveted berth in the upcoming 2012 Bassmaster Classic at the Red River in Louisiana.
"I'll tell you, it's like a
roller coaster right now and I'm still coming down the hill," Glasgow said. "It feels really good. It's exciting. I don't want to say I never dreamed of doing it (fishing the Classic) – I just never dreamed it would happen like this. I'm really happy and pleased."
Following is a look at how he won.
Practice
After Glasgow qualified for the National Championship via the Regional, he took advantage of two weekends to prefish Santee Cooper.
He concentrated his entire pre-practice on the Stumphole Swamp, he noted, and that turned out to be key – not because he won the event there. Instead, he was able to thoroughly practice and learn to navigate Stumphole during low-water conditions and therefore was more efficient during the official practice, and that's when he found the winning area.
"I learned as much as I could there prior to the cutoff and I really had a good practice there. When it came time for the official practice, I only had 2 1/2 days and I spent a day and a half in the swamp making sure nothing had really changed. Then an area I found on the second day (of practice) turned out to be where I caught the majority of the fish I weighed. It was in Pack's Landing."
Competition
> Day 1: 5, 13.90 (27th)
> Day 2: 5, 20.70 (4th)
> Day 3: 5, 21.15 (2nd)
> Day 4: 4, 9.35
> Total = 19, 65.10
Glasgow started at his Pack's Landing spot, which he said is "above the swamp."
He planned to crank and noted: "People have always told me that, in these 4-day events, you don't want to go catch all your fish. So my goal was to catch about 15 pounds a day."
He had about 12 pounds by 8:00, then added a 3 1/2 from another spot and that was his day.
On day 2, he started fishing a little quicker at Pack's (rather than idle farther back) and caught a 5-pounder. He continued to fish his way back and had 20 pounds by 10:30. He pulled out of his area and went practicing.
That huge catch moved him up from 27th to 4th and he wasn't sure whether he should fish his Pack's spot or save it for day 4. He decided to go there and had almost 22 pounds by 10:30. He pulled out again to manage his fish and ended the day in 2nd.
The final day was Saturday and the bite got tough. Officials held the field almost 2 hours for a fog delay. Glasgow reached his Pack's spot too late and the bite was over. He left at 11:30 without a fish.
He bailed on his Pack's spot and fished a group of trees in the swamp that provided a modest 9-pound catch, but it was enough to win and he edged runner-up Wade Grooms by less than a pound.
About his winning area, he said: "I was cranking a railroad trestle up in there. I found the place back in 2009 when I caught some fish from it."
One of Glasgow's key baits was a Z-Man Original ChatterBait.
Winning Gear Notes
Glasgow used two different cranks:
> A 1/2-ounce chartreuse/white Z-Man Original ChatterBait, which he threw on 17-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS fluorocarbon.
> A Lucky Craft BDS2 in winter craw, which he threw on 17-pound Bass Pro Shops Excel mono.
His biggest bites came on the Lucky Crank BDS2.
The Bottom Line
Notable
> Glasgow's sponsored by Bass Cat, Mercury and MotorGuide.
> He went on his own to form a plumbing company nearly 5 years ago and noted that, with the down economy, the $100,000 prize money comes at a very opportune time.
Much of the tackle referenced above is available at the BassFan Store. To browse the selection, click here.
