Clark Smokes Field With Record 115-15

Florida's Preston Clark could have closed the door on his competition as early as yesterday, but he didn't. And he could have slammed it shut again this afternoon, but left it slightly ajar. Turns out it didn't matter. He brought 23-05 to the scales, but the two anglers who could have caught him – Skeet Reese and Steve Kennedy – about matched that, and he won the Santee Cooper Bassmaster Elite Series by almost 8 pounds.

He led all 4 days of the event and his 115-15 total obliterated the previous BASS 4-day weight record (108-12) set by Dean Rojas in 2001.

Aaron Martens made a late charge with 32-10 today and finished 2nd with 108-04.

Skeet Reese slipped one spot to finish 3rd. His 24-15 today brought his 4-day total to 108-00.

Steve Kennedy also stepped back one spot. He caught 21-02 today and finished 4th with 104-02.

Previous Santee Cooper winner Kelly Jordon couldn't overcome his 14-13 disaster yesterday. He caught 24-13 and finished 5th.

Here's how the rest of the final Top 12 finished:

6. Dean Rojas: 102-10
7. Terry Scroggins: 99-11
8. Kevin Wirth: 99-03
9. John Crews: 96-03
10. Bink Desaro: 94-00
11. Greg Hackney: 91-13
12. Mike Wurm: 86-10

Six anglers caught over 100 pounds total – what's called the century mark – but Clark rode the strength of his 39-pound day 1 bag and never looked back. It's his first tour-level win.

Clark Numb

"Oh man, I'm great," Clark said. "I'm numb. I can't believe it's finally over.

"I wasn't nervous today, but I really had a goal weight set for myself at the beginning of the day. It was 25 pounds, and I didn't reach it."

He didn't think he had the weight to win. "I was a little disappointed when I thought I was going to come this close, then on the last day miss it by a pound or two.

"It was okay. I wanted 25 and thought I had 20, but it was actually 23."

He had a number of goals when the season began, but a win wasn't really on his radar. "As soon as the (Bassmaster) Classic was over, I switched gears and started thinking about Angler of the Year (AOY).

"My first goal was to qualify for the (Bassmaster) Majors, because I'm not qualified yet. My second goal was AOY. My third was to fish the Classic again.

"I never would have thought I'd have the start I had this year. My wife and I have been talking, and our life is changing by the minute."

In February he set a new record for the heaviest bass caught in a Classic.

About breaking the 4-day weight record here, he said: "Man, that's pretty cool. I've got two records now. If you would have told me in the beginning of the week it would take over 100 pounds to win, I'd have told you that you were crazy."

He sight-fished one main area for most of the tournament, and his main bait was a Zoom Big Critter Craw. Full details of his winning pattern, and pattern information for the other top finishers, will be posted soon.

2nd: Martens Wants To Win

Martens seems forever married to the 2nd-place spot. He's finished there in three separate Classics, and three other times in BASS and FLW competition.

He charged hard today, but couldn't overcome his day 1 weight. He caught 22-13 on day 1 compared to Clark's 39-02.

How does he feel about his finish? "Like I feel about any other 2nd-place finish," he said. "It's good, but it's another 2nd. I don't know how many more 2nds I can have before I win one.

"I really screwed up," he added. "I was very disappointed with my weight that first day. Even before I left my spot, I knew I screwed up.

"My goal today was 30 pounds. I had to break 30. It seemed like it was pretty easy in practice, but it wasn't (in the tournament).

"It was a really neat tournament though. I had a blast."

He shared water with Clark all the way through until late today. In fact, he said Clark caught a 10-pounder behind him on day 1.

"I passed it up, thinking nobody would see it. He was right behind me and asked, 'Aaron, do you want this fish?'

"I watched him catch it. He was all around me that first day. I knew about all the fish, but I was just one step behind. When you're one step behind, you get smoked.

"I think I'm still a little rusty. I took 4 months off and I'm still trying to catch up."

3rd: Reese Loved It

Reese is pumped.

"I had a great week," he said. "There's no getting around that. It was unbelievable. I caught 108 pounds of frickin' bass. How can you complain about that?"

He had the opportunity to catch Clark today, but didn't capitalize. "(Clark) did leave the door open a little today. I made an adjustment too late in the day. I put myself in an area where I had all the potential in the world to catch 30-plus today and maybe have a shot – or at least break Dean's record for myself.

"I just got over there too late. If I had 2 more hours, I could have weighed 30-plus today. So it's bittersweet.

"I'm happy, I had a great tournament, but I'm still knowing what could have been."

4th: Kennedy Frustrated

Like Reese, Kennedy had a chance to catch Clark today, but he fizzled. He's happy with his finish, but frustrated with how his day went.

"Anytime you finish 4th against these guys, it's great," he said. "And anytime you catch 104 pounds in 4 days, it's unbelievable.

"But I had a pretty frustrating day. I went to an area I'd been fishing – I'd been fishing in that one pond for 4 days – and caught some bucks.

"I hate to even talk about guys, but the (Bassmaster Southern) Tour is here next week, and there were guys who got in front of me on the trolling motor. Every place there had been a fish, I could find by seeing the muddy spots from the trolling motors and how guys were reacting around me.

"I wanted to go to the very back, but some guy had already went through there with his big motor."

At that point, he pulled the plug. "I went to a pond where I fished some the first day and caught 13 or 14 pounds. There were 20 or 30 fish in there trying to bed. I spent 2 hours on a 6 or 7 and hooked her twice. I only caught two or three keepers out of there."

He left and things continued to spiral. "I went into the next pocket and broke a 4 off.

"Of course I'm disappointed that I had a bad day," he noted. "It's getting to the point where I'm pretty frustrated. I led three events last year – an EverStart (now Stren), the EverStart Championship and an FLW. I led the FLW after day 3.

"I didn't catch them on the final day in any of those events. And I made the cut at Amistad and here, and had bad final days. So I've had five tournaments in a year with bad final days.

"Maybe I'm beating my fish up too much. I'm just not sure how to finish one.

"The frustration is setting in, but I'm still having a blast. This (Elite Series) schedule is incredible."

5th: Jordon Amped About 100

Jordon didn't repeat as winner, and he's a little bitter about his 14-13 bomb yesterday, but he's still excited.

"I feel great," he said. "I didn't win, but I broke into the century club. I'm fired up about that. I think everybody would like to be a member of that club.

"Preston put it all together," he added. "He led wire-to-wire. That's strong. He had a great tournament. It was his week and my hat's off to him."

Jordon also noted: "(Clark's) so nice, he even tried to give me some credit. He said, 'I read about how you won here, and it was the same conditions.' I should have kept my mouth shut."

Notable

> Day 4 stats – 12 anglers, 12 limits.

> The math on Clark's 116-pound total breaks down to almost a 6-pound average. Wow.

> Scroggins said of his 7th-place finish: "I feel pretty good about it. I thought I was going to catch 20 pounds a day. I actually caught 25."

> Greg Hackney still leads the Elite Series points, but Rojas has moved up to 2nd. Kevin VanDam, who was previously 2nd in the points, was DQd from the event and fell to 34th. Alton Jones, who was also DQd, fell to 79th. For full points standings, see below.

> BassFan News is brought to you by Rapala..

Day 4 (Final) Standings

1. Preston Clark -- Palatka, Fla. -- 20, 115-15 -- 320 -- $101,500
Day 1: 5, 39-06 -- Day 2: 5, 29-05 -- Day 3: 5, 23-15 -- Day 4: 5, 23-05

2. Aaron Martens -- Leeds, Ala. -- 20, 108-04 -- 295 -- $31,500
Day 1: 5, 22-13 -- Day 2: 5, 27-06 -- Day 3: 5, 25-07 -- Day 4: 5, 32-10

3. Skeet Reese -- Auburn, Calif. -- 20, 108-00 -- 290 -- $25,000
Day 1: 5, 29-12 -- Day 2: 5, 30-03 -- Day 3: 5, 23-02 -- Day 4: 5, 24-15

4. Steve Kennedy -- Auburn, Ala. -- 20, 104-02 -- 285 -- $19,000
Day 1: 5, 23-06 -- Day 2: 5, 31-13 -- Day 3: 5, 27-13 -- Day 4: 5, 21-02

5. Kelly Jordon -- Mineola, Texas -- 20, 103-03 -- 280 -- $17,500
Day 1: 5, 31-15 -- Day 2: 5, 31-10 -- Day 3: 5, 14-13 -- Day 4: 5, 24-13

6. Dean Rojas -- Lake Havasu, Ariz. -- 20, 102-10 -- 276 -- $15,500
Day 1: 5, 25-09 -- Day 2: 5, 31-11 -- Day 3: 5, 20-07 -- Day 4: 5, 24-15

7. Terry Scroggins -- Palatka, Fla. -- 20, 99-11 -- 272 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 33-06 -- Day 2: 5, 27-12 -- Day 3: 5, 18-12 -- Day 4: 5, 19-13

8. Kevin Wirth -- Crestwood, Ky. -- 20, 99-03 -- 268 -- $15,500
Day 1: 5, 27-06 -- Day 2: 5, 31-15 -- Day 3: 5, 21-07 -- Day 4: 5, 18-07

9. John Crews -- Salem, Va. -- 20, 96-03 -- 264 -- $14,000
Day 1: 5, 29-09 -- Day 2: 5, 29-04 -- Day 3: 5, 17-11 -- Day 4: 5, 19-11

10. Bink Desaro -- Boise, Idaho -- 19, 94-00 -- 260 -- $13,500
Day 1: 5, 22-08 -- Day 2: 5, 28-15 -- Day 3: 4, 20-13 -- Day 4: 5, 21-12

11. Greg Hackney -- Gonzales, La. -- 20, 91-13 -- 257 -- $12,500
Day 1: 5, 21-09 -- Day 2: 5, 25-11 -- Day 3: 5, 31-03 -- Day 4: 5, 13-06

12. Mike Wurm -- Hot Springs, Ark. -- 20, 86-10 -- 254 -- $13,800
Day 1: 5, 14-06 -- Day 2: 5, 27-11 -- Day 3: 5, 32-04 -- Day 4: 5, 12-05

Big Bass

> Day 4 -- Stephen Kennedy -- Auburn, Ala. -- 7-12 -- $1,000
> Day 3 -- Mike Wurm -- Hot Springs, Ark. -- 8-13 -- $500
> Day 3 -- Aaron Martens -- Leeds, Ala. -- 8-13 -- $500
> Day 2 -- Conrad Picou -- Scott, La. -- 10-00 -- $1,000
> Day 1 -- Kelly Jordon -- Mineola, Texas -- 9-02 -- $500
> Day 1 -- Preston Clark -- Palatka, Fla. -- 9-02 -- $500

Elite Series Points Standings

1 Greg Hackney -- 857
2 Dean Rojas -- 825
3 John Crews -- 749
4 Terry Scroggins -- 733
5 Michael Iaconelli -- 732
6 Steve Kennedy -- 725
7 Takahiro Omori -- 712
8 Kelly Jordon -- 700
9 Ishama Monroe -- 699
9 Skeet Reese -- 699
11 Gerald Swindle -- 691
12 Aaron Martens -- 689
13 Preston Clark -- 683
13 Bill Lowen -- 683
15 Denny Brauer -- 681
16 Jason Quinn -- 675
17 Randy Howell -- 671
18 Mike Wurm -- 666
19 Kevin Wirth -- 648
20 Matt Reed -- 642
21 Russ Lane -- 641
22 Tim Horton -- 639
23 Stephen Browning -- 634
24 Edwin Evers -- 630
25 Jarrett Edwards -- 629
26 Gary Klein -- 622
27 Bernie Schultz -- 615
28 Jeff Reynolds -- 611
29 John Murray -- 598
30 Shaw E Grigsby, Jr -- 582
31 Ray Sedgwick -- 581
32 Mark Tyler -- 580
33 Terry Butcher -- 575
34 Kevin VanDam -- 571
35 Lee Bailey -- 567
35 Paul Hirosky -- 567
35 Jeff Kriet -- 567
38 William Smith, Jr -- 562
39 Mark Menendez -- 557
40 Jimmy Mize -- 551
41 Robert Hamilton Jr -- 549
42 Brooks Rogers -- 547
43 Bradley Hallman -- 546
44 Mike McClelland -- 538
45 Zell Rowland -- 535
46 Darrin Schwenkbeck -- 531
47 Tommy Biffle -- 527
47 Peter E Thliveros -- 527
49 Jared Lintner -- 524
50 Pete Ponds -- 516
51 Rick Clunn -- 513
52 Dave Smith -- 512
53 Todd Faircloth -- 511
54 Yusuke Miyazaki -- 505
55 Mike Reynolds -- 490
56 Fred Roumbanis -- 485
57 Kenyon Hill -- 484
58 Terry Segraves -- 483
58 Marty Stone -- 483
60 Dave Wolak -- 475
61 Britt Myers -- 473
62 Mark Tucker -- 467
63 Ken Cook -- 466
64 Mike O'Shea -- 462
64 Kotaro Kiriyama -- 462
66 Greg Gutierrez -- 457
67 Steve Daniel -- 452
68 Vince Hurtado -- 450
69 Chris Lane -- 446
70 Scott Rook -- 445
71 Bradley Stringer -- 441
72 Morizo Shimizu -- 429
73 Bink Desaro -- 425
74 Byron Velvick -- 424
75 Charlie Hartley -- 423
76 Paul Elias -- 421
77 Brent Chapman -- 416
77 Jeremy Starks -- 416
79 Alton Jones -- 414
80 Kevin Short -- 413
81 Keith Phillips -- 408
82 Jon Bondy -- 403
83 Davy Hite -- 397
84 Kevin Langill -- 395
84 Jeff Connella -- 395
86 Mark Rogers -- 381
87 Joe Thomas -- 379
88 Grant Goldbeck -- 371
89 Kurt Dove -- 369
90 Chad Brauer -- 360
91 David Gliebe -- 347
92 Rick Ash -- 342
93 Brian Snowden -- 341
94 Elton Luce Jr -- 339
94 Charlie Youngers -- 339
96 Charlie Weyer -- 330
97 Rick Morris -- 327
98 Randy Yarnall -- 316
99 Jimmy Houston -- 311
100 Guy Eaker -- 305
101 Doc Merkin -- 287
102 Ken Brodeur -- 278
103 Jami Fralick -- 277
104 Frank Scalish -- 268
105 Conrad Picou -- 227
106 Dustin Wilks -- 151