Zell Rowland's pursuers stumbled today at the BASSMASTER Tour event on Santee-Cooper, but he didn't. He weighed-in a 22-14 limit, which gave him a decisive victory as today he doubled the 6-pound lead he had yesterday.

His total weight for the event was 98-09, 1-07 shy of his 100-pound goal for the tournament. Still, an amazing weight -- not enough to eclipse Dean Rojas' record catch of 108 pounds at Florida's Lake Toho in 2001, but enough for the second-largest total weight caught in a 4-day BASSMASTER Tour event.

He caught his fish on a Yum 4-inch Tube and a lizard in a spot that other locals and competitors had overlooked. (The details of his winning pattern will be up soon.)

Davis "Rigs" For 2nd

Mark Davis brought in the second-biggest weight today (17-03) and finished 2nd by 12-02. This was his first Top 10 of the year.

He caught a majority of his fish this week on a downsized Carolina rig in shallow water. "I was using a short-leader Carolina rig with a 3/16-ounce weight and a Strike King 3X centipede," he said. "I was fishing stumps, lily pads and flooded grass in 3 feet of water or less."

Davis also caught sight-fish on a Strike King tube (green pumpkin), and a Senko.

"I fished up in the stumps the first two days, but when the water started falling, I had to back out into deeper dollar pads," he added.

Davis said this event was very special to him because of Carl Maxfield. "We lost a great friend when we lost Carl," he said. "I fished with Carl for a couple days of in February, right before he died. It was his last fishing trip here on Earth. In the tournament, I fished within sight of where he and I fished together for the last time. I kind of felt like he was there watching me, so it was a special tournament."

Nixon Finishes 3rd

Larry Nixon caught 16-04 today to finish 3rd, "I went to my good area this morning and caught a limit fast, but the quality fish weren't there so I just went fishing," he said. "I ran out of fish. The water kept falling and pulling the fish out. And of course there were lots of locals out fishing today, but that's just part of it."

This was his best finish of the season, but it was bitter-sweet as this also was his last BASSMASTER Tour event of the season: he finished 106th in the B.A.S.S. points, meaning he didn't make the Top 100 field cut for events seven and eight.

"I'm not going to California," he said. "I've got a chance to win Angler of the Year on the FLW side, so I'm going to concentrate there."

VanDam Has a Bad Day

"I just had a real bad day," said VanDam who brought in just 9 pounds to finish 6th. "The area I was in had 25 to 30 local boats in there, and they were catching them all around me. Also, there was a lot of pollen on the water and the clouds kept me from seeing the stumps that I was pitching to. It was just one of those really bad days."

Notable

> Rowland's last BASSMASTER Tour victory was in 1999 at Lake Mead in Nevada.

> Several top fishermen didn't make the Top 100 field cut. To see the updated B.A.S.S. points race standings, click here.

Day 4 Standings

1. Zell Rowland -- Montgomery, Texas -- 20, 98-09 -- $100,000
Day 1: 5, 28-10 -- Day 2: 5, 30-04 -- Day 3: 5, 16-13 -- Day 4: 5, 22-14

2. Mark Davis -- Mount Ida, Ark. -- 20, 86-07 -- $39,000
Day 1: 5, 19-06 -- Day 2: 5, 28-00 -- Day 3: 5, 21-14 -- Day 4: 5, 17-03

3. Larry Nixon -- Bee Branch, Ark. -- 20, 84-06 -- $24,000
Day 1: 5, 17-10 -- Day 2: 5, 28-10 -- Day 3: 5, 21-14 -- Day 4: 5, 16-04

4. Edwin Evers -- Mannsville, Okla. -- 20, 81-14 -- $20,000
Day 1: 5, 22-08 -- Day 2: 5, 26-14 -- Day 3: 5, 19-13 -- Day 4: 5, 12-11

5. Chad Morgenthaler -- Coulterville, Ill. -- 20, 79-10 -- $16,000
Day 1: 5, 22-12 -- Day 2: 5, 23-06 -- Day 3: 5, 18-07 -- Day 4: 5, 15-01

6. Kevin VanDam -- Kalamazoo, Mich. -- 20, 78-07 -- $14,000
Day 1: 5, 23-01 -- Day 2: 5, 24-04 -- Day 3: 5, 22-02 -- Day 4: 5, 9-00

Big Bass
> Day 3 -- Mark Davis -- Mount Ida, Ark. -- 7-08 -- $1,000
> Day 4 -- Larry Nixon -- Bee Branch, Ark. -- 6-13 -- $1,000