Soft-plastic baits and shallow water -- often with lily pads -- were common keys for pros who finished in the Top 5 at last week's Santee-Cooper BASSMASTER. For the details of the 2nd- to 5th-place anglers' patterns, read on.
2nd: Mark Davis
Day 1: 5, 19-06
Day 2: 5, 28-00
Day 3: 5, 21-14
Day 4: 5, 17-03
> Total: 20, 86-07
Mark Davis fished Lake Moultrie with various soft plastics in water less than 3 feet deep to catch his fish. His best producer was a scaled-down Carolina rig fished on spinning gear. The rig featured a short leader, a 3/16-ounce weight and a Strike King 3X centipede. His line for both the main line and the leader was 10-pound Ande.
His other primary bait was a Strike King tube (green pumpkin), which he used on bass he could see on the beds. He also fished a Yamamoto Senko and a Creme worm rigged wacky-style. He used 20-pound Ande line for the tube and the Senko, and 10-pound Ande for the wacky worm. Davis uses Falcon rods and Pflueger Trion reels.
He fished the light Carolina rig around shallow stumps the first two days. The adjustment that allowed him to stay in the Top 6 was pulling out with the water. "When they dropped the water on day 3, the stumps didn't produce," he said. "I backed out and started fishing clumps of dollar pads in slightly deeper water, and started catching them again."
On the final day Davis made one pass through his best set of pads and caught 15 pounds. He left for a while to let it settle down. When he returned, local boats covered the area.
> Most important factor: "A key in this tournament was letting a place sit a while and then fishing back through it later," he said. "The biggest thing for me this week was fishing slow."
3rd: Larry Nixon
Larry Nixon turned in his best finish of the 2003 BASSMASTER Tour season at Santee-Cooper. His four days looked like this:
Day 1: 5, 17-10
Day 2: 5, 28-10
Day 3: 5, 21-14
Day 4: 5, 16-04
> Total: 20, 84-06
Nixon fished what he called a "classic springtime shallow-water pattern" on Lake Moultrie: He pitched a Berkley Power Lizard and a Senko in 2 to 3 feet of water around stumps, lily pads and shallow grass to accumulate his catch.
He used 14- and 17-pound Berkley Vanish fluorocarbon for the Senko and lizard, respectively, and rigged the lizard with a 1/8-ounce weight for a quiet presentation and slow fall.
Pattern/Gear Notes:
> Nixon used Fenwick Techna AV rods -- 6' 6" for the Senko and 7 feet for the lizard -- and Abu-Garcia Torno 3006 reels.
> Most important factor: He emphasized that the key for him was fishing slowly and quietly. "It was important to make long casts away from the boat and to let areas settle down for a while."
4th: Edwin Evers
After winning the Eufaula BASSMASTER event 2 weeks ago, red-hot Edwin Evers claimed another Top 6 finish by finishing 4th at Santee. Here's how he performed last week:
Day 1: 5, 22-08
Day 2: 5, 26-14
Day 3: 5, 19-13
Day 4: 5, 12-11
> Total: 20, 81-14
His predominant pattern was pitching a Mad Man lizard in dollar pads on Lake Moultrie. "The fish were bedding in the area I was fishing, so I was pitching to holes and gaps in the pads – anywhere I thought there was a bed."
He pitched the lizard on a 1/8-ounce weight and 17-pound-test Bass Pro Shops XPS fluorocarbon.
Even though the lizard worked well for him, on the first three days he caught his biggest one or two fish on a spinnerbait. "I had a big bite on the spinnerbait each of the first three days, but I just couldn't get a big bite on the spinnerbait the last day," he said. The spinnerbait was a 3/8-ounce Stanley (chartreuse and white) with Colorado blades.
Notes:
> Evers' mistake of bringing in 6 bass instead of 5 on day 4 seems to have cost him. "I figured I would have finished 2nd instead of 4th, which is about an $18,000 difference," he said. "But it's a relief to know I wouldn't have beaten Zell. Eighteen-thousand is easier to take than $80,000."
> Evers used Bass Pro Shops Johnny Morris Signature Series rods and reels.
5th: Chad Morgenthaler
Here's how BASSMASTER Tour rookie Chad Morgenthaler fished at Santee:
Day 1: 5, 22-12
Day 2: 5, 23-06
Day 3: 5, 18-07
Day 4: 5, 15-01
> Total: 20, 79-10
He caught his day 1 weight around secondary points on a 1/2-ounce Mad Man buzzbait, and a 3/8-ounce Mad Man spinnerbait (white skirt with Colorado blades).
On the second day he moved down to the hatchery in Lake Moultrie and boated 23-06 on the buzzbait alone.
On day 3 the sun came out and he had to resort to dead-sticking a Wave Worm Tiki Stick in the same (hatchery) area. He noted that locals moved into the area on Sunday, but he still managed to catch 15-01 off beds with the Tiki Stick.
Gear/pattern notes:
> For a majority of his fishing, including the spinnerbait, buzzbait, and Tiki Stick, Morgenthaler used an American Rodsmiths 6' 10" medium-heavy rod and Maxima 15-pound ultra-green line spooled on Shimano Chronarch reels.
> Most important factor: "I had to keep changing with the weather," he said. "When it was rainy and cloudy the first two days, I could catch them on moving baits. But once the sun came out, I went to the Tiki Stick."
Quiet presentations were key for Larry Nixon.
