Santee Cooper BASSMASTER

I didn't do any good. I caught 11-11, and they caught them better today than yesterday. It totally blows my mind that I couldn't catch them. I couldn't get a good bite today. I caught several fish, but I only had one 4-pounder then all little ones.

I found out what I did wrong yesterday. The fish moved from those cypress trees to less than a foot of water. I figured it out at about 11:00. Evidently I just wasn't around any big fish, but I didn't see anyone catch any good ones around me.

My non-boater partner threw me a curve this morning. I picked up a worm, and before I made a cast he hooked a 5-pounder on a spinnerbait. I was going to help him land it and then he lost it. I picked up a spinnerbait and fished all around in there, and then left. I found out later that that's one of the places Ray Sedgwick was fishing, and he was fishing a lizard. I didn't know it at the time. But finally, after about 2 more hours of throwing a spinnerbait, I slowed down and pitched a Mann's It. I was letting it sit. I had one fish before I started doing that and caught probably 8 fish doing that in the last 2 hours.

I didn't have a pattern going. I got on those good fish in the cypress trees on the second day of practice. Evidently the really warm night and warm rain and the wind blowing moved those fish shallow. They were staging on those trees, I guess, then just pushed up into the grass or lily pads. So I was totally off- base yesterday and half the day today.

I'm 62nd in the points, so it's borderline whether I can go to California or not.

I had a limit that weighed 20-05, but they caught the snot out of them again today. While I was up there, I heard them call out two 25-pound bags and a 30- pound bag.

I went back to the area were I caught all my fish yesterday and pounded them all day long. I had at least 20 bites, and I boated probably 10-12 of them. I had two fish 3-4 pounds get off which might have helped me a little bit, but not a tremendous amount. Nothing over 4 pounds got off. My partner caught one close to 8 pounds. It was a mule.

I don't know where I ended up, but I hope they're mailing me a check. The bags are ridiculous. That place is just unbelievable. And all these fish are coming out of nothing-looking little pockets. You wouldn't think there would be that many there. All the fish are weigh-in heavy too. They're all guts, big old fat- bellies.

The area I was fishing averaged about 2 feet, and the deepest point was about 2 1/2 feet. It was a big pocket with tannic, Florida-type water that had a bunch of lily pads in it. I think they were in there spawning.. You could see about 8 inches down, but you couldn't see the bottom.

Yesterday and today I caught them on 3 baits. I caught about half each day on what I call "Spoony Love," a 1/2-ounce silver Johnson spoon with a little trailer (white). I caught those around the thicker lily pads, but where they were more sparse I'd throw the Leverage spinnerbait. It was the same one I threw in Florida -- a 3/8-ounce gold trap color with double Colorados on it, a 4 1/2 and a No. 2 (big blade gold, small blade silver). In the sparse pads I'd just wake the spinnerbait under the surface and they'd come up and get it. They didn't want the spinnerbait as well, but they would stay on it better (once hooked).

I also caught a couple on a straight black Mizmo tube, just pitching it around the pads with a 1/4-ounce weight.

I used the same rod, reel and line for all three of my rigs: a 7-foot medium- heavy Shimano V rod, a Shimano Calais reel and 20-pound Triple Fish fluorocarbon line. I think that fluorocarbon helped, especially with the spoon because fluorocarbon has less stretch.

I didn't catch anything, but they caught them until they couldn't catch them. It's the best I've ever seen them caught. This is an unbelievable lake. Almost all the fish are big fish.

My area got pounded by wind last night, and this morning it was blowing so hard on the bank I had to fish that I knew there was no way I could fish it. I'd already run all the way down to the dam in rough water and had to come halfway back on the other side of the lake to get to my secondary spot. It took me 20 minutes to get back there, and by the time I got there two boats were there already and one had a limit.

I went back to my primary spot, and found that someone had already smoked 23 pounds out of it.

It looks like I'm getting my mind made up for me on California. It was a very disappointing day. It looks like I'll drop out of the Top 100.

I don't know what I'll do tomorrow. I'll just gamble. If the wind isn't ridiculous in the lower lake, I'll throw a spinnerbait all day.

I caught a few fish today -- anything would be more than I caught in practice. I caught five that weighed that weighed 13-10. One was around 3 3/4 pounds -- there wasn't a big difference between the big one and the small one.

That wasn't even close today. They caught the dog-snot out of them. It's unreal how many fish they caught.

Today I went to the area where my non-boater caught a 3-pounder on Monday. I caught one, stayed a little while, caught another, stayed a little while longer and caught another. I stayed there for 2 1/2 hours and caught a limit, and my co-angler caught two. Then I left. I wanted to check on a couple of other areas and see if I could catch a bigger fish.

The area I'm fishing is small, about the size of a football field. I wanted to try to leave a few for tomorrow. I figure if I can catch another 13-14 pounds, I think I may have a shot at getting a check. Tomorrow I'll stay on my spot and beat on them if they'll keep biting.

I only had two bites today. I didn't go back in the area where I caught the fish yesterday. I fished a lot of similar stuff, but I couldn't find the color of water I really wanted. So tomorrow I'm going to go back into that area and hope the fish hung in there and there aren't too many boats.

The wind's churned her up pretty good out there. It's going to mess up the lower lake, I think. And tomorrow the wind is supposed to turn to the southeast, which would be worse.

The people I can rely on are like me -- they say they caught them good one day, and tried to find other areas like it and couldn't. I think there will be a lot of boats in a few areas, and that will make it a lot harder.

I didn't catch any, but I'm getting a kick out of telling people I'm catching them a whole bunch. Charlie Weyer hasn't had a bite the whole time he's been here. He came up to me and said, "You doing any good?" I told him I had 10 good bites today. He said, "Get out of here -- you did?" I said, "No, but it sure sounds good." Coby (Carden) told him yesterday that he had 18 pounds.

I've been in this position before (nothing to go on), like at Toledo Bend, though I did have a little bit more to go on then. Coby had two good bites yesterday and two today, pretty much in the same area with the same bait. I'll have one of those tied on and will fish it some tomorrow.

I've never had this little to go on before, and I don't know if I feel bad about it or not. I'll tell you tomorrow. But I'm not too worried about it being that this is probably the last BASSMASTER I'll fish this year. I'd like to end on a good note, though I've talked to a lot of people here who have long faces.

I had a pretty good day today. I could've really caught a big stringer. I was down in the lower lake. There weren't many boats in (his spot) this morning, but this afternoon it was covered up pretty good.

I don't know if can repeat it or not. I'm going to try it on a different part of the lake and see if it holds up.

It looks like we'll have three warm days in a row, and the fish ought to get fired up. I don't know if they're spawning or not. I haven't seen any spawning fish, but I'm not really looking. They're ready to go on the beds. I don't know if the beds were there before the water came up or not.

I hope it won't happen. I never have cared much for (sight-fishing), so I hope it holds off and stays where you're not seeing them. The main drawback to sight- fishing is how you have to treat your partner in those tournaments. I don't like doing that to a person. It's a very annoying day for him. I feels self- conscious about it.

Fishing on this lake is crazy. It seems like every bite you get is 3-6 pounds.

I fished a long time today, and had one 8-inch fish. I may have had another bite, but I'm not sure. The fish want to spawn really bad, and I don't know why they're not. There aren't even any fish up shallow where they bed. I'm not seeing any. I asked other people and they're seeing a lot of empty beds, like they were used 1-2 weeks ago, but no fish.

Tomorrow I'm going to look for some more beds in this one area, then fish a whole bunch and see what I can find. Coby (Carden, his roommate) had one fish today, and one more bite, and that one fish weighed over 8 pounds. I said, "Man, I wish I had an 8-pounder rather than an 8-incher (laughs)." But it only takes one little spot to find them, and you never know what can happen.

I'm not really discouraged right now, but tomorrow I may be a little bit if I don't find anything. But I may just stumble onto them on Thursday -- at the latest.

I'm tired of fishing in the rain. It rained all day today and is supposed to rain for the next two days.

This lake known for fish migrating into the backwaters this time of year. That's how most tournaments are won. But there's not enough clear backwater areas for 175 boats to fish. They're getting beat up really badly. So the key will be finding something different.

I didn't do real well today. I found one area that might have some fish in it, and cauhgt one quality fish about 5 pounds. There's an upper lake and a lower lake here, adn the lower lake gets the most attention, so I started on the upper lake today. I found places without a lot of boats, but not a lot fish either (laughs).

Tomorrow I'll just keep covering water and try to find that magic place. There's not a large population of fish here because this lake went through a pretty bad fish kill when it lost all the grass. When you get a bite it's a pretty good fish, but there aren't a lot of little fish.

It takes a lot of weight to win everything here, but it's questionable whether the big stringers will hold up more than a day or two. That's the question on everybody's mind. And if all these guys are going into these (backwater areas) sticking fish, it could turn into slim pickings.

I think what really has to happen is that we have to get a day of sunshine. I think the fish will really turn on then. The water temperature needs to come up another 3-4 degrees. Today where I was it was 56-58 degrees.

The lake is looking pretty full, and it's more clear than I thought it would be from all this rain. I've fished it before, but it's been two years since I've been here.

I went to put in this morning, but got my batteries all screwed up somehow and couldn't figure out what was wrong. I intended to put in at this ramp on the south end of the lake, but I had to drive all the way around to where the boat yard is. I got all fixed up and finally got out there, but I didn't start fishing until about 10:30 or 11:00.

I picked up a guy at the ramp who wanted to go fishing, and I'm glad I did because he caught a 2 1/2- and a 3 1/2-pounder, and I didn't catch anything. I had one bite on a buzzbait and that was it. I had to come off a little early because I broke the transducer on my trolling motor.

I've talked to 6-8 people, and only two caught anything more than 2-3 fish today. They found them wadded up -- they got most of their bites in one little area. That's kind of what I figured this tournament would be. That's pretty much how this lake fishes for some reason.

I sampled five different areas of the lower and upper lake today. I think I need to decide what area I want to fish and really try to break it down.

I heard that last week the fish tried to start bedding, but then the rain this weekend dropped the water temperature. On Saturday people said it was about 65, and the warmest I found today was 59, with the average around 57.

Last weekend in a Fishers of Men tournament, I heard there were 15 20-pound stringers out of like 69 boats. Needless to say they were biting a little better then. But if the weather warms up, this could be great.