Story by Todd Goade | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
The Strike King NPFL Stop 1 at the Santee Cooper Lakes is in the books and wow what a slugfest! Santee Cooper is a special place that shows out every time we go there. I was fortunate to finish the event in 11th place, catching a 9-12 the first day of competition and two 8 pounders the second day. Here’s a recap of my practice, my setups, and the strategy that went into this event.
The first day of practice, I had a really good jig bite on trees. I was using a prototype 3/8-ounce black and blue jig from Pulse Fish on 18-pound-test K9 Fishing Pro100 Fluorocarbon, an Ark Fishing Gravity 8 casting reel (7.1:1 gear ratio), and a Matt Arey Tournament Edition Check Casher rod from Pulse Fish. I also caught a few on a swim jig and a bladed jig but the jig bite was the best.
The second day of practice I went to my primary area where I finished second two years ago to make a quick pass and see if I could get a couple of bites. Surprisingly, I only had one bite on a jig on a tree, but I noticed some patches of grass 150 feet or so off the bank that were isolated. The first one I went to I threw a bladed jig past the grass and when the bait got to the grass, I ripped it through. When I did—BAM!—a 7 pounder ate it. I didn’t make another cast in that area and found 7 or 8 more clumps of that grass in that pocket and marked those with waypoints on my Lowrance HDS Pro 12. I fished some other pockets and noticed that the jig bite was going away, but the bladed jig bite was picking up, so I focused on that the rest of the day.
The final practice day was tough, and I knew the jig bites were few and far between now. I looked for areas with that same grass that was in my primary area and found a couple of places. I still felt I had a good plan for the tournament.
Day 1 of the event started off tough as I went through my rotation of places, but around noon I had four for about 13 pounds. I had caught one on a jig and three on the bladed jig. I then went to my primary area and upon making the same cast in practice to catch the 7 pounder I caught the 9-12 that gave me my Day 1 weight—22 pounds to put me in 17th place. I was throwing a black and blue 3/8-ounce Z-Man ChatterBait Jackhammer with a Zoom Bait Shimmer Shad trailer on a Pulse Fish Ole’ One Caster rod and an Ark Fishing Gravity 8 casting reel (7.1:1).
I could tell Day 2 was going to be a grind. I had a short day, so I went to my primary area soon after takeoff. I lost a 5 pounder on that same patch of grass and further down in the next patch I caught my first 8 pounder on the bladed jig. I caught a couple more 2 1/2-pound fish and left to fish other areas without any success. I came back to my primary area with about an hour left in the day and fortunately caught another 8 pounder which gave me four for 24 pounds! I’ve never caught two 8 pounders in one competition day, so even though I didn’t have a limit it was a special day. I ended the day in 11th place.
Day 3 I had a long day of fishing, and I went straight to my primary area, but it wasn’t happening there. At 11:00 a.m. I hadn’t had a bite, so I sat down in the boat and grabbed a spinning rod and tied on a shaky head and a Zoom Trick Worm. I hadn’t pulled this setup out of the rod box all week, but I had some docks I thought I could get some bites on. At this point I needed to catch five to salvage my hard work over the last two days.
The first dock I went to I started on the walkway and on the first pitch I lost a 3 1/2 pounder. The next dock post over I catch a 4 pounder, so I’m on the board. Two dock posts later I catch another 4 pounder, and about five dock posts over from that I catch a 3 1/2 pounder. I’m feeling a lot better after those 10 minutes!
I then ran to a patch of cypress trees that had one lone tree off to the side where I had caught a 7 pounder in practice. I threw the Trick Worm to it and the bait started swimming to the side. I set the hook and landed a 5 pounder. I’m feeling good at this point. It’s 3:00 p.m. and I have time to make one more pass through my primary area hoping to get one more big bite.
After dissecting that area again, I didn’t get a bite, so with about 30 minutes left I returned to the magic dock, made the same cast I lost the fish on, and preceded to catch a 3 1/2 pounder, giving me 18-plus pounds for the final day finishing the event in 11th place.
Looking back, I was proud to be able to call the audible on Day 3 and make that key decision to change up to catch five on the Trick Worm. This year, with the league not allowing forward-facing sonar, you’re going to see a lot of instinctual bass fishing decisions made, and that started with me in the first event!
I’m excited for the next event at Lake Norman and hope to continue making good on-the-fly decisions! I hope you had as much fun watching the coverage as I did fishing in the event.
Tight Lines!
Todd Goade – Angler Profile
