Santee Cooper Lakes, SC – If you’re into big fish (and who isn’t?), the Elite Series event at Santee Cooper Lakes was right up your alley.
Not one, but two anglers joined the coveted century club, pulling in over 100 pounds of bass for the tourney total. But it was Georgia native Drew Cook who finally took home the trophy and the big check on the strength of a four day total of 105 pounds, 5 ounces.
Finishing behind him was Caleb Kuphall with 103 pounds, 1 ounce. What’s even more remarkable about Kuphall’s bag is he did not catch a 5 fish limit every day of the tournament, and weighed in a total of 19 fish.
Perennial fan favorite Brandon Palaniuk finished in third place, bringing a total of 98 pounds to the scales.
Any way you slice it, this was a big bass tournament through and through.
Wire to Wire, But Not Without Drama
Extreme winds caused tournament officials to delay the third day of the tournament, which moved everything back a day.
During that break, Cook would watch from his rental house as local anglers descended on the cove where he was doing his best work.
Despite the added pressure, he was able to keep his composure and get back to business when the tournament restarted on Sunday.
His strategy was to ride the Big Bite Baits Fighting Frog all the way to the podium, and that proved to be the right move. Sight fishing for big fish with a killer frog put his haul over the 100 pound mark, and his paycheck over the $100,000 mark.
Most importantly, Cook has punched his ticket to the Bassmaster Classic.