Black’s Camp Big Cat Shootout Win Goes to Team Keatts Fishing
by Ron Presley
Photo credit: Black’s Camp Big Cat Shootout
It could not be much closer. Less than one pound separated the 1st and 2nd place teams.
The 2023 Blacks Camp Big Cat Shootout, presented by GLW Baits, returned to the Santee Cooper Lakes on December 8th and 9th, 2023. Anglers were competing to see who could weigh the best stringer of 2 fish per boat, per day in the 2-day event.
The event attracted 48 teams competing for a first-place prize of $12,500.00 and a Big Fish prize of $4,900.00 on what was a beautiful weekend for fishing.
At the end of day one Team Set’em and Net’em (Chuckie Ourvy, Stephen Lee Knode, and Tyler Evans) held the lead with about 110 pounds. They were followed closely by Southern Legacy (Jeff and Meghan Brinkley, and Daniel Googin) with a little more than 103 pounds. The Big Fish of honors for day 1 also went to Team Set’em and Net’em at 70.4 pounds.
Most anglers found a tougher bite on day two causing the day’s weights and the number of boats weighing to decrease. At the end of the day, a team came out of the pack and rose to the top to take the win.
First Place
The top spot at the Showdown went to Team Keatts Fishing (Jonathan Keatts and Jay “J Bird” Hopkins). They made the trek from Eden, NC, and Chatham, Virginia to fish the Showdown and fellowship with the group of elite fishermen and women that participated in this event.
On day one the team weighed 72.80 pounds in the only 2 fish they caught. It was good enough to keep them in the running for the shootout on day two. Day two was better. They brought 2 fish to the scales that weighed 105.20 pounds, including a 59-pounder. Their total weight of 178 pounds moved them to the top of the leaderboard and earned them a check for $12,525 and all the braggin’ rights that go with the win.
“I’m the owner of Team Keatts Fishing, LLC,” reported Keatts. J Bird and I pulled the Team Keatts Planer Boards (TK Boards) on the lower lake on both days. With no experience fishing these waters, we had to rely on experience and a lot of electronics. We came up with a solid game plan and stuck with it.”
Their game plan included fishing close to the channel edges in 20-30 feet of water. They had a single objective in mind—hoping to find that big bite which finally came on day two.
“On day one we struggled to get any fish in the boat,” recalled Keatts. “It was 12:30 before we caught our first fish and the second fish came at around 1:15. Those were the only fish we caught all day.”
“One day 2 we set our goal to try and weigh in 100 pounds of fish,” continued Keatts. “We started the day off with a prayer and the good Lord above blessed us with 105 pounds. We caught all of our fish on mullet that we bought from our good friends at Hills Landing.”
“This is my second time fishing Santee,” informed Keatts following the tournament. “It is my first time as a boat captain. For us to be able to come down here and win this event against this group of great anglers is very humbling.”
“We are very thankful to be able to come down here and participate in this great event,” concluded Keatts. “Ralph Willey, Mark Coburn, and the Blacks Camp staff did an excellent job hosting and we will definitely plan on coming back in 2024!”
Second Place
The runner-up spot went to Team Southern Legacy (Trey and Gerald Smith). They were in 4th place just 15 pounds out of the lead at the end of day one with 95.80 pounds. Another nice bag on day two helped them climb up the leaderboard to 2nd place. They added 81.40 pounds on day two for a total weight of 177.2 in 4 fish. They were just .8 pounds out of the lead.
“We fished shallow waters early,” noted Trey. “We picked up our big fish both mornings in around 5 to 8 feet of water. On day one we moved out to 15 to 20 feet and caught our 36.
On day two the team didn’t hook up with their 2nd big fish until 1 pm. They found it in about 45 feet of water.
“The bite was slow each day for us,” continued Trey. “There wasn’t many fish in the areas we were fishing but they were quality fish. We caught 12 fish in total in the two days of fishing. We didn’t catch another fish over 20 pounds other than the 4 fish we weighed in. All our fish were caught on shad, perch, and mullet.
“Had a super fun week hanging out with friends and getting to spend some time fishing the best fishery in South Carolina,” said Trey in a Facebook post. “We fell short…[of]… 1st place which sucks to lose by that close of weight but it wasn’t our day and it happened to be one our sponsors Jonathon Keats with Team Keatts Fishing that took it home! Hats off to you guys for taking it back to Va!!”
“…Thanks to the good Lord above for letting us do what we love,” said Gerald on his Facebook page. “Congratulations to everyone, congratulations to Jonathan Keatts, Jeff Brinkley, and Chuckie Ouvry.”
Trey also thanked their sponsors and supporters. MAD KATZ, Take Down Draggin’ Weights, Snagum Bagum, Team Keatts Fishing, Peacocks of SC, X-Treme Bait Tanks, and Fish Bite Rod Holders, LLC.
Third Place
Team Friday Night Bites (Jeff and Megham Brinkley and Daniel Goggin) found a little tougher bite on day two. Their day one weight of 103.60 included a 67-pounder and placed them in 2nd place. They finished with 72.80 pounds on day two for a total weight of 176.40 pounds just 1.6 pounds out of the lead. Their efforts earned them the 3rd place spot and a check for $3,000.
“We fished on Lake Marion both days,” reported Jeff. “We were dragging baits on a shallow creek channel that was about 7 to 9 feet deep. We were using Mad Kat Rods to pull Walk-N-Water Planer Boards. Our bait was gizzard shad from Hills Landing and Marina.”
Jeff also thanked several companies for their support. GLW Baits, Easterling Drift Socks, Set’em and Net’em Outdoors, and Legends Campground.
The shootout also produced a new personal best for Megham Brinkley at 67 pounds.
“What a weekend! What a squad! What a group of friends I have! What a club,” said Jeff in a Facebook post. “2 pounds cost us 9 thousand dollars! 3 pounds on big fish cost us another 5 thousand dollars! But fishing against the people we have to just to get any money and walking away with 3 thousand is a big achievement for us!”
Big Fish
Big Fish honors went to Team Set’em and Net’em Outdoors (Chuckie Ourvy, Stephen Lee Knode, and Tyler Evans) posted a big fish weight of 70.40 pounds on day one and it held up as Big Fish of the Shootout. The big blue cat earned them the GLW Baits Big Fish Award of $4,900. The team finished 5th overall.
Helped by the big fish’s weight, the team finished day one in the lead after having to overcome a little adversity.
“It all started Thursday as the plan was for my brother to go out and catch us some bait,” recalled Ourvy. “I was on my way to Hills Landing to buy some bait and I called my brother only to find the bait was scattered and he didn’t have any in the boat.”
Ourvy hopped on the boat and headed for a mullet hole where a cast of the net came up empty. Then reverse went out on his brother’s boat motor. Then another cast of the net produced 9 mullet so it was looking better. Then another cast got hung and the net was ripped up. Then they headed to Hills Landing and bought a few perch and patched up the net.
“A friend of mine was headed back to Black’s Camp with us so we stopped at the hole again,” Ourvy said. “We put 18 more mullet in the boat so now we had enough to share with some buddies. Tyler showed up with 10 bream so we had bait.”
On day one the team put in at Bonneau. The area has a lot of up and down depths they wanted to fish.
“We started on anchor and boated 2 dinks in the first 30 minutes,” reported Ourvy. “It wasn’t much so we started drifting in about 20 feet of water. We were picking up a lot of small fish but nothing like we needed.”
Their luck changed around 10:30 when Ourvy landed a 40-pounder. Thirty minutes later they picked up a 38. The team kept dragging and Ourvy called his wife at about 1:30. Call it an omen or whatever, but their luck changed.
“I was on video chat just to talk,” recalled Ourvy. “That’s when the whole tournament changed. We were in 29 feet of water and the back rod went down. Tyler grabbed the rod and put the 70-pounder in the boat after a fight that lasted about 12 minutes.”
Team Set’em and Net’em Outdoors boated 14 fish on day one including what turned out to be Big Fish of the tournament. The Big Fish was landed on a BCF Rod and a Penn Reel. The terminal tackle included Down Below Drifting Weights and a double hook rig baited with mullet. Their key bait was mullet which they used exclusively except for one bream. They tried the same area on day two but only caught about 10 small fish.
“I told the boys no matter what happens we were day one champs,” concluded Ourvy. “We went to the weigh-in with our heads down a little waiting to lose it all. We still finished 5th and our big fish held up. That let us walk away with the biggest smile.”
More Winners
You can view a complete rundown of all the anglers with weights for each day on the Black’s Camp Big Cat Shootout Facebook page where Ralph Willey has posted a pdf of the final results.
Final Thoughts
Santee Cooper showed out well as it usually does in catfish tournaments. Day two was a tougher bite but persistence paid off for Team Keatts Fishing.
“It could not have been a closer contest with less than a pound separating 1st and 2nd place and less than 2 pounds separating 1st and 3rd place,” offered weighmaster Mark Coburn. “Day two skies were clear and temps were warm, and fishing got very rough for most teams. Nevertheless, given the caliber of teams fishing the Shootout, it could only be expected that a good weight would win it. It was not expected to be so close.”
To stay in touch with Black’s Camp Big Cat Shootout be sure to follow them on Facebook.
