Thunder storms and heavy rain rolled through the night as 76 teams of catfish anglers prepared for day-one of the Santee Cooper Monster Cat Quest catfish tournament. Although the rain had stopped by daybreak, anglers were greeted with cloudy skies and a promise from the weatherman of windy conditions.
The rain came again, accompanied with lightning, sending angers scurrying for cover, during the first hour of fishing. It stopped again, but Mother Nature continued to punish anglers with high winds that caused large and dangerous swells on the Santee Cooper lakes. Some anglers came to the scales early, while others fought the battle of the wind until legal fishing hours ended at 4:00 pm.
When all the fish were tallied, it was Wesley Bridges and Joey Hix in the top spot. “Weather was real bad,” reported Bridges. “We had storms, rain, 5 foot swells, 6 foot swells, it was bad.”
The team used both drifting and anchoring to weight in 4 fish that weighed more than 152 pounds. The awesome stringer, under sever and adverse conditions, gave the team the day-one lead at the the Santee Cooper Monster Cat Quest inaugural event, held out of Black’s Camp on Lake Moultrie.
There were numerous 30- and 40-pound fish weighed during the day as anglers won the battle of the wind and waves. The tournament was live fish only and after weigh-in and photos the fish were released. (See the CatfishNow Facebook page for more photos.)
The team of Lee Hardee and Josh Coggins hold big honors after day one with a 47 pound, 31 ounce Santee Cooper blue cat.
The teams will be competing again on Saturday where anglers are hoping for more favorable conditions, a scenario predicted by the weather guy. Fishing continues until 4:00 pm and anglers must be in the weigh-in line at Black’s Camp by 5:00. The public is invited and welcome to attend.
You can stay up to date on Monster Cat Quest activities by following them on Facebook.
