Approaching Hurricane Nate had no great impact on Cabela’s King Kat Eastern Championship on Lake Wateree at Camden, SC. No severe weather occurred during the October 6 and 7, 2017 tourney, but a great bite led anglers to catch numerous fish.
Day one was sunny with light winds and temperatures in the high 80’s. Day two was a different weather story. It rained off and on all day, right up to weigh-in time when the sun came out.
The two-day event, hosted by the Kershaw County Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Center, attracted 112 anglers from seven states to compete on the popular lake.
First Place
When the scales closed, at Clearwater Cove Marina, it was the team of Kelly Godbolt of Conway, SC and Ron Howard of Eutawville, SC that claimed the win with 211.16 pounds. Their day two weight include second big fish of the tournament at 43.14 pounds.
Godbolt and Howard were on a serious bite. The team fished mid-lake all week in 15 to 30 feet of water. They reported that most of the big fish they caught during the tournament were in the 20-foot range. They targeted their fish just off the main river channel using white perch for bait.
“The bite was very good for us on Wateree,” reported Godbolt. “We caught between 75 and 100 fish each day. We were dragging using white perch for bait.”
“There was hardly any wind on the first day so we used the big motor on the pontoon boat to back troll. This is a technique we use at Santee. Since we fish off the front of the boat, with rods in the holders, we put the motor in reverse and go backwards. A drift sock helped keep the boat straight.”
Godbolt and Howard earned $3,000.00 in cash, the $500.00 Driftmaster Bonus, the $500.00 X-Treme Bait Tank Bonus and a boat package.
The boat package included a new Alumacraft 1860 with a Mercury 75hp, 4-stroke motor, Humminbird Helix 7 Chirp SI, Minn Kota Maxxum 80 trolling motor, Minn Kota on-board charger and a T-6200 Driftmaster rod rack.
Second Place
James Saxon of Iva, SC and Richard Wimmer of Princeton, WV weighed in 180.40 pounds and earned $3,000.00 in claiming second place. Their weight of 109.48 on day one had led the competition.
The team fished the upper end of Lake Wateree, working a ledge cross-ways as well as along the bridge ledge.
“Running back and forth across the ledge worked best,” reported Saxton. They used white perch for bait in 22 to 26 feet of water to catch more than 40 fish for the weekend.
Third Place
“Lake Wateree has always been a tough lake for us to fish,” said Richard Warskow. Nevertheless, Warskow and his partner, Christopher Lunsford, both from Clover, SC, put together a plan that put 174.52 pounds in the boat and a third-place finish.
Their strategy called for change. “We decided to try something different than what we typically do. Since we haven’t been to that lake in a few weeks we decided to go in search of bait instead of the fish.”
“We found a cove that was loaded with gizzard shad,” continued Warskow. “We figured that with that many shad, the fish were there to. We were using gizzard shad as bait so it was kind of a win-win for us. If the fish were there they were going to bite.”
“We decided to go to the back of the cove and pull planer boards, just to see what happened. We usually anchor up. It’s very rare that we troll. We picked off our stringer of five fish on the first troll. We knew right then the fish were stacked in that cove.”
The good bite encouraged Warskow and Lunsford to turn around and go back through the area again. “As expected we caught more fish,” reported Warskow. “We fish that cove all day going back and forth. I would guess we caught 30-plus fish.”
The team’s day-one total of 91.52 pounds had them holding down fourth place. “We knew we had to do a little better on day two,” said Warskow. “We decided to go back to the same cove and see if the bait was still stacked up in there. Lucky for us it was.”
“We decided to use the same strategy as day one, trolling back-and-forth using planer boards. The first troll we did not catch anything, but we didn’t want to give up on that spot so we tried one more time and we picked off a couple fish. We spent the rest of the day there doing the same thing as day one, moving back and forth. We spent both days in the same cove. I can tell you now, that one cove really paid off for us.”
Day one fishing was excellent with pretty blue skies,” concluded Warskow. “The day two bite was a little tougher with drizzle and rain most of the day. We are very happy with our performance in this, our first Cabela championship.”
Fourth Place
Benji Brown and his son Riley, both of Boiling Springs, SC, took the forth place prize. They weighed 170.94 pounds to earn $1,000.00. The team fished across from Clearwater Cove.
“We anchored in 25 to 28 feet of water on day one,” reported Benji. “On day two we drifted the same area using white perch for bait. We focused on a one mile stretch and worked it hard.”
The day two rain was not a problem according to Benji. “The rainier the better,” joked Benji. “They bite better in the rain.”
Benji and Riley’s day two bag moved them from 14th to 4th place. “I really wish we drifted yesterday as well,” concluded Benji.
Fifth Place and Big Kat
Fifth place and Big Kat went to Ray and Tracey Waldrop in a great final day comeback. They were setting in 24th place with 63 pounds to end day one. Their 45.60-pound Big Kat of the tournament help big time on day two and brought their two-day weight to 170.30 to seal a solid comeback.
The team from Southern Pines, SC earned $800.00 for placing fifth, $1,120 for Big Kat, and an $800.00 X-treme Bait Tank Bonus.
“We started drifting this morning and caught one good fish,” reported Tracey. “We did not catch our next fish until we moved further down the lake. We were drifting ledges with white perch. That’s where we caught our two best fish. It was a lot a hard work today. It rained all day. The constant mist made it a little miserable, but well worth it!”
“The move we made after lunch was to an area where we caught fish on Wednesday,” explained Ray. “We found some good bait in the area with some fish around it. Tracey and I got up above them and started a drift and had one about 30 pounds on before the drift socks straighten up. We drifted about another 100 yards and pulled up on the spot again for another drift and got the big one on the second drift.”
“That 45-pound fish was the hardest fighting fish we’ve ever had. I thought he was gonna’ drag my husband in the water,” joked Tracey.
The Remaining Top Ten:
6th place – $700 Terrance Springs, Sr. (Chester, SC) 169.34 pounds.
7th place – 50-gallon X-Treme Bait Tank ($800) Jonathan Brunet and Sam Williams (York, SC) 159.56 pounds.
8th place – $500 Cabela’s Gift Card Dennis and Valerie Dulin (Dallas, NC) 157.80 pounds.
9th place – $500 Cabela’s Gift Card Blake and Jamie Williams (Ft. Lawn, SC) 156.08 pounds.
10th place – $500 Cabela’s Gift Card Dean Birch and Neil Davis (Chester, SC) 148.98 pounds.
King Kat organizers sent out a special thank you to Suzi Sale and her staff with the Kershaw County Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Center for making this event possible every year and for extending their extraordinary hospitality. Also, a special thanks was extended to Mayor Alfred Mae Drakeford for attending the weigh-in and welcoming the anglers. The Lynches River Chapter of the Cross Trail Outfitters were thanked for their help during the weigh-ins.
“We are excited to be returning in 2018 with another tournament on this great catfish fishery,” said tournament director, Jeremy Coe. “The event will be on April 28, 2018.”
For more information on Cabela’s King Kat visit the website: www.kingkatusa.com, or their Facebook page. They can be phoned at (502) 384-5924.
More information on Camden and Kershaw County can be found at http://www.kershawcountychamber.org/tourist-information.
