Santee Cooper showed why it is known for big catfish on the opening day of Cabela’s King Kat 2017 Tournament Trail. The two-day event kicked off on Friday, Feb. 17 and continue on Saturday the 18th.
Catfish anglers were greeted with beautiful weather and an early bite for the first day. The only problem was, most anglers reported that the early bite was over by 7:30 or 8:00 and it was tough sledding after that. “We had some good fish early, but the bite quit and we could not cull what we needed to,” reported one angler.
Prefishing anglers reported a good bite with lots of big fish being caught on the days before the tournament. Many were disappointed on tournament day when they were unable to bring 5 fish to the scales at John C. Land Landing on Lake Moultrie.
The first boat to weigh in was the team of James Saxon and Richard Wimmer. They were among those reporting big fish catches all week and were slightly disappointed on their day one results. Nevertheless, they weighed in a 5-fish bag of 131.24 pounds. That weight held up all day long to give them the day-one lead, by the narrowest of margins.
Shane Queen and Blake Williams claimed the second-place spot on day-one, just ounces behind Saxon and Wimmer. They weighed in 131.04 pounds to put some pressure on the leaders going into day-two.
The husband wife team of Ray and Tracey Waldrop weighed a nice bag of 104.22 pounds to hold down the third-place spot after day-one.
Chris and Mike Gross weighed in 98.52 pounds to claim the fourth-place spot. They also weighed the heaviest flathead of the day at 35.92 pounds.
Fifth Place went to the team of Lee Hardee and Brandon Tate with 97.80 pounds.
Big Kat on day-one went to the team of Billy Patton and Dan Robison. Their Big Kat weighed 73 pounds! They had 2 fish for the day, weighing 95.76 pounds.
Tournament Director Jeremy Coe’s prediction did come true for day-one. “My prediction right now is for lots of quality fish and some really big fish,” said Coe on Thursday.
Most anglers were hoping for an even better day on day-two. It is likely to be a shootout on Saturday as anglers hit the water to see who comes out on top. After all, it’s Santee Cooper. Anything could happen.
Day-two fishing begins at 6:30 am on Saturday. Fishing ends at 3:00 pm and anglers must be in the weigh-in line by 4:00 pm at John C. Land Landing (4404 Greenall Rd., Summerton, SC 29102). Any competitors not in line by this time will be disqualified from the tournament. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend.Cabela’s King Kat travels next to W. Tawakoni, TX. Anglers will fish Lake Tawakoni
