Richard Warskow and Chris Lunsford take Southeastern Win on Santee Cooper
by Ron Presley
Hefner and Coggins take the runner-up spot just 3 pounds out of the lead.
The Southeastern Catfish Club fished Santee Cooper in their annual tournament out of Blacks Camp and Restaurant. The 5th tournament of the 2022-2023 season was much anticipated because the lakes are a popular big fish destination.
Anglers were faced with cold windy weather, the kind that makes Santee Cooper roll. Nevertheless, plenty of Arkansas blues came to the scales. The weight difference in the top two 3-fish limits was just 3 pounds.
First Place and Big Fish
Team Keepin’ It Reel, Richard Warskow and Chris Lunsford, had the right stuff to pull out the win on Santee. They brought a 3-fish limit weighing 124.48 pounds to the scales to take the win and earn a check for $2,380. Their bag included Big Fish of the tournament at 55.98 pounds to add $840 to their payday. They also earned the Catch the Fever Bonus of $500 for winning with Catch the Fever Rods.
The win did not come easily as adjustments had to be made along the way. They did not expect it to be an easy tournament. Warskow’s and Lunsford’s home waters are Lake Wylie and they have a lot of respect for the local Santee Cooper anglers.
“Those local boys know how to fish,” stated Warskow. “They are very hard to beat. And then on top of that, you have the Southeastern Catfish Club, which has some of the best anglers in the United States.”
Warskow and Lunsford had planned to travel to Santee Cooper a couple of days in advance to do some looking and figure out a game plan. Warskow had to back out at the last minute and that left Lunsford on his own to scout.
“Chris went down there in hopes of finding something,” recalled Warskow. “We have fished together for years so If I have faith in anybody it is him. I was very confident in relying on what he found or whichever direction he led us in.”
On tournament day Warskow left the house at 3 o’clock in the morning to compete in the tournament. He met Lunsford at Black’s Camp for breakfast to put a strategy together.
“Chris said he didn’t find anything worth fishing,” explained Warskow. “He also showed me the area of the lake he had scouted so that was a no-go.”
“Team Keepin’ It Reel began the day without a strategy. As luck would have it they set up on a spot and put three fish in the boat very quickly. With their weigh-in fish in the well, they spent the rest of the day looking for big fish.
“We literally had more riding time than we did fishing time,” remarked Warskow. “We were on the upper lake and the lower lake in search of that big bite. We figured the full moon had pushed the fish out of shallow water so we started targeting deeper water.”
The team used shad for bait and their two replacement fish came from Lake Moultrie in about 25 feet of water.
As they continued to look for replacement fish, there were a couple of spots where they anchored up and never got a bite. Then they found a hump that had three good fish on it.
“We had about two hours to go,” revealed Warskow. “We threw all the marbles in and position the boat exactly how we needed to. Then we place baits precisely where we thought it was best to land these fish. Within 30 minutes we landed the first fish of 55 pounds. We knew there were two more down there so we just keep our fingers crossed.”
By now a long, frustrating day was beginning to take its toll. Not getting the right fish to bite and spending all that time riding around produced thoughts of throwing in the towel.
“I looked at my partner and said it’s time to go,” explained Warskow.
“Let’s just give it five more minutes,” responded Lunsford. “We know they’re down there so let’s be patient.”
Three or 4 minutes later a rod went down and they got what they were looking for.
“We knew what it was,” confirmed Warskow. “We had landed another 50-pound fish at the last minute. We were in a rush to get the fish in the boat because lines were supposed to be out of the water by 3 o’clock. As we were bringing the second fish in we believe the third fish pulled the side rod down but we were more focused on getting the one at hand in the boat so we lost the third one.”
Team Keepin’ It Reel got the second replacement fish in the boat at 2:43 pm and they had all the lines out of the water at 2:57 pm. They were headed back to the ramp at 3:00 pm.
“I’m telling you, for me and my partner Chris to go down to Santee Cooper and win was epic,” concluded Warskow. “We knew we had over 100 pounds, but we were still very nervous because of the guys we were fishing against. Those guys are no joke. They are good at what they do. As we got down to the last few boats we started getting really excited. We ended up winning the tournament and Big Fish along with a bonus from Catch the Fever for $500 giving us a total of $3,720.”
Second Place
The runner-up spot went to Team Carolina Blues. Joshua Coggins and Kyle Hefner brought a total weight of 121.48 pounds to the scales to earn the 2nd place check of $1,320.
“It was a cold start, but the winds made it even colder,” reported Coggins. “Sustained winds above 10 mph always present a challenge when fishing the lower lake. With gusts near 20, it made it even more difficult to anchor, which was our game plan.”
Hefner did a little scouting on Thursday in an area he expected to be holding some fish. He didn’t mark a lot, just a few scattered here and there but he decided to go back Friday and look again.
“I felt like with the wind direction the way it was supposed to blow on Saturday if I could find them they would still be there,” explained Hefner. “We were able to mark some good fish stacked up Friday morning so we knew where we would go Saturday morning. When we got there the fish were still there. We set up on them first thing and had about 90 pounds in the first hour and a half.”
“It was a rough trip across the lake that morning,” confirmed Hefner. “Getting anchored up was tough but it paid off that morning to trust our fish finder and set up on the windblown side of the lake.”
The bite died down for Hefner and Coggins a little before 10:00 but they made some moves and set up on some more good fish.
“About 2:00 pm the bite turned back on,” said Hefner. “That’s when we were able to land the 2nd big blue at 47 pounds.
“We were using gizzard shad from Jamie K Outdoors,” added Coggins. “We were targeting water that ranged from 7 to 12 feet deep.”
“At our first spot, we caught 5 fish,” concluded Coggins. “Four of them came off the same rod, pretty much the same location, and on the same piece of bait. Kyle and I said that was our lucky bait and used it all day.”
Third Place and 2nd Big Fish
Team Hard At It, Anthony Williams, Josh Christopher, and Lane Christopher earned the third-place check of $800 with a total weight of 93.10 pounds. Their bag included the 2nd Place Big Fish (54.87 pounds) for an additional $360.
Fourth Place
Greg Hair and Andy Griffin (Team Southern Style Catfishing) weighed 87.31 pounds to earn the 4th place check of $520
Fifth Place
The top five was rounded out by Team Stump Jumpers. Bradley Tucker, Jim Page, and B.J. Wilson pulled the scales with a total weight of 85.56 pounds to earn the fifth place check of $260.
Final Thoughts
It was a cold, windy, challenging day on Santee Cooper, but as usual, it produced some nice fish. More information on the Southeastern Catfish Club can be found on their website and you can follow them on Facebook.
Their next tournament will be on Lake Wylie, on March 4th, 2023 at the Buster Boyd Bridge Access. Fishing times are 6:30 am – 3:00 pm.
