Southeastern Catfish Club Win Captured by Benji and Lindsey Brown
by Ron Presley
Photo credit: Southeastern Catfish Club
Weather proves to be a major challenge for anglers fishing the club’s mystery lake competition.
The Southeastern Catfish Club traveled to Lake Wateree for a Mystery Lake competition. The January 6, 2024 event was the 4th tournament of the 2023-2024 season.
Anglers don’t know which lake they will be fishing until noon on the Friday preceding the tournament. A live stream is conducted on Facebook where a destination is drawn from a list and announced to the competitors.
The event attracted more than 30 teams competing on Lake Wateree to see who could bring in the best 3-fish limit at day’s end. The weather played a major role in this year’s tournament.
The weatherman was predicting a 100% chance of rain with temperatures in the low 30s. Add 10 to 20 mph winds and you quickly realize just how challenging the day would be. Unfortunately, the prediction was spot on and the anglers had to battle the rain and cold temperatures all day long.
First Place and Big Fish
The top spot at the Mystery Lake competition went to Team Polekat, Benji and Lindsey Brown. They fought their way through the cold and rain to bring 87.59 pounds to the scales and earn the 1st place check of $1,540. Their bag included Big Fish of the tournament at 36.37 pounds to add $420 to their payday.
Benji and Lindsey decided to fish the January Southeastern Catfish Club tournament well before the inclement weather was predicted. When Lake Wateree was drawn from the list they planned for a cold wintery fishing trip.
“It rained all morning and some of the afternoon,” noted Benji. “But we found some fish in a creek. We made a drag through the fish without a bite. Crazy as it sounds, we turned the boat around and ran across the fish again.”
To their surprise, they picked up a 30-pound blue and things were looking up. They turned right around and made another pass in the creek and added the Big Fish of the tournament. They made one more pass and didn’t get a bite.
“Most people hate days like that,” suggested Benji. “But I love cold windy days. These days produce some good fish wherever you fish. Wateree is no exception!”
“The key is to be prepared for these days,” continued Benji. “We buy the best rain gear, thermals, enclosure, heater, and everything else to safely find a monster catfish.”
Benji and Lindsey reported catching 2 fish while anchored and 2 fish while drifting. Their fish were caught in water that ranged from 10 to 12 feet deep in a creek that was very muddy and filled with trash from the recent rains.
“We used white perch and gizzard shad for bait,” reported Benji. “By 11 am we noticed that we hadn’t gotten a single bite on shad, so we changed every rod to perch. Perch was the bait of choice.”
“It was definitely a tough day for us,” concluded Benji. “But we are very happy with the results. All big fish were caught on Drifting Stix and Parks Planer Boards. We did catch a fish with one side of his face missing. Crazy looking thing. I would rather fish on a 30° cloudy windy day, than a 75° blue sky day. You just have to prepare for these days.”
Second Place
The runner-up spot went to Team Cat’s Azz (Chris Gunter and Russ Robinson. They had a total weight of 80.81 pounds to earn the 2nd place check.
Third Place
David Henderson, Landen Loftin, Timmy Patterson, Matt Steen, and Gracie Henderson brought 63.88 pounds to the scales to earn the 3rd place money of $260 for Team Drifting Stix.
Fourth Place
Fourth place went to Team Cat Clinic. The family team of Hamilton Tetterten, William Tetterten, and Stephanie Tetterten brought a total weight of 61.18 pounds to the scales to earn their spot.
Fifth Place
The 5th Place spot went to Team Southern Legacy. After competing in Alabama on Friday, Trey Smith and Keith Smith traveled to Wateree and put 59.18 pounds on the scales.
Second Place Big Fish
Team Backland Outdoors took 2nd Big Fish. Blake Williams and Jamie Williams teamed up to fish the tournament and were only 3 pounds away from Big Fish with a 33.18-pound blue to earn a check for $180.
Final Thoughts
“We’d like to give a HUGE shoutout to all of our sponsors for helping us provide our teams and anglers the best tournament experience possible,” read the club’s website following the tournament.
The club sponsors are Jamie K Outdoors, Fish Bite Rod Holders, LLC Deuces Co. Outdoors LLC, Catch The Fever, Drifting Stix, Best Rate Plumbing, Doss Marine, Starnes Electric LLC, Lil Red Custom Apparel, and Sam Williams with Williams’ Machine Works, LLC.
You can view more photos and stay abreast of what’s going on with Southeastern Catfish Club by visiting their website and following them on Facebook.
