Team Catastrophic Failures Take Top Spot at Santee Big Cat Brawl
by Ron Presley (Photos courtesy of Kevin Larkin of Palmetto Cats and Santee Big Cat Brawl.
An overwhelming weight of 144 pounds on day two lifts McCall, Durham, and Reynolds to first place at the Santee Big Cat Brawl out of Black’s Camp in Santee Cooper Country.
The 3rd Annual Santee Big Cat Brawl continues the tradition of a March catfish tournament that began a few years back with the Santee Cooper Monster Cat Quest. The Santee Big Cat Brawl is presented by Santee Cooper Country and MadKatzGear.com with the weigh-in held out of Black’s Camp.
The Brawl began officially on Tuesday preceding tournament day with two prefishing tournaments. Registered anglers could compete for a daily prize of $1,000 in a one-fish weigh-in on Tuesday and Wednesday.
For the second year in a row, Robbie Reynolds weighed in the heaviest fish on the first day of the two prefishing tournament days. His Big Fish topped the scales at 53.7 pounds and earned a check for $1,000. The Tuesday event was sponsored by Santee Cooper Country and Canal Lakes Fish Camp Marina, Cabins, and RV Sites where the weigh-in was held.
Wednesday’s weigh-in was held at Hills Landing where the Big Fish winner was Gauge Peavy. Fishing with his dad, Scott Peavy, he brought a 56.2-pound blue cat to the scales to earn the day 2 Big Fish honors and a check for $1,000 sponsored by Santee Cooper Country and Hills Landing.
These big fish caught during the prefishing contests gave competing anglers a good notion of what Santee Cooper was capable of as they anticipated and prepared for the 2-day tournament on Friday and Saturday.
This year’s Brawl grew from 110 boats last year to 138 teams in 2024. The much-anticipated tournament allows up to 4 team members per boat, with fish limits based on a 2 person team. The family-friendly tournament allowed children aged 15 and under to fish without being counted as team members. Each day’s bag could include only 3 fish and was subject to current SCDNR regulations.
The big fish continued to come to the scales on the first day of tournament action. The top 10 teams weighed 80 pounds or more in 3 fish and the top 3 teams weighed more than 100 pounds in 3 fish.
The top team after the first day was Team Lockjaw captained by Barry Moore. They had a 3-fish total weight of 111.35 pounds. The big fish on day 1 was brought in by Larry Godwin and pulled the scales to a whopping 82.85 pounds.
Anglers were greeted with mild temperatures in the 60s, light winds, and mostly sunny skies for the final day of competition. The stage was set for another big fish weigh-in in Santee Cooper Country.
First Place and Second Big Fish 
The top spot at the Brawl went to Team Catastrophic Failures. Brad McCall, Mike Durham, and Vern Reynolds had a little more than 73 pounds on day one but added a whopping 143.10 pounds for a two-day total of 216.65 pounds. They earned the First Place check of $14,000 courtesy of Mad Katz and Santee Cooper Country with a bag that included the 2nd Big Fish of the tournament at 73.95 pounds.
“On day one we fished in Lake Marion,” revealed McCall. “We fished one of the creek arms in 5 to 10 feet of water. We targeted secondary points using perch, gizzard shad, and river herring.”
The team anchor fished all day on day one under overcast skies. They worked with SE winds at about 10 mph and experienced thundershowers in the afternoon. They fished hard but with meager results as they brought a little more than 73 pounds to the scales leaving them in 18th place. It looked like a change in strategy was in store.
“We made a move to Lake Moultrie on day 2,” recalled McCall. “We felt like Moultrie would give us a better chance to catch a limit of big fish. It was a sunshiny day with light winds. We started out anchored in 10 feet of water for the first hour and a half of the day using white perch and gizzard shad for bait.”
The team managed 2 small fish early. Then, around 9 o’clock they decided to go closer to the main channel in water that ranged from 15 to 25 feet deep and pull some planner boards.
“We pulled B-Kat planner boards,” explained McCall. “We think that due to all the rain lately, the current played a big part in our success on day two. We made our first drift and caught two fish relatively fast.”
They stuck with the new strategy and continued that drag for about half a mile. Then they circled back and made the same drag again and caught another good fish around 35 pounds.
“We began shortening our drags after that as we narrowed an area down to a 15-foot hump. The fish were concentrated around that hump. We had a good limit of fish by around 2 o’clock but knew we needed a kicker fish.”
On their second to last drag of the day they backtracked a few hundred yards further and started a new drag.
“We didn’t go far after getting all the rods out and one went down,” remembered McCall. “It was our big fish of the day at 73.95 pounds. We also culled a 25-pound fish at that time.”
“We would like to give a big thank you to Madkatz for providing us with some great rods and tackle. Thanks also to all the organizers and sponsors of the Santee Big Cat Brawl. You did a great job putting on one heck of a tournament!”
Second Place 
The runner-up spot went to Team Lock Jaw with a two-day weight of 186.8 pounds to earn the second-place prize of $5,600. Wesley Bridges and Barry Moore were in the top spot with 111.35 pounds after day one but day two simply didn’t cooperate.
It was a friendly family competition between cousins for 1st and 2nd place. Moore’s cousin Brad McCall captained the first-place team.
“It was a long week of fishing and great fellowship with great friends making memories of a lifetime,” noted Bridges following the tournament.
Third Place 
Team Jamie K Outdoors claimed the third spot with a two-day weight of 164.65 pounds. Clay Henderson and Jason Wolfe made a strong move up the leaderboard from 27th on day one to claim their spot in third and earn a check for $2,800.
Fourth Place and Big Fish 
Team Larry Godwin and Evan Martin weighed a two-day total weight of 161.05 pounds to nail down the fourth-place spot. Their bag included Godwin’s personal best blue at 82.85 pounds to claim Big Fish honors and add $6800 to their payday.
Youth Big Fish 
A 36.45-pound Arkansas blue placed Owen Stanley in the top spot for the Youth Big Fish Award.
Veteran Big Fish 
Michael “WAWA” Odum claimed the top spot in the Veteran’s Big Fish competition with a 36-pound blue.
Ladies Big Fish 
The Ladies Big Fish Award went to Bethany Leggette. She boated a 46-pound blue to record the biggest fish for a female angler.
Final Thoughts
The Santee Big Cat Brawl was a great success and paid out through 15 places. From the competing anglers to the spectators and the kids, a good time was had by all. The pretournament competition produced good fish and the final weigh-ins were awesome.
“Day one showed us some good amounts of wind, along with rain showers, and even some heavy rains at points,” summarized Brawl weighmaster Mark Coburn. “Fishing rumors confirmed a lot of boats on the Upper Lake Marion on day 1. Evan Martin and Larry Godwin landed an 82.85-pound monster cat which went on the win the $6800 Big Fish of the Tournament. Barry Moore and Wesley Bridges weighed 111 pounds to take the lead on day one. Only two other teams weighed more than 100 pounds. The bulk of the field was in the 60 to 75-pound range.”
The inclement weather moved out and day 2 presented the anglers with beautiful skies, lighter winds, and no rain. A majority of boats fished on lower Lake Moultrie on the second day and the result was some strong moves up the leaderboard with Team Catastrophic Failure moving up from 18th place to take the win for the second consecutive year with a 144-pound bag on day two.
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