Team Catastrophic Failures Takes Top Spot at Santee Big Cat Brawl
by Ron Presley (Photos by Kevin Larkin of Palmetto Cats)
Santee Cooper showed out again at the Santee Big Cat Brawl out of Black’s Camp with the top two teams weighing more than 200 pounds. Santee Cooper Country is a big cat destination. The Big Fish of the tournament, a personal best for Kevin Couick, weighed 72.5 pounds.
The Santee Big Cat Brawl continues a tradition of a March catfish tournament that began a few years back with the Santee Cooper Monster Cat Quest. The weigh-in is held out of Black’s Camp.
This year’s Brawl featured 110 boats in the much-anticipated tournament. Teams could be up to 4 team members per boat, with fish limits based on a 2 person’s team. The family-friendly tournament allowed children aged 15 and under without being counted as team members. Each day’s bag could include only 3 fish and be subject to current SCDNR regulations.
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.
Robbie Reynolds weighed in the heaviest fish on Tuesday, the first day of two prefishing tournaments. His Big Fish topped the scales at 56 pounds to give the competing anglers an idea of what Santee Cooper is capable of.
Wednesday’s Big Fish winner was Clay Henderson and Jason Wolfe. They upped the weight from Tuesday’s winner with a 62-pounder to claim the $1,000 prize.
The good showing during the prefishing gave tournament anglers high expectations for the main show that began on Friday. The Friday weather was tough conditions with the wind blowing at 14 mph out of the west-southwest and gusting at 25 mph. Saturday was better, but overcast with rain up until about mid-morning.
First Place
The top spot went to Team Catastrophic Failures. Brad McCall, Mike Durham, and Vern Reynolds weighed about 129 pounds on Friday to set them in 4th place. They added about 104 pounds on Saturday to finish with a two-day limit of 6 fish that weighed 233.55 pounds to claim the win.
“We started out anchor fishing in 8 to 15 feet of water,” reported McCall. “On Friday we caught two fish on anchor—a 58-pound blue and a 10-pound blue. Around mid-morning, we started drifting in 10 feet of water and caught another blue cat over 50.”
The team began Saturday anchored in the same depth of water as Friday. The 9- to 15-foot range produced their first fish around 6:40 AM. It was a flathead. The team reported having only seven bites in two days. They used gizzard shad, American shad, and perch for bait.
“We moved around and anchored in a couple of more spots in the same depth range,” said McCall. “We were unsuccessful in getting bit again so we moved out and drifted in 15 to 25 feet of water around mid-morning. We got our second fish around 11:30. It was a 40-pound blue cat.”
They did not get another bite until around 1:45 PM. They had that fish on for just a few seconds before it broke the leader. They continued to make that same drag for the rest of the day with the time they had to fish.
“We only had two fish up until 3:25 on Saturday,” recalled McCall. “When we were cleaning up the boat to get ready to go back to the scales a rod went down. We boated our third fish at around 24 pounds to give us our three-fish limit for the day.”
Second Place
The runner-up spot went to Evan Martin and Eric Morris in what Evan described as “…a last-minute trip.” They weighed a two-day total of 206.70 pounds to earn the 2nd place check. The windy conditions were not their only challenges.
“It was a last-minute trip,” declared Martin. “It’s tough getting out of town anymore with the kids playing ball all the time. I hate to even mise a practice. The trip started off rough. While getting gas in Orangeburg I noticed my trailer’s cross-member was cracked all the way through.”
With big Arkansas blues on their mind, they responded in “ MacGyver” fashion if you remember that old TV show. They threw a big ratchet strap on the problem. It performed like a band-aid and kept them on the road to the tournament.
“Day one was tough, to say the least,” admitted Martin. “Old Miss Santee had the wind blowing like crazy. We toughed it out and hunkered down on the ropes in the lower lake. We picked a spot that we always hit 1st in the morning. It’s a big clam bed.”
As luck would have it they hooked a fish but their challenges continued. When they looked for the landing net it wasn’t there. They discovered that they must have left it behind. That oversight left them landing every fish they caught by hand, all weekend long.
“We found some fish that were fired up,” said Martin. “We sat on em’ all day producing 90.9 pounds on day one.”
They began day 2 with the same game plan as day one with another challenge. A lot of rain and no top on the boat. And they didn’t find their day-one fish so they changed strategies.
“Plan B was an old sunken boat that we found on a ledge,” stated Martin. “We set up on top of it and BAM! We got a 55 and a high 30s back to back. That gave us 115.5 pounds on day 2 and locked in the 2nd place finish.”
“The tournament ran very smoothly,” concluded Martin. “The Brawl crew should be proud of a great tournament. We are already looking forward to next year!”
Third Place, Big Fish, and Top Veteran
Third place went to Team Fish Hunter. Kevin Couick, Chase Mundie, and Jamey Helms weighed a two-day bag of 196.20 pounds to earn the 3rd place finish at the Brawl. Their bag included Couick’s PB blue at 75.2 pounds on day one. It held up as the Big Fish of the tournament. Couick added his PB flathead at 56 pounds to the mix for good measure. And Jamey Helms took home the Top Veteran’s Award for the tournament.
Day one was windy and rough, but it was the best day by far for Team Fish Hunter. Both of Couick’s personal best fish came early on day one. The 2 big fish came off of Spread Em Planer Boards.
“We had both the hogs by 9:30 am on day one,” reported Couick. “The winds had gotten up and the lake was extremely rough. We decided to move into the canal where we added a small flathead.”
“On day two we struggled badly,” continued Couick. “We fished the same creek as day one and had one smoke the planer board, but we missed the hookup. We did not have a fish until after 1 pm on day two.”
The team changed plans again and came into the canal. They picked up 3 small blues bumping the canal bottom. They used jumbo gizzard shad from Jamie K Outdoors cut up into chunks. They anchored some during the tournament but didn’t catch a fish while on the rope.
“We only had 40 pounds on day two,” concluded Couick. “But overall we had a great weekend. We want to thank our sponsors, Catch the Fever Hellcat rods, Fish Bite Rod Holders, Jamie K Outdoors, and Easterlin Drift Socks. We also want to add our thanks to the tournament staff and Ralph Willey.”
Ladies Big Fish
The Ladies Big Fish Award went to Lindsey Brown. She boated a 44-pound blue on day one that held up as the biggest fish for a female angler. She was awarded a trophy and a cash award of $500.
Youth Big Fish
Gavin Williams earned the Youth Big Fish Award. He was fishing with his dad on Team GLW Baits. They finished 19th in the tournament. Gavin is the nephew of Bradley Williams, a well-known Santee tournament catfisherman.
Final Thoughts
The Santee Big Cat Brawl was a great success. From the competing anglers to the spectators and the kids, a good time was had by all even though some of the weather was rough.
“Day one brought high winds and bigger weights,” noted weighmaster Mark Coburn, “Anglers had to deal with winds of 20+ mph throughout the day. Even though the winds were higher, the bigger fish were weighed and the creel totals were larger.”
On day two calmed down the weather was warmer. The improved conditions, however, did not improve the bite.
“Big fish weights were down and total creels were down overall,” continued Coburn. “Because of this, there were some teams that were able to make huge jumps on the leaderboard. The weigh-Ins on both days were very exciting and filled with energy. Our weigh-ins are fueled by crowd involvement and high energy, which generates large crowds. A great time was had by all in attendance. Director Ralph Willey produces well-organized, family-friendly events, with emphasis on kids and angler enjoyment with recognition from 1st place to last place.”
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