In their continuing support of tournament catfishing, SeaArk boats paid three bonuses at the 2019 Santee Cooper Monster Cat Quest held out of Black’s Camp in SC. Chris and Mandy Gaines attracted 177 boats to the popular Santee Cooper Lakes and many of those teams fished from SeaArk boats, giving them a chance to earn a SeaArk Bonus. The top three finishing teams are listed below.
$1000 SeaArk Bonus
Paul Blackwell captained the top finishing SeaArk Boat. On board with Blackwell were Eddie White and youth angler Dustin Arwood. Team Fish On finished in the 10th spot out of 177 teams in the competition. They had a two-day weight of 190 pounds. They caught fish both anchored and drifting in Lake Moultrie.
“We fished on the ropes both days until lunch,” reported Blackwell. “Then, from lunch until 2:00 pm we drifted and then went back on the rope. We caught all our fish on river herring in 10-foot depths or less.”
$500 SeaArk Bonus
The second top finishing SeaArk belongs to Benji Brown and Lindsey Patterson. Team Polekat had a two-day total weight of 183.20 pounds that included one of the heaviest day-two weights. They finished 11th out of the 177 boats entered.
Brown and Patterson reported a tough day-one. They fished shallow water in the lower lake. They had 5 fish before 10 am in 5 to 7 feet of water. They went back on day two with the same plan.
“The wind was in our favor on day two,” reported Brown. “We anchored in shallow water and caught a good fish early and later picked up Lindsey’s 52 pounder that earned her the Big Fish title in the Female Division.”
Team Polekat deployed two 6-foot Easterlin Drift Socks out the front in an attempt to drift. They could not slow the boat below .9 mph.
“It was extremely windy so we decided to go back to anchoring,” continued Brown. “We anchored 90% of the time with river herring and large gizzard shad. The majority of the larger fish came on fresh river herring.”
“I want to thank SeaArk Boats for being the best boat company in the tournament catfishing world,” concluded Brown.
$250 SeaArk Bonus
The final SeaArk Bonus went to Michael Hanks, Brent Powell, and Watson Hayes. They competed under the name of Iva River Rats. They drifted both days fighting the wind on Lake Moultrie. They finished in 13th place with 177.90 pounds.
“We had to run two drift socks on Friday,” reported Hanks. “We were trying to keep the speed down to .6 to .8 mph. Ninety percent of our fish came off planer boards. We fished the same area Saturday and caught fish all day, mostly in 10 to 12 feet of water. White perch worked best, but we did catch some on river herring.”
SeaArk Owners Invitational
For all you SeaArk owners mark your calendar for the 2019 SeaArk Owners Invitational Tournament on Wheeler Lake at Decatur, AL on May 10th and 11th. Like the SeaArk Bonuses reported here, the Invitational is another way the company says thank you to their customers for choosing SeaArk as their boat of choice.
Prizes at the Invitational will include a payout to the top 20 teams, Big Fish, Little Cat, Goose Egg, and door prizes. This year will also have a new prize with a random drawing for a team who participates with their mom (since the event does fall on Mother’s Day weekend). The big prize for the event is the random drawing for a brand new ProCat 200 fully rigged with a Suzuki engine and Marine Master trailer.
For more information on SeaArk Boats visit their website at www.seaarkboats.com and like them on Facebook.
