Preston Clark, who is a Florida angler, has won the Santee Showdown, and done so eclipsing the old 4-day record for total weight, that was set by Dean Rojas.
Clark has caught 20 bass over the 4 day event that totaled 115 lbs. 15 oz. and in doing so, has won $100,000.
Clark's wife is pregnant with triplets, and this tournament victory will surely help in raising the three babies.
I am honestly tickled that Preston won it. He's going to need the help with the triplets on the way. You know that it's a huge burden off his shoulders, and that he can provide a better means for his children.
Not to mention that it means that a 4th different angler has won the 4th tournament. I think that it's a lot better to have different anglers win the tournaments. It's great when certain anglers win repeatedly, like with KVD, because we know of their dominance over the rest, but it's great to know that other anglers can step up and make things interesting.
I had, for some reason, the feeling that the fishing at Santee had declined from where it was. I guess that I was wrong by thinking and feeling that.
Oh no no no. Santee's still has a huge population of moster bass in it, it's just that without the grass like it once had, fishing it becomes VERY hard!
The lakes are a total of 160 - 170,000 acres depending on pool level and of those many many acres of water Id venture to guess that more than 50% of it is 6 foot deep or less. Combine that with the literally millions of cypress trees, the fact that SC lowland weather changes about as often as a downtown traffic light does, the sheer pressure the lakes get constantly and you have a very tough fishery more often than not. However, with the guys who know these lakes and fish them on a regular basis, seeing tournaments won by 30 pound 5 fish limits is not uncommon at all.
Yet I still wish the grass would be allowed to grow back to more than 10% coverage. Trying to find ways to have have that changed is still on my agenda.
Not sure if Santee has it, but Lake Weiss has a society that deals with those types of issues. The main topic up for debate, and has been the case for the last 3-4 years, has been the sharing of water between Ga and Al from the Coosa River. Living in Georgia makes it tough to pick sides, especially when I love fishing Weiss, which is primarily in Alabama.
If Santee has one of them, look into joining up with it.
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