Will Santee Cooper weights drop off?

Some speculate good catches at EverStart Eastern event will falter today

MANNING, S.C. – They are off again; 200 pros and 200 co-anglers at the EverStart Series Eastern Division event on Santee Cooper blasted off from John C. Land III boat launch Thursday morning with one more day to stake their claim in the coveted top 20.

Yesterday, Santee Cooper delivered some good fishing. In the Pro Division, there were six limits over 20 pounds and 76 five-bass limits with the top-20 cut at a stout 15 pounds, 9 ounces.

Bryan Hudgins of Orange Park, Fla., brought in the biggest stringer of the day – 23 pounds, 15 ounces – to take the early lead.

Will Santee Cooper be as kind today?

Some say it won’t.

“They caught them better than I thought,” Ricky Shumpert of Lexington, S.C., said of yesterday’s weights. “Evidently there were quite a few still on bed. But we’ll see what happens today. I still think it will fall off.”

Fuji pro Wesley Strader of Spring City, Tenn., who is in third place, also thinks weights will be lower today.

“I think these fish have spawned longer than normal this year, and that’s why so many are still up in shallow water,” he said. “This moon might have brought another bunch of them in, but I still think they are leaving quicker than they’re coming in, and some guys are going to scramble today – and I just might be one of them.”

The day-two weigh-in starts at 3 p.m. at the John C. Land III boat launch facility.

Thursday’s conditions:

Air temperature: 59 degrees

Water temperature: 69 degrees

Wind: forecasted southwest 5 to 10 mph

Day’s outlook: sunny, warm and high of 85 degrees