Hudgins to the top at Santee Cooper

Sight-fishing continues, Ellis in position to strike

MANNING, S.C. – Under bright sun and balmy temperatures, the sight-fishing continued at the Stren Series Southeast Division event on Santee Cooper Friday.

Now leading the charge is Bryan Hudgins of Orange Park, Fla., with 19 pounds, 7 ounces.

Hudgins is sight-fishing in Lake Moultrie and noted that covering a lot of water has been a key to his success this week.

“I’ve never seen fish that can flood an area, make beds, spawn and be gone so fast,” Hudgins said. “You can go to an area where you saw 10 fish the day before, and they’ll all be gone, yet pull up into an area where you saw one on bed the day before, and there’ll be 10 in there. It’s crazy.

“So in order to keep up with the fish, I’ve kept moving and purposely avoided getting hung up in one place too long, because it will kill you. It changes way too fast.”

“I found a place with some monsters in it this afternoon, but they just weren’t ready to bite yet,” he added. “So I `m pretty excited about going back out there tomorrow; I love this lake.”

Ellis ready to pounce

If there was any way to hook the top 10 pros up to a “Nerve-O-Meter” and see who pegged the needle out to the “made of steel” end, it would likely be local pro Ken Ellis of Bowman, S.C.

It’s not so much that Ellis is right where he wants to be with 18 pounds, 14 ounces, just 9 ounces off the lead going into the last day. Or that he has eliminated most of his local competition, including Chuck Howard of Elloree and Ricky Shumpert of Lexington. Or that he already has a Stren Series victory to his name on Santee Cooper.

Rather, it would be the fact that he has been fishing with 6- and 8-pound-test line all week to catch his fish that would make him the calmest of competitors. That’s right, 6- and 8-pound-test – around cypress trees – on Santee Cooper.

“This lake has been so beat up over the last few weeks and the fish are so sensitive, that’s what I feel I’ve got to do to get the bites,” Ellis said of his light-lining. “I’m pretty comfortable with it.”

Ellis fished weightless plastics in Lake Marion today to catch his fish.

“I was going to go down to the lower lake, but I got a limit early and decided I really didn’t need to go down there,” he said. “I feel that the better quality is up here, so that’s where I stayed.”

Dudley third

James Dudley of Lynchburg, Va., father of well-known pro David Dudley, is making some waves of his own this week.

After qualifying for the finals in seventh yesterday, the elder Dudley moved up to third with 18 pounds, 3 ounces by sight-fishing.

“Yesterday, I went to an area and fished around in there without a bite until 10 o’clock, and all of a sudden, a group of fish moved in there and started making beds.” Dudley reported. “The next thing I knew, I had 17 pounds by noon.”

Dudley visited that same area today, and the fish kept moving in.

“It’s the craziest thing, but everyone says it happens here. The fish just keep replenishing on beds. You can catch three, four, five fish off the same bed in the course of a couple hours.”

Crafton by himself

Roger Crafton of Boca Grande, Fla., a previous Stren Series winner on Santee Cooper, moved up to his best position of the week, fourth, with 17 pounds, 11 ounces.

Crafton noted that he is not sight-fishing and instead is using topwaters and weightless Senkos.

“My biggest fish was a postspawn fish, but I think some of the others I’m catching are prespawn because they’re fat, clean fish,” he said.

One thing that excites Crafton is having the area to himself.

“I haven’t seen another boat all week,” he said. “It’s almost eerie to fish all day on this lake and not see anyone else.”

Carter fifth

Kip Carter of Oxford, Ga., also moved up to his best position of the week, fifth, with 15 pounds today.

Carter is sight-fishing as well, in Lake Marion.

“I found a bunch of big ones late this afternoon,” he said. “You can never tell what’s going to happen with the fish on this lake, but I’m going to them first thing in the morning. All I can say is that I’m pretty excited to be fishing tomorrow so I can go back and see what happens.”

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 pros who will be fishing tomorrow on the fourth and final day in the Stren Series event on Santee Cooper:

6th: Ron Klys of Gainesville, Fla., five bass, 14-2

7th: Joseph Kremer of Osteen, Fla., five bass, 13-0

8th: Koby Kreiger of Okeechobee, Fla., five bass, 13-0

9th: Tony Couch of Buckhead, Ga., five bass, 12-2

10th: Chris Baumgardner of Gastonia, N.C., four bass, 11-15

Ellis leads co-anglers for third day in a row

Despite having the weights zeroed this morning, Joseph Ellis of Cincinnati continued to maintain his co-angler lead with four bass weighing 9 pounds, 5 ounces.

“It’s just been a supergood tournament for me so far,” Ellis said. “I’m on a high, and I’m going to see if I can keep rolling with it tomorrow.”

Ellis said his key bait this week has been a Zoom Baby Brush Hog.

Derek Schlotterback of Simpsonville, S.C., is in second with four bass weighing 7 pounds, 10 ounces.

Schlotterback finished second at Santee last year and is hoping for a win this time around.

“I fished with Roger Crafton for the second time this week,” Schlotterback said. “He’s a great guy, and he’s the reason I’m here. I caught 11 pounds with him the first day and caught these fish with him today. He’s around some good fish. It’s a slow bite, but I kept at it and ended up with four keepers.”

Matt Hults of Gautier, Miss., is in third with 7 pounds, 4 ounces.

Nathan Fuller of Hillsboro, Ga., is in fourth with 6 pounds, 7 ounces.

Albert Pieper of Summerville, S.C., is in fifth with 6 pounds, 3 ounces.

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers who will be fishing tomorrow on the fourth and final day in the Stren Series event on Santee Cooper:

6th: Reginald Pickett of Greensboro, N.C., two bass, 3-10

7th: Ryan Valentine of Jonesboro, Ga., one bass, 3-4

8th: Keith Carson of Debary, Fla., two bass, 2-2

9th: Kevin Roberts of West Chester, Ohio, one bass, 2-1

10th: Angelo Koundourakis of Bainbridge, Ga., one bass, 1-14

Day-four competition begins at 7 a.m. Saturday at the John C. Land III boat launch.