Ober the top

Pennsylvania co-angler wins Stren Southeast at Santee Cooper

MANNING, S.C. – Jason Ober of Johnstown, Pa., won the Co-angler Division of the Stren Series event on Santee Cooper with a four-day total of 50-3 and collected $5,000 for his victory.

Ober fished with pro champion Ott Defoe today and caught five bass for 10-12 behind him to seal the win.

“I’m numb; this is very surreal,” said Ober, after his win. “I’ve fished so many of these tournaments, and it seems like every time something happens that keeps things from going my way: losing the key fish or breaking a fish off. And this week, everything has just gone my way. When it’s your time, it’s your time.

“The big key for me this week was that I adjusted correctly every day for each situation I was in with each pro. The first day my intuition told me to pick up a spinnerbait, and I caught a couple of fish on that.

“The second day I saw another boat catch a good fish on a weightless Trick Worm. That had been in the back of my mind, so I tied one on and started catching fish with it. And that’s pretty much what I used the rest of the tournament.”

Ober’s worm rig consisted of a Zoom Trick Worm (red-bug) fished weightless with a 3/0 hook on 10-pound-test Berkley fluorocarbon and 8-pound-test McCoy Mean Green lines.

Ober said he plans to use the $5,000 winner’s purse to “keep fishing.”

Breckenridge runner-up

Larry Breckenridge of Dothan, Ala., caught four bass weighing 15-13 today to take second place with a four-day total of 46-10 worth $3,251.

Breckenridge caught his day-four weight while fishing with pro Brett Mitchell.

Earlier in the week, Breckenridge fished a chartreuse-and-white spinnerbait and green-pumpkin lizards to make the finals. Today, he borrowed some of Mitchell’s Fish Stalker Trick Sticks to catch his four big bass.

Rest of the best

Brad Rodrigue of Pierre Part, La., finished third with a four-day total of 38-12 worth $2,642. Rodrique relied on Zoom Speed Craws in pumpkin-seed for his catch today.

Mike Morris of White, Ga., finished fourth with a four-day total of 38-9 worth $2,032.

Greg Hamblin of New Albany, Miss., finished fifth with a four-day total of 35-2 for $1,626.

Rounding out the top 10 pros in the Stren Series event on Santee Cooper:

6th: Ty Solis of Albany, Ga., four-day total of 34-0, $1,544

7th: Patrick Cook of Johnsonville, S.C., four-day total of 31-9, $1,462

8th: Gill Bristow of Columbia, Ala., four-day total of 30-11, $1,383

9th: Aaron Fahnestock of Enterprise, Ala., four-day total of 29-9, $1,299

10th: Ken Golub of Pittsford, N.Y., four-day total of 28-12, $1,220

Coming up

The fourth and final Stren Series event in the Southeast Division will be held June 4-7 at Pickwick Lake in Florence, Ala.