Ray shines on a rainy day
Alabama pro leads after Santee Cooper semifinals; three former champions qualify for finals
MANNING, S.C. – It was the kind of drizzly day where even the dogs wore rain suits in South Carolina, but that didn’t stop Ronnie Ray from catching a lion’s share of largemouth bass to take over the Pro Division lead in the semifinal round of the $210,000 EverStart Series Eastern Division contest on Santee Cooper lakes. Ray caught five bass weighing 23 pounds, 7 ounces Friday and edged out second-place Henry McFadden by 5 ounces.
In a tournament dominated as much by South Carolina pros as it has been by the South Carolina rain, the Phenix City, Ala., native Ray came back from a 41st-place showing on day one to take the lead after three days of big-bass competition. Following Ray in the semifinal-round top five were all South Carolinians: McFadden (2nd place), of Kingstree, with five bass weighing 23 pounds, 2 ounces; opening-round leader William Smith (3rd), of Moncks Corner, who again topped 20 pounds with five bass weighing 21-11; Cecil Wolfe (4th), of Goose Creek, with five bass weighing 19-15; and Ricky Shumpert (5th), of Lexington, with five bass weighing 19-4.
Ray caught his quarry of big bass using a 10-inch worm in water no more than 4 feet deep. While it rained off and on all day, it didn’t really matter to the pro leader. He made the six-mile run to his area on Lake Marion this morning and caught his five-fish limit by 11 a.m. He said the fish there are mostly in a pre-spawn stage and are plentiful.
“I’ve got about three different areas,” he said. “There was one area we didn’t even fish today.”
Ray, 48, a two-year EverStart veteran, is fresh off his first and only tour top-10. In March he finished in eighth place at Lake Eufaula, where he works as a fishing guide, and it appears he’s peaking at the right time here as well.
“I’m pretty confident,” he said. “The area I’m fishing has a lot of fish in it. It’s just a matter of whether I can get the right bites. These two lakes (Eufaula and Santee Cooper) are basically the same except there are cypress trees here. I think they’re probably the best two lakes in the country. I know (Santee Cooper) is one of the best lakes I’ve ever fished. It seems to get better every day.”
He’s not exaggerating. Big sacks of fish remained the order of the day Friday, with pros needing more than 16 pounds, 7 ounces to make the top-10 cut into Saturday’s finals.
Parade of Santee Cooper all-stars
If Ray is to have a chance at holding onto the top spot tomorrow and taking home the trophy, he’ll have to get past a trio of pros who’ve already been there before. Of the four trips that the EverStart Series has made to Santee Cooper lakes, three of the former winners from those tournaments are fishing in the finals tomorrow in search of their second title.
Smith, who won here in 2000, hasn’t finished a day this week below third place, his place Friday. He is also in the verge of possibly becoming the first angler on the EverStart Series to catch over 100 pounds of bass in four days. So far he has accumulated a total of 70 pounds, 5 ounces in three days of fishing. He needs 29-11 tomorrow to break the century mark. So it will be a tall order to do it, but not completely impossible, especially considering how productive Santee Cooper has been this week with countless 7-pounders crossing the scale. Keep in mind that Smith caught 26-4 on day two.
Shumpert won here in 2001 with a record-setting final-round catch of 28 pounds, 2 ounces and likely has another solid game plan for this year’s finals. If his spinnerbait is working Saturday, he could be the one to beat.
The third former champion, Roger Crafton of Boca Grande, Fla., won in 1998. He just squeaked into the finals this year in 10th place. His 16 pounds, 7 ounces tied Bryant Ailor’s catch of 16-7 in Friday’s semis, but Crafton advances due to a tiebreaker. He caught more weight than Ailor in the opening round.
But today’s leader isn’t worried about the history he’s up against tomorrow.
“I’m not intimated by any of that,” said Ray. “You’ve just got to go out there and let the good Lord do what he can for you.”
Merritt tops co-anglers
Ronnie Ray wasn’t the only angler in his boat to take charge Friday. Ray’s partner, Michael Merritt of West Columbia, S.C., slid into the top spot in the Co-angler Division Friday with three bass weighing 10 pounds, 4 ounces. He beat second-place William Robinson of Clintwood, Va., who had two bass weighing 9-9.
“I owe it all to my partner,” Merritt said of Ray. “He caught all of his fish early, quit fishing and drove me down to an area I knew about. All he did was run the trolling motor the rest of the day.”
Merritt caught his fish using a trick worm sunk with a little split-shot in 2 to 3 feet of water. His biggest bass weighed between 6 and 7 pounds.
Considering today’s outcome and the fact that Merritt and Ray are paired up together again tomorrow, in boat number one, the co-angler leader understandably likes his chances for the title.
“I’m feeling good,” Merritt said. “I’ve got a great partner and I think I’ll do pretty well tomorrow. I think (our area) should hold up because we didn’t pressure it much today.”
Following Merritt and Robinson in the top five Co-angler Division spots were Chris Brunn (3rd place) of Murray, Ky., with two bass weighing 9 pounds, 5 ounces; Doug Vest (4th) of Okeechobee, Fla., with five bass weighing 8-13; and Carl Dillard (5th) of Columbia, S.C., with five bass weighing 8-12.
Final-round action ensues at Saturday with the top 10 from each division taking off from John C. Land boat ramp at 7 a.m. All anglers will restart the day with zero weight.
Saturday’s final-round weigh-in begins at 4 p.m. at the Wal-Mart located at 481 West Boyce Street in Manning. The pro winner of the one-day shootout will take home $15,000 and a Ranger boat and the co-angler winner receives $6,000.
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