Clark claims Santee win

Close margin in EverStart Southeast victory

SUMMERTON, S.C. – No one on Santee Cooper Lakes was more thankful for a fog delay than Cal Clark, the Tennessee co-angler who won a tight victory in the EverStart Series Southeast Division tournament.

At the scheduled 6:30 takeoff, Clark was nowhere to be found. His pro partner, Currey Holley (sixth-place finish) said he had just spoken to Clark by phone and found that his partner had overslept. Now, in all fairness, Clark said he had been sick most of the week and fatigue had finally caught up to him.

Thankfully for him, a 5-hour fog delay nullified his tardiness and essentially wiped the slate clean. Once competition finally began at 11:30, Clark stuck with the same green/white Scum frog he had thrown most of the tournament. He only caught one keeper bass on day three, but the 1-pound, 4-ounce fish gave him enough to slip past day-two leader Justin Sward by a 5-ounce margin with 24-4.

“My boater today was fishing the outside edges of the cypress trees,” Clark said. “Every now and then, we come across an area that would have a weed mat blown into it. That’s where I caught the fish.”

Clark placed seventh on day one with 10-12 and improved to second on day two after bagging 11-10.

His win at Santee Cooper follows a first-place finish at Lake Seminole March 24 and a second-place effort at Lake Okeechobee (his first EverStart event) January 21. Back-to-back wins and a second place have him well positioned atop the Co-angler of the Year standings.

Sward slips to a close second

Hailing from Birmingham, Ala., Sward reached the final round in first place after improving from fifth place on day one. He went fishless in the final round and finished with 23-15.

“I missed a big one on the first day and I knew it was going to come back to haunt me,” he said. I didn’t know it was going to be this close. But that’s competition – you want the best to win and I didn’t win today.”

Albert Pieper, of Summerville, S.C. held the third-place spot for the entire event and ended with a three-day total of 21-14. Likewise, Joe Ventrello, of Orlando, Fla. remained in fourth, as he had done since day one, and concluded with 20-8. Ray Winans, of Manning, S.C., was fifth with 20-5.

Best of the rest

Rounding out the top-10 co-angler leaders at the EverStart Series Santee Cooper event:

6th: Brent Chitty, of Moultrie, Ga., 20-2

7th: Jeffrey Ware, of Rixeyville, Va., 17-13

8th: David Alfonso, of Valrico, Fla., 17-9

9th: Don Ross, of Lizella, Ga., 16-13

10th: Wayne Frierson, of Manning, S.C., 16-8