Santee Cooper Midday Update – Day 2
Calmer conditions opened up more of the playing field today
The second day of the Costa FLW Series Southeastern Division event on Santee Cooper brought calmer, warmer conditions. Air temperatures still dipped down into the low 40s overnight, but with bright sun and little wind, temperatures began to rebound much quicker today.
With the calm conditions, several of the top 10 pros took a gamble this morning and ran all the way to the lower end of the lower lake to the Hatchery and Hog Swamp areas. That area took the brunt of the northeast wind yesterday, and those who know Santee’s waters well avoided that run on day one. But today, with the wind shifting out of the south, some saw the weather window open and tried to take advantage of it.
Those tinkering around trees in the upper lake got off to a slow start this morning. Tony Couch and Buddy Gross, both in the top five yesterday, had just a couple of keepers apiece by noon. Bryan Thrift had three keepers when we saw him, but one of them weighs more than 7 pounds. The tree bite has been better in the afternoon, so none was too concerned about his lack of success early on.
Weigh-in begins at 3 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live from John C. Land III Landing. The top 10 pros and co-anglers after today’s round of fishing will make the cut to fish on Saturday.