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Competition began for Rob Gee and his Elite Series peers this morning for the Yokohama Tire Bassmaster Elite at Santee Cooper Lakes. Gee is fresh off a top ten from last weekend at Lake Murray, where the third-year pro posted a fourth-place finish and earned an extra $1,000 payout from Yamaha’s Power Pay contingency program.

Gee was the third highest finishing angler powered by a Yamaha purchased within the past 60-months, showcasing how many opportunities there are for bonus rewards through Yamaha Power Pay. Power Pay supports and pays out on more than 600 tournaments for anglers of all levels. Follow this link: https://yamahapowerpay.com/ if you’re interested in learning more or to sign-up for the popular program.

Though both fisheries are in South Carolina and separated by less than a three-hour drive, Santee Cooper promises to be a very different event than we saw last week at Lake Murray. Aquatic vegetation, water clarity, and average depth  are all differentiators for the two fisheries, but the allowance of FFS on Lake Murray and the prohibition of FFS on Santee Cooper will perhaps be the most distinguishing factor.

We caught up with Rob Gee minutes before boat launch on day one to get his predictions and previews for Santee Cooper.

 

Q – Based on what you saw in practice, what phase of the spawn are these fish in and what patterns do you expect to see excel on Santee this week?

Rob – “I’d say 80% of the fish are done spawning and off the bank. I didn’t find giant offshore schools of them or anything, but they seem to be following grass lines moving out away from the shoreline. Because of that I think you’ll see a lot of chatterbaiting in the 3 to 8-foot depth zone. That seems to be one of the best ways to target fish offshore here without ‘Scope (FFS). I’ll be doing some old-school worming, too.”

 

Q – What kind of weight do you think it will take to make the top 10 and be fishing on Championship Sunday?

Rob – “Man, that’s tough to say. It’s a post-spawn tournament but we’re kinda handcuffed without FFS, so I don’t think it will be as big of a beatdown as it should be. There are so many giants in here and these guys are the best, so it’ll still take 20-lbs a day I am sure, but it’s certainly not easy to catch that kind of weight out here right now without FFS.”

 

Q – You are a FFS aficionado, how would this event have looked different if FFS was in play?  

Rob – “I think it would have taken over 25-lbs a day to have a chance at winning with FFS, because we would have been able to target isolated fish offshore. Those individual fish are usually big ones this time of year, and I saw in pre practice just how quickly you can catch a mega bag here with FFS. Without FFS, the weights will be quite a ways down from that in my opinion.”

Q – As well-known as Santee Cooper is for big bass amongst tournament anglers, it also has a reputation for getting rough when the wind blows. With moderate to strong winds forecasted this week, will you make long runs or stay close to takeoff?

Rob – “This place definitely gets bumpy, but with that Yamaha SHO behind me I’m never too worried. That said, I’m boat number three today (day one) so I am planning to stay close today, fish some protected water and try to maximize my fishing time. Tomorrow we might have to make a long run and play in the waves.”