Robert Walser of Lexington, NC walloped the bass, as well as his competitors at the March 9th Bassmaster ABA tournament on Santee Cooper. Fishing out of John C. Land III landing, Walser said he expected it would take 30 pounds to win the tournament. With only 5 anglers bringing a 5-bass limit to the scale, Walser was wrong on that count, but he was right about everything else on the day. Throwing a Weapon jig and a Chatterbait around the base of cypress trees on the upper lake, Walser culled his share of fish and brought 5 fish weighing 25.28 to the weigh-in. 37 anglers joined 37 co-anglers to fish the tournament

Brad Fowler caught the big fish of the day, an 8.77 pounder that helped him to a top-ten finish despite only catching 4 keepers on the day.

Top Ten

1. Robert Walser 5-fish 25.28 lbs

2. Ronnie McCoy 5 fish 20.83

3. Tim Jones 4 fish 20.63

4. Sean Anderson 5 fish 18.99

5. Andy Wicker 4 fish 18.08

6. Brad Fowler 4 fish 16.41 (Big Fish-8.77)

7. Nelson Walker 5 fish 12.71

8. Ron Brown 5 fish 11.29

9. Alexander James 3 fish 9.94

10. Randall Langston 2 fish 8.86