Gainey Hoping To Lose ‘confusion’ By Time Everstart Tournament Starts On Santee Cooper
Nick Gainey of Charleston, SC. Photo courtesy FLW Outdoors.
Nick Gainey spent the first half of this week trying to make sense out of the confusion over the bass in the Santee Cooper Lakes as he prepared for the FLW EverStart Series Southeast Division tournament this coming weekend.
After practicing on his home waters Friday and Saturday, the Charleston, S.C., angler admitted the bass had him more than a little befuddled.
“I fished on some key trees that I normally catch fish on and I had five bites for the two days,” Gainey said. “And then Saturday they had a BFL tournament out of John C. Land Landing and the boy who won it caught 27 pounds and he was fishing trees like I had been for two days.”
Chuck Howard of Elloree weighed in five bass at 27 pounds, 14 ounces, Saturday to win the BFL South Carolina Division tournament on the Santee Cooper Lakes, earning $3,466 for first place, plus a $2,000 Ranger Cup bonus.
This time of year, Gainey said, the bass are mostly in post-spawn and typically the first place they go after spawning it to the standing trees in the lakes.
“A lot of times they will be on an isolated tree, or a tree on an isolated point or island. That is the best spot. Sometimes a little group of trees around an island will do well, too.”
The problem is finding the key trees, he said.
“They are not on every tree at Santee. You can catch 25 pounds on some trees and then you can fish 500 other trees and not catch a fish.”
So, his game plan this week was to concentrate on an area where he believed a group of fish would be instead of running all over the lake.
“Just pick a quadrant and spend three days trying to fish it down,” he said.
A lot is at stake for Gainey, who is currently ranked 68th in the EverStart Southeast Division, in this EverStart tournament on his local waters. He had mixed success in Florida and Georgia earlier this year, finishing 112th on Lake Okeechobee in the EverStart in January, but rallying to a 43rd place finish on Lake Seminole a month ago.
Ironically, he suffered one of his worst tournaments in the Okeechobee EverStart but had one of his best outings on the same lake three weeks later, finishing 10th in the Walmart FLW Series Open tournament there February 9.
“I did very well in the EverStart on Lake Seminole, which gave me two good tournaments in a row after I finished 10th in the Open on Lake Okeechobee,” he said. “At least I am on a little roll now.”
That, and the fact that he is noted for following poor practices with good tournaments, could bode well for Gainey in the Santee Cooper EverStart this week.
“I’m pretty confident because I have this pattern going in tournaments,” he said. “I have some friends from Georgia and West Virginia that I travel with to tournaments and they accuse me of lying because if I have a bad practice I am liable to whack them in the tournament. I’ve done that a half a dozen times.”
He recounted a tournament on the Potomac River a few years ago when he struggled mightily in practice – and then finished fourth in the tournament.
“When a tournament starts,” he said, “you just put your head down, don’t run everywhere, and you just fish. Fish where you got some good bites. I have that rep going, so I feel good about the tournament.”
FLW EverStart Series – Southeast Division
Apr 19-21, 2012
Santee Cooper Lakes
John C. Land III Landing
http://www.flwoutdoors.com/bassfishing/afs/tournament/2012/6763/santee-cooper-details/
