When the FLW College Fishing National Championship began on Lake Murray April 16, Anthony Gagliardi, who won the Forrest Wood Cup on the lake last August, texted a message to Roger Metz, host of the Woods and Water S.C. radio show in Greenville who was on a spectator boat:

“Tell those guys don’t cut it as close as I did.”

The University of South Carolina team of Gettys Brannon of Gaffney, S.C., and Patrick Walters of Summerville, S.C., did not disappoint Gagliardi, who ironically is a graduate of Clemson University, the Gamecocks’ bitter rival in most sports competitions.

In the August FLW championship Gagliardi, who lives a few miles from Lake Murray in Prosperity, S.C., beat Scott Canterbury of Springville, Ala., by just 1 ounce. Brannon and Walters won the college national championship over the Liberty University of Lynchburg, Va., team of Travis Rulle and Caleb Eppler, who led the tournament the first two days, by a solid 1 pound, 5 ounces.

The FLW Tour pro’s win in August mirrored the USC Anglers’ drive to the championship in April. Gagliardi started in 7^th place on the first and second days, improved to 3^rd on the third day and won it on the fourth and final day. Brannon and Walters started in 6^th place the first day, improved to 2^nd place on the second day and then won it on the third day. Their win completed the trifecta of bass fishing championships in the past year – Gagliardi’s win in the Forrest Wood Cup on Murray in August; Casey Ashley, who hails from Donalds, S.C., won the Bassmaster Classic on Lake Hartwell in February; and the USC team claimed the college fishing championship on Lake Murray in April.

Patrick Walters fights a largemouth to the boat. Photo by Pat RobertsonBrannon and Walters formed a team two years ago when Walters was a freshman and Brannon a sophomore. They are alike in many respects, but often very different in their approach to fishing – a combination that seems to be ideal for team fishing.

“Patrick is a big shallow water fisherman and I like to fish out deep,” Brannon said. “So, instead of having just one option on the boat during a tournament we always have something to fall back on. What we have discovered is that we just click when it’s tournament time because we make good decisions together.”

For Walters it is the common drive to succeed that makes them click as a team.

“We want to achieve the same goal. We want to win and we are going to do whatever it takes to win. We know somebody on the boat is up to the job and we talk about everything.”

While both have spent countless hours and days on Lake Murray and felt they knew the lake pretty well, they sought out the advice of local bass fishing guru Doug Lown of Newberry who has chronicled the species and fishing for bass on the lake for many years. The best advice Lown offered, Brannon said, was to keep their minds right.

“He gave us a lot of intel about the fish, but just being mentally prepared and talking with someone who has that much knowledge about the lake definitely gave us an edge,” Brannon said. “But we had a lot of good help around the lake. Getting close to the locals and making good friends of all of them was a good move on our part,”

Following Lown’s advice, the Gamecock team concentrated on bass chasing blueback herring, which were beginning to spawn.

“His best advice was on decision making, not where to go,” Brannon said. “We knew the bite was going to turn off each day around 9 o’clock and we had better have a limit by then. We did that and then we went after roaming fish. We knew if we could cull four or five times by the end of the day we would have close to 18 pounds.”

The main lure for Brannon and Walters was a Zoom Fluke to imitate the herring. They also threw a square-billed Lucky Craft and a square-billed Rick Clunn crankbait, plus a Smasher, a Sebille-type bait. When the wind died they drug a Zoom Trick worm on a Carolina rig with a half-ounce bullet weight and the also used a Shakey Head with a Greenfish Crawbait at times. Some of their bigger bass came on a Megabass 110 jerkbait, Brannon said.

“Our game plan was to hit as many points as we could since the herring spawn was starting,” Walters said. “We knew if we could get 17 to 20 pounds a day we’d be right where we wanted to be.”

The USC anglers beamed with confidence throughout the tournament, apparently unconcerned by not being in the lead the first two days. Their main concern was maintaining consistency, Walters said.

“I did not want to be sitting in first place during the tournament. Going into the second day I did not want to be in the top 5 and we were in 6^th place,” Walters said. “On the final day we had jumped up to 2nd place so we went out to catch as many fish as we could and try to cull up.”

But the day did not go exactly as planned. The pattern the first two days was to work the fluke early and then go with the Carolina rig once the wind laid. On the final day the wind was not blowing early and they only caught one little 12-inch bass on the first three points they hit with the fluke.

“We were a little worried that we had hit three of our best spots and did not have a fish yet,” Walters said. “We caught a 4-pounder on the Carolina rig and then the wind came up and the fish started coming up schooling. Once they started hitting the fluke we ran as many points as we could.”

They weighed a limit at 17 pounds, 1 ounce, to take the lead and the championship to the cheers of a bipartisan crowd of Gamecock fans, many of whom came out of Carolina Stadium at the conclusion of the USC-Vanderbilt baseball game to watch the weigh-in.

“Everybody who knows me knows I always have something to say,” said Brannon, “but when Forrest Wood gave us the jacket and our bids to the Forrest Wood Cup I could not find the right words to describe it.”

“Being there with all your family and your friends on your home lake is what you dream about,” Walters said. “You could not have written a script any better.”