35 Teams gathered at Clearwater Cove Marina on Lake Wateree this past Saturday March 29^th and the topic of the morning was whether or not the bass would bite any better. Fresh in everybody’s memory was the Saturday before when the Carolina BFL Division visited Wateree. How could only 9 lbs win a major tournament on Wateree and would it happen again this tournament day? With water still over the banks and muddy in places many angler’s believed the weight would be low again. But this was a different day and the water had settled enough for the bass to start back with their eating habits and the weights picked back up. Most anglers reported the jig bite was way off and the crankbaits were what the bass wanted.

Crankbaits were the choice for the father and son team of David Stines and Mitch Stines both of Camden hauling in an impressive 5-bass limit weighing 24lbs 9oz to take home 1^st place of $640.00. They added another $245.00 to their winnings with a 6lb 12oz hawg claiming 1^st place Big Fish also. Fishing within sight of the landing their better bites came in the afternoon.

2^nd place went to William Peake of Lugoff and Ray Dowey also of Lugoff with another nice bag weighing in at 19lbs 14oz. They were using Rattletraps and also caught their fish around the Clearwater area. After making a run up the lake where they found water that was too muddy they made the run back down which turned out to be the right move. Their timely decision resulted in a $460.00 payday.

It was just the opposite with the 3^rd place team of Ronnie McCoy Jr. of Lamar and Chris Moody of Hartsville who caught fish in the upper parts of the lake. Using a variety of lures they brought another good solid bag weighing 18lbs 4oz good enough to take home $345.00 Ronnie lost a 4lb fish and that would have helped them a lot but for whatever reason she came off.

David Ethridge and Mike Catoe both of Lancaster also ran up the lake and brought in 15lbs 4 oz of bass to claim 4^th They were concentrating so hard on fishing neither checked the gas gauge and lost time when they ran out of gas. Spinnerbaits were their choice and they received a check for the amount of $220.00.

Greg Atkinson of Lugoff and Dennis Shumate of Camden weighed in 13lbs 15oz and claimed 5^th worth $155.00. 6^th place belonged to Calvin Hewiit of Cope and Wayne Hilton of Orangeburg with the weight of 13lbs 8oz. They took home $100.00

2^nd place Big Fish went to the team of Ronnie McCoy Sr. of Lamar and Lin Langston of Bishopville with a 6lb 8oz bass worth $105.00

April 12^th is the Spring Final at Clearwater Cove Marina for the Wateree CATT where a total of 53 teams will compete for over $6500.00.