GEORGETOWN, S.C. — Patrick Walters and Tyler All of the University of South Carolina stayed consistent and caught 13 pounds, 12 ounces to take the lead at the Bassmaster College Series Southern Regional tournament at Winyah Bay, bringing a total weight of 27-3 on Friday. Some adverse conditions were presented to the full field of anglers as the temperature dropped 30 degrees overnight. The strong north wind that was present on Thursday blew in a cold front, and teams had to adjust on the fly Friday. The Summerville, S.C., anglers used their local knowledge to the fullest as they capitalized on their area and brought another 13 pounds to the weigh-in scales. Even with the change in weather, they stuck to their plan and executed.
“Everything went as planned today,” Walters said. “Consistency pays the bills. If you’re fluctuating weights day-to-day, then you probably aren’t in contention to win.”
With water temperatures in the 60s, and bass thinking about spawning, the last thing anglers want is a cold front that may stall the bite and reposition the bass. The 35-degree air temperature seemed to impact the anglers more than the bass, but another night of cold temperatures could tell the fish to move from their staging areas.
“The fish weren’t as active as they were Thursday,” Walters said. “We had a chance at a bigger bag yesterday and didn’t make it happen. We are interested to see how the weather changes things, but if I had to fish an area for a 5-pounder on Winyah Bay it would be the area we are in for sure.”
The former college champion is cautiously optimistic, but nothing is a given on Winyah Bay where consistency isn’t the easiest thing to duplicate. They take a 1-4 lead into the final day over the Coastal Carolina teammates Jonathan Kelley and Max McQuaide.
Kelley and McQuaide jumped from sixth into second place because they brought the biggest bag to the scales on Friday. Their 14-12 weight vaulted them up the leaderboard and put them in contention to not only qualify for the Bassmastr National Championship, but to also contend for a title on Saturday. The Coastal Carolina duo desperately needed sunshine on Thursday and the windy, cloudy conditions didn’t do them any favors, but with a full day of sunshine they put together the second-biggest limit of the week.
“It didn’t come easy at first,” Kelley said. “We had to change up and fish slower with a worm until we solidified our limit.”
“We’ve been getting plenty of bites,” McQuaide said. “Today we got the right bites, and we have to hope to hook into a giant tomorrow.”
Slowing down paid off for Kelley and McQuaide, but they also found a “magic tree” that they relied on for a lot of their success on Friday.
“We found this tree, and we caught four fish off it,” Kelley said. “Three of those fish were our biggest today.”
They passed their teammates John Duarte and Chesley Alford who were the Day 1 leaders. They now go from the hunted to the hunters as they dropped to third. The duo caught 10-2 on Friday, but feel like they are dwindling their population of fish and they aren’t reloading, so they plan to make a big change in areas for Saturday’s final day.
The gap between the Top 3 and the rest of the field is significant as Armando Ortiz and Dylan McKee of Auburn University are in fourth place with 22-14, almost a full 3 pounds behind third place. Cody Stahl and Daniel Kennedy of the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia sit in fifth with 21-7.
The full field is now cut to the Top 20 and the surviving teams will fish one more day on Winyah Bay in hopes of jumping into the Top 13 to qualify for the National Championship, which will be held this summer and announced at a later date. Jarrett Brown and Porter James of the University of Montevallo in Alabama are on the Top 13 bubble, and the bottom seven teams are within a pound and a half of the final qualifying spot so the final day should be interesting.
Takeoff will happen at 6:30 a.m. ET at the Carroll Ashmore Campbell Marine Complex, which is located at 101 River Walk Drive, Georgetown, S.C. 29440. Weigh-in will now shift to Downtown Georgetown and will be held at 729 Front St. Georgetown, S.C. at 3:30 p.m.
Bassmaster College Series Southern Regional3/2/2017 - 3/4/2017Winyah Bay - Carroll Ashmore Campbell Marine Complex - Georgetown, SCSTANDINGS BOATER DAY 2 Name # Fish # Live Lbs – Oz # Fish # Live Lbs – Oz 1 Patrick Walters - Tyler All University of South Carolina 5 5 13-12 10 10 27- 32 Jonathan Kelley - Max McQuiade Coastal Carolina University 5 5 14-12 10 10 25-153 John Duarte - Chesley Alford Coastal Carolina University 5 5 10- 2 10 10 25-124 Armando Ortiz - Dylan McKee Auburn University 5 5 13- 2 10 10 22-145 Cody Stahl - Daniel Kennedy SCAD 5 5 10-13 10 10 21- 76 Sean Hall - Noah Pescitelli SCAD 5 5 10- 8 10 10 21- 67 Collin Smith - Ben Stone Lander University 5 5 13- 9 10 10 21- 58 Rick Couch Jr - John Kaufman U. of Central Florida 5 5 10-11 10 10 21- 29 Spencer DeFoor - Brandon Bland U. of South Alabama 5 5 11-13 10 10 20- 810 Max Gresham - Zack Blake Valdosta State University 5 5 7- 3 10 10 20- 411 Chris Hiott - Kendall Pierce UAB 5 5 10- 3 10 10 19-1012 Zachary Ramsey - Joshua Rockefeller Augusta University 5 5 13- 2 10 10 19- 913 Jarrett Brown - Porter James University of Montevallo 5 5 8-12 10 10 19- 014 J T Russell - Chase Grubbs University of Montevallo 5 5 7- 5 10 10 18-1215 Austin Mize - Ethan Goodwin U. of North Alabama 5 5 8- 3 10 10 18- 716 Caleb Bundy - Alex Moore U. of Central Florida 5 5 11- 4 9 9 18- 617 Baylor Ronemus - Cole Tinsley Clemson University 3 3 5- 2 8 7 18- 118 Daniel Murkerson - Case Key UAB 5 5 11- 7 8 8 17- 719 Andrew Warbington - Brant Lewis University of West Alabama 5 5 10- 5 10 10 17- 720 Wesley Griner - Nathan Ragsdale University of Georgia 5 5 9- 6 10 10 17- 721 Hunter Franklin - Jesse Morrison U. of South Alabama 5 5 8- 1 10 10 17- 522 Brett Blackwood - Justin Grigg Winthrop University 5 5 8- 5 10 10 16-1423 Chris Carnes - Tyler Lawwill UNC Charlotte 5 5 7- 9 10 10 16-1324 Hunter McCarty - Sloan Pennington U. of North Alabama 5 5 10- 3 9 9 16-1225 Austin Handley - Caleb Wozniak Auburn University 5 5 12- 1 8 8 16- 926 Joshua Butts - Reid Connor Wallace State Hanceville 5 4 8- 1 10 9 16- 327 Zachary Bodford - Hunter Whitman NC State University 5 5 7- 9 10 10 15-1428 Brady Vernon - John Turner University of Montevallo 5 5 7-14 10 10 15-1029 Alec Lower - Ryan Glennon NC State University 5 5 8- 2 10 10 15- 030 Justin Barnes - Cole Blackmon Alabama Southern 5 5 10- 4 8 8 14- 731 Jordan Heath - Taylor Tew Auburn University 3 3 4- 5 7 7 14- 632 Tyler Woolcott - Daytona State College 3 3 5- 6 8 8 14- 633 Brian Travers - Hunter Moore Liberty University 5 5 7- 5 10 10 14- 534 Nathan Martin - Bridger Thomas U. of North Alabama 4 4 6- 9 7 7 14- 335 Austin Stanley - Knox Daniels Georgia College 5 5 5-11 9 9 13-1436 Cole Burdeshaw - Cameron Mercer Auburn University 2 2 3-13 7 7 13-1337 Daulton Smith - Cody Billings University of Georgia 5 5 10- 0 7 7 13-1138 Cole Hewett - Jacob Romani U. of Central Florida 4 4 6-14 9 9 13-1139 Ryan Kent - Tyler Wilson Georgia Southern University 4 4 7-13 7 7 13- 540 Zac Bennett - Tucker Sweat Georgia College 5 5 8- 4 9 9 12- 941 Thomas Oltorik III - John Byrd Stetson University 2 2 3-11 7 7 12- 442 Jake Smith - Larry Partain Wallace State Hanceville 5 5 8- 3 7 7 12- 443 Daniel Adrien - Mason Bond Georgia College 5 5 8- 7 7 7 12- 244 Tyler Brown - Clemson University 3 3 3- 0 8 8 12- 145 Derek Freeman - Robert White Clemson University 5 5 7- 5 8 8 11-1046 Jared Baker - Darius Williams Georgia Southern University 5 5 8- 2 7 7 11- 847 Brodie Cox - Jacob Robbins Clemson University 3 3 4-15 7 7 11- 748 Hunter McKamey - Kyle Oliver U. of Central Florida 0 0 0- 0 5 5 10- 849 Matthew Cantrell - Grant Bergeron University of Florida 5 5 8-11 6 6 10- 750 Nick Gresens - Chase Williams Georgia College 5 5 6- 1 8 8 10- 451 Caiden Sinclair - Hunter Gibson University of Alabama 2 2 2- 4 7 7 10- 252 Cole Nunnery - Jack Stegall Mississippi State 2 2 2- 8 7 7 10- 153 Justin Roberts - Alexis Joyce SCAD 2 2 4- 7 4 4 8-1454 Tyler Smith - Cody Whisenhunt U. of South Alabama 5 5 8-13 5 5 8-1355 Laura Ann Foshee - Katie Connolly SCAD 4 4 4-14 7 7 8-1156 Justin Jones - Zach Lineberry Troy University 2 2 3- 6 5 5 8- 857 Dylan Burton - Andrew Shaddix U. of South Alabama 0 0 0- 0 4 4 8- 658 Hunter Bland - Connor Young University of Florida 4 4 4-15 6 6 7-1259 Jesse James - AJ Etheredge Troy University 3 3 3- 4 6 6 7- 560 Wesley Fox - Nick Schultz UNC Charlotte 0 0 0- 0 4 4 5-1361 Jake Lee - Jacob Foutz Bryan College 0 0 0- 0 3 3 5-1362 Hayden Carnell - Joshua McQueen UAB 0 0 0- 0 4 4 5- 363 Allan Stack - Ross Dove Clemson University 2 2 2-13 4 4 4-1064 Morgan Locke - Florida State University 0 0 0- 0 2 2 4- 665 Chase Christie - Brandon Black University of West Georgia 0 0 0- 0 3 3 3-1166 Dylan Bucci - Collin Reedy University of Florida 1 1 1- 8 2 2 3- 867 Tucker Adams - Bryce White Mississippi State 0 0 0- 0 2 2 2-1568 Nathan Bell - Cole Sands Bryan College 0 0 0- 0 2 2 2-1169 Andrew Kiser - Dean Legg Clemson University 0 0 0- 0 1 1 2- 370 Michael Blake - Jayme Dewberry Auburn University 2 2 1-15 2 2 1-1571 John Defore - Colton Granger Troy University 0 0 0- 0 1 1 1-1272 Zachary Phillips - Noah Coleman Liberty University 1 1 1- 7 1 1 1- 773 Jaci Skipper - Ryleigh Tyson SCAD 0 0 0- 0 1 1 1- 174 AJ Faught - Austin Scott Wallace State Hanceville 0 0 0- 0 0 0 0- 074 Tucker Hill - Austin Birch Georgia Southern University 0 0 0- 0 0 0 0- 074 Caleb Roberson - Brinson Laliberte The Citadel 0 0 0- 0 0 0 0- 074 Miller Spivey - Logan Ledbetter Wallace State Hanceville 0 0 0- 0 0 0 0- 0 BIG BASSDay Name City,State Lbs-Oz1 John Duarte - Chesley Alford Middle River, MD 5-132 Zachary Ramsey - Joshua Rockefeller Augusta, GA 5- 8 TOTALSDay # Fish # Live Lbs-Oz # Limits1 267 266 485- 7 342 256 255 466- 0 40