MANNING, S.C. (April 22, 2006) Pro Bryan Hudgins of Orange Park, Fla., caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 40 pounds, 7 ounces to win the Stren Series Southeast Division bass fishing tournament on the Santee Cooper lakes. Hudgins, who finished fourth at a Santee Cooper Stren Series event in 2003, won his first Stren Series event to earn $53,000 in cash and prizes, including a fully rigged Ranger 519VX and the $3,000 first-place Ranger Cup award.
I love this lake, Hudgins said. Im from Florida, but Ive seen more big bass in this lake over the past couple weeks than Ive seen Florida. I fished a flawless week never missed a fish. I was sight-fishing all week and used a tube rigged on a 5/0 hook.
Hudgins is coming off an excellent 2005 Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League season. Fishing the Seminole Division, he had three top-10s last season, including a win, along with fifth- and seventh-place finishes. With the win Saturday, Hudgins finished third in the Southeast Division points standings and will fish the no-entry-fee $1 million Stren Series Championship on Wheeler Lake Nov. 1-4. The championships top finisher from the Southeast Division will advance to the 2007 Forrest Wood Cup where the winner could earn $1 million.
Rounding out the top five pros were Ken Ellis of Bowman, S.C. (10 bass, 37 pounds, 1 ounce, $10,000); Roger Crafton of Boca Grande, Fla. (eight bass, 27 pounds, 2 ounces, $8,800); Kip Carter of Oxford, Ga. (10 bass, 26 pounds, 2 ounces, $7,800); Tony Couch of Buckhead, Ga. (10 bass, 25 pounds, 10 ounces, $7,300).
Winning the Southeast Division points title in the Pro Division was Timothy Little of Acworth, Ga. Little started the season with an 11th-place finish at Lake Okeechobee. He then finished seventh on West point and fourth at Eufaula. His lowest finish of the season was 22nd at Santee Cooper. With the four top-22 finishes, Little won the title by an impressive 40 points. SpiderWire pro Bobby Lane of Lakeland, Fla., finished second in the points standings. Following Hudgins in fourth was Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C., and Crafton in fifth.
Nathan Fuller of Hillsboro, Ga., won the Co-angler Division with six bass weighing 14 pounds, 12 ounces to earn $35,000 in cash and prizes, including a 519VX Ranger boat.
The last two days Ive been throwing a weightless watermelon-red Senko on a 5/0 hook, Fuller said. These fished have really be pressured over the past two weeks, so I downsized to 10-pound-test fluorocarbon line on spinning gear. I fished around lily pads and stumps.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers were Joseph Ellis Sr. of Cincinnati, Ohio (five bass, 11 pounds, 6 ounces, $4,000); Derek Schlotterback of Simpsonville, S.C. (five bass, 9 pounds, 6 ounces, $3,420); Matt Hults of Gautier, Miss. (three bass, 7 pounds, 4 ounces, $2,420); and Albert Pieper of Summerville, S.C. (two bass, 7 pounds, 3 ounces, $1,920).
The Southeast Division co-angler points title came down to a family affair. Matt Hults, who finished fourth Saturday, won the points title. His brother, Alan, also of Gautier, Miss., finished second in the points race. The brothers were the only co-anglers in the division to surpass 700 points 734 for Matt and 712 for Alan. The two have a combined 14 co-angler top-10s spread out through the BFL, Stren Series and Wal-Mart FLW Tour. The brothers, along with other members of their family, have been a force in FLW Outdoors events for many years.
Stren Series tournaments are four-day events consisting of three rounds. The entire field competes Wednesday and Thursday, and the top 20 pros and co-anglers based on two-day accumulated weights advance to day three. Anglers start at zero Thursday and compete for 10 spots in each division in the final round. Winners are determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from days three and four.