CLARENDON COUNTY, S.C. – The MLF Toyota Series is set to close out the Southern Division this week in Summerton, South Carolina with the third and final event of the season at Santee Cooper Lakes. Competition days are Thursday through Saturday.
“I have been looking forward to this one. For the first time that I can recollect, we’re having a Toyota Series event here in late summer,” said pro Wade Grooms of Bonneau, South Carolina, who has five Top-10 finishes on Santee Cooper in MLF competition. “Typically, the majority of tournaments here are held in the early spring, so fishing is always the same. The event being held this time of the year makes things extremely different. We’re going to see totally different patterns and strategies.”
With water levels high and water temperatures still hovering in the upper 80s, the fish are still being found in their summertime patterns.
“There is a lot of grass right now, which is really going to help some people and really going to hurt some people,” Grooms said. “It spreads the fish out and makes them pretty hard to find. But if you can find the right area, it can definitely create a lot of opportunities.”
Grooms said that he expects he will be fishing a mix of grass and stumps.
“It’s going to be a lot like Florida fishing,” Grooms said. “An early morning topwater fish is going to be extremely important in this tournament. Everyone will have limits, but if you can have four keeper fish and one larger than average fish, that will really shoot you up the leaderboard.”
Even though Grooms lives on the south end of the fishery, he struggled to make a weight prediction for this tournament.
“I live here, and normally I’m pretty good and can predict within a pound or two of the winning weight, but I’m struggling with this one because there are so many unknown variables,” Grooms said. “There is a cool front coming, water levels could be dropping at any time, there is so much grass – and we don’t know if it will help the fishing or make it tougher. I think we’ll see a few limits in the low 20s the first day, but that’s hard to maintain. I think 18 pounds a day, over three days, will be extremely strong in this event.”
Anglers will launch at 7 a.m. ET each day from John C. Land III Landing, located at 4404 Greenall Road in Summerton. Weigh-ins will also be held at the landing and will begin at 3 p.m. each day.
