The unwritten rules of bass fishing etiquette reared their vague heads during Day 2 of the Huk Performance Fishing Bassmaster Elite at Winyah Bay presented by GoRVing.
There’s conceived conventions in bass fishing that an angler doesn’t infringe on the event leader’s spot, but that’s apparently hazy when the other angler had fished there, too. It’s exactly what occurred Friday.
Carl Jocumsen and Boyd Duckett were in close proximity on Day 1 but fished to varying success. While the Australian caught two large fish in his 19-pound, 11-ounce sack that led, Duckett was mired in 63rd with only 7-3.
With an earlier launch time Friday, Duckett was first to the spot and Jocumsen arrived some 20 minutes later. Both fished the area in the Cooper River throughout the morning, again to varying success, although reversed.
Many viewers on the Bassmaster LIVE chatroom were of the opinion that Duckett should not have fished the area of the leader. Others thought that since both fished it Thursday, it was fair game for Duckett to again ply the waters.
Their fortunes changed Friday. Duckett weighed in 14-5 to climb into 13th, while Jocumsen had only one fish and fell to 16th.
At the weigh-in, Jocumsen kept his head up and said he will fight on, putting his bad day behind him.
“That’s fishing. That’s what we do,” he said. “You gotta take the good with the bad. Yesterday, I had a dream day. Today, things didn’t work out. I had opportunity to have probably 10 pounds, which would have had me up there.”
That’s pretty classy, and the young angler says he’s gaining experience.
“It’s all a massive learning curve for me. Yesterday I led an event for the first time against the Elites,” he said. “That was a big growing point for me. Just getting the confidence.
“I’m not complaining. I’m going to be fishing tomorrow. Where I’m fishing, anything can happen. I can bring in another 20-pound bag and I’m right there. I’m staying fully positive. I had Bassmaster LIVE on me today, had the Aussie support and the U.S. support. The Aussies were up all night, so sorry I had a tough day, but I’ll make a comeback tomorrow and make the 12 cut.”
DAVY HITE GROUNDED IN SENSE OF HUMOR
The video opened with a tight shot of mud-covered socks. Davy Hite explained his “mud feet” by saying a shortcut didn’t quite work out.
Hite apparently got caught in the outgoing tide as he ran in through a mud flat, but couldn’t get out. He was stuck around 2:30 p.m. in Charleston Harbor when he should have been running back to the check-in site.
He tried getting out to turn the boat, but to no avail. All he could do, after getting his socks caked in the pluff mud, was wait for the tide to come up. He said on the video he’d see us at the weigh-in, but that was wrong. He missed it, finishing 104th. The tide began coming up around 4 and he was freed near 6:30 p.m. and made it back to the ramp before sundown.
While that wasn’t very funny, Hite’s quick update video was — he offered a snappy answer to a dumb question from some passersby.
“We had some fellas come by little while ago. ‘How did you all get back up on that island like that?’ And I said, ‘Backed up, hell. We came from the other side.’”
Sometimes you just have to laugh to keep from crying. Cry and laugh with Davy here.
ROLL OF DICE PRODUCES
The biggest bag of the event, Kelly Jordon’s 24-7, came with an ounce of knowledge and a ton of gamble. After catching only one 8-5 fish on Thursday, Jordon exploited one piece of intel.
“I got a key off one big fish yesterday and I rolled the dice,” he said. “I thought it was pretty wild of going with what I learned with one big fish. I made a gut-check, last-minute decision. I didn’t know if it was going to work out, and it did. Tell you what, I love South Carolina.”
Jordon, who hasn’t made a Championship Sunday in an Elite event since 2011, hopes to end a winless drought that spans back to the 2006 Elite on the Potomac River.
“That’s the plan of myself, and every guy behind me,” he said. “I had one of those days today … I don’t know how you can ever top it. I’m in a great place and I can’t wait to go fishing tomorrow.”
MEET THE LOCALS KINDA FUZZY
Technology doomed Dave Mercer’s latest feature for Bassmaster LIVE. He had an interview all lined for a new segment he called “Meet the Locals.”
Mercer had “River John” at a Pawley Island dock, and the stream was fine as everyone heard how the spot turns into party central most weekends, how RJ cooks some mean BBQ chicken and is famous for his coleslaw. He even perked up interest when it was said he’s a renowned snake fighter — but the feed went wonky and pulled.
A few moments later, the spot was cued up again after they moved further out on the dock and thought there was better cell service. But once again the picture went bad and the bit had to be cut short.
Don’t give up Dave, most of us would love to hear about the local folks, and that Low Country area in South Carolina has quite the history.
JUST DROWNING MY CRICKET
Info comes in varying degrees. Some anglers are forthright. Others are not. Mark Zona’s tournament routine is to call the leaders to get the inside scoop on where they’re fishing, what they’re doing, etc.
Most give up the goods, at least some. Matt Herren’s offerings Thursday night were of the non-descript variety. He said he was fishing between 2 and 72 miles from the launch and not much more.
All Zona felt comfortable using was Herren’s “just running around and drowning my cricket.”
During LIVE, cameraman Wes Miller asked Herren what exactly that meant.
“Get in an my area and turn your brain off and just throw at what looks good,” Herren said. “You want to come up with all these different brainstorms and grand ideas … sometimes you just gotta fish and hope you put it together.”
He added that he did get a good number of bites in practice, no big ones, and you had to weed through them to get a decent bag.
CULLING
- John Hunter (above) displayed some rookie indecision that can turn a promising day upside down. His plan to come back from a 6-10 day on Thursday was to visit the Cooper River. “Funny thing about today, I didn’t know what to do,” Hunter said. “I was heading to the Cooper — I actually turned around and was heading to the Waccamaw and I turned around again.” That decision proved fruitful. He caught a 6-8 lunker in his 12-1 bag that put him inside the cut at 18-11. “I’m excited to get back out there. I think I figured it out,” he said.
- Fabian Rodriguez broke his schneide on Day 2 and brought in a serious hog. Emcee Dave Mercer broke out a new one Thursday to describe an itsy-bitsy fish — “t-t-t-t-t-tiny bass,” and he offered up a new moniker for Rodriguez’s fish — “Low Country log panda.” Low Country is the coastal regions of South Carolina. The area around Greenville where the Classics have been held is called the Up Country.
- Steve Bowman offered why many locals would risk the run up the Cooper rather than the rivers that feed Winyah Bay. The Cooper has spawning grounds, more cover and places where fish replenish. “It’s a very exclusive club in those other rivers,” he said, “in the Cooper, it’s like going to Walmart. It’s all here.”