Major League Fishing (MLF) is set to return to Summerton and Clarendon County, South Carolina, for a tournament next week, April 7-9, with the Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. at Santee Cooper. The three-day tournament, hosted by the Clarendon County Chamber of Commerce, is the second event of the season for the Toyota Series Southern Division.
The tournament will feature the region’s best bass-fishing pros and Strike King co-anglers casting for a top prize package of up to $75,000 in the pro division and a new Phoenix 518 pro boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard motor, in the co-angler division.
“This is going to be a fun event to follow,” said Bass Pro Tour angler Anthony Gagliardi, who resides in Prosperity, South Carolina. “Santee is always a little bit ahead of Lake Murray when it comes to the spawn, but I expect we’ll see fish in all three phases. Whether or not the postspawn fish play– meaning targeting the shad spawn – will likely depend on the weather. But it’s a really good fishery and they’re going to catch a lot of big fish down there next week.”
Gagliardi said that although there are certain areas of the lake that are historically good, he expects the majority of the field to be pretty spread out.
“With the two lakes in play – and each are really big – there is a lot of fishable water for sure,” Gagliardi said. “I think we’ll see guys get back into the backwater ponds and some swampy areas up the river, but some will target the big flats on the lower end. The fish also are known to get out into those stump fields as well. Guys are really going to have a lot of options available to them.”
When asked what baits he would be throwing if he was competing in this event, Gagliardi offered a trio of options that he expects to play a role for competitors.
“I’d definitely have a spinnerbait tied on, that’s really good here this time of year. I’d have a frog or some sort of topwater bait, and I’d have a wacky-rig ready to go – something for bed fishing, because there are definitely going to be some spawners caught in this one.”