Our club tourney(19 fisherman on this trip) was held on Santee Cooper out of Harry's Fish Camp Sat. Feb.27th, we fished from 7am-4pm. It was a very tough day on the lake as many people found out the hard way. I (Barret) knew it would be a tough day on the lake because of unstable weather and a lot of fresh (muddy) water on both the upper and lower lake. About 8 or so of our guys even went down to the lake Friday to practice for the tournament and they all zeroed from what I was told, I and my dad didn't have the chance to practice because I am currently still in college, but I had a Secret Weapon.....Glenn Baxley who is a local guide on Santee, I contacted him over the phone and he provided a back water pond that had all the right ingredients for pre-spawn fishing, it had dark water, deep water (6-8ft) in some spots, cover, and most importantly bass, if you could get them to bite. Glenn had suggested to me that we should stay in there the whole day and just work it really good and to capitalize on every bite that we got. Even though I have never met or talked with Glenn before I decided to take a gamble and follow his advice. First thing that morning I boated a nice 2.5 lb bass on a rattle trap the color of the trap was actually one that Glenn suggested for me to fish, I thought I might have been on a trap bite, but I was fooled I fished that area for about another hour or two with my rattle trap and all I got was a 8in jack and a SORE arm the next day from ripping it through pads and grass. We went with out another bite until about 2pm when I finally boated a small keeper on a drop shot rig (believe it or not) and with in the next hour I boated another two keepers and my dad boated one from a stretch of bank about 10 yards long i caught a fifth bass but he was too small to keep :( and around 3pm or so another one of our guys came into the same pond and he boated a nice 3.5 lb bass right from where I had caught my first keeper that morning. Glenn had informed that this pond was a community hole and we had about 5 boats come through the pond during the day, but none of them besides us and our other angler boated any keepers that I could see. I figured that I would hopefully finish in the money with my four keepers, but believe it or not at the weigh in every body else had ZEROED for the day except for me, my dad, and the other angler!!!!! My four fish weighed in around a measly 7lbs (1st place) 2nd place and big fish went to the other angler with one fish around 3.5lbs and my dad finished 3rd with one keeper at 1.43lbs!!!! So if you ask me the result of me and my dad's tournament out come was due in large part to the help of Glenn Baxley!!!! I would strongly recommend him as a guide to any body who is unfamiliar with Santee Cooper, his web site is
www.santeebassin.com his phone number is (843)-753-3269. This has proven to me that if Glenn can give me advice over the phone and ultimately put me on the right fish to win a tournament with that he is surely worth every penny of your money as a guide, because as soon as I finish up college and get some money together I will definitely be booking a trip with him. God bless you Glenn and all how post helps and tips on here. B&J NC