Paul Marks Wins 2025 Whataburger Bassmaster Elite at Lake Hartwell

Rookie Marks tops Bassmaster Elite at Lake Hartwell

BASS Press Release

ANDERSON, S.C. — Despite a Day 1 kicker that clearly helped his cause, rookie Paul Marks played the long game, and his patience paid off with his first blue trophy in the Whataburger Bassmaster Elite at Lake Hartwell.

Hailing from Cumming, Ga., Marks started strong with a third-place Day 1 limit of 19 pounds, 7 ounces, then held the second-place spot for the next two days with weights of 17-4 and 16-5. Adding a Championship Sunday limit of 15-8, he tallied a tournament total of 68-8.

Edging fellow rookie Tucker Smith by 14 ounces, Marks collected the top prize of $100,000.

“I don’t know what to think; it’ll probably take a week to set in — maybe a month,” the 23-year-old said. “I think I’ve been dreaming about this since I was a little kid.

“I love spotted bass; I love fishing the way I do. It’s the best thing ever in my eyes.”

Marks jump-started his event with a Day 1 bed-fishing effort that produced a 5-pound largemouth. That fish ate a white Zoom Z Craw Jr in about 2 feet of water.

After that, it was nearly all offshore fishing, as Marks committed himself to grinding through numbers of spotted bass and daily culling his way to competitive limits.

“There are fish everywhere on the bank and I knew it was going to be really hard to win with spots,” Marks said. “I got lucky on Day 1 and caught a big one on the bed. That fish made my tournament.”

Marks, who lives about 2 hours west of Hartwell, brought with him a lifetime of knowledge and experience. Whittling down his mental library to an actionable plan was the key, and Marks said he did so on the fly.

2023 AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at Santee Cooper Lakes: Robertson Extends Lead!

Canadians: Chris Johnston 15th, Gallant 23rd, Gustafson 36th &  Cory Johnston 65th

BASS PRESS RELEASE

CLARENDON COUNTY, S.C. — Matt Robertson was crystal clear about his goals. He’s fishing for big bites and he’s in it to win it.

 

Sticking to his guns, the third-year Elite from Kuttawa, Ky., powered through a dry spell Friday and retained his lead at the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at Santee Cooper Lakes with a five-bass limit that weighed 21 pounds, 13 ounces. His leading two-day total is 49-14.

 

Robertson set the opening mark Thursday with the current VMC Monster Bag of the Week — a 28-1 limit.

 

“I feel pretty good about it,” said Robertson, who holds nearly a 4-pound lead over South Carolina pro Brandon Cobb (45-15). “I’m just going out there and fishing how I like to fish.

 

“I had a bad four hours on the boat today, but I don’t think I said a cuss word all day.”

 

Prior to his midday dry spell, Robertson kicked off his day by mirroring the game plan that anchored his opening-round effort — hitting the shad spawn in Lake Marion with a giant swimbait.

 

“You have options for a shad spawn, but we’re on a lake with big fish so we’re fishing for big fish this week. We’re going to try and win this thing,” Robertson said. “Yesterday, I spent about an hour and a half on the shad spawn. Today, I only spent about an hour on it.

 

2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite on Santee Cooper Lakes Day 3: Cook Leads as Massive Limits Weighed!

Canadian: Cory Johnston 6th

Drew Cook of Cairo, Ga., is leading after Day 3 of the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite on Santee Cooper Lakes with a three-day total of 80 pounds, 12 ounces. ( Photo: BASS)

BASS Press Release 

CLARENDON COUNTY, S.C. — When the threat of strong winds and storms postponed the third day of the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Santee Cooper Lakes, Drew Cook watched from his rental house as boat after boat entered the area where he has dominated the event.

 

But despite the local boat traffic and a day off with no idea what happened to his area, Cook sacked a limit weighing 24 pounds, 3 ounces to maintain his lead with a three-day total of 80-12. With previous bags of 31-13 and 24-12, Cook holds more than a 4-pound lead over Idaho's Brandon Palaniuk (76-6) and Oklahoma pro Luke Palmer (76-3).

 

“I’m staying across the creek from the cove I’ve fished every day, and it was pretty brutal to sit there and watch it happen,” Cook said. “I can’t complain. I still have a 4-pound lead and we are one day away.

 

“Having that lead is nice, but a 4-pound lead here really isn’t much. I could go catch 20 pounds tomorrow and Luke (Palmer) could catch 24 pounds and there goes my lead. That is one bass here and there is a pile of 4-pounders.”

 

The Georgia resident continued sight fishing for bedding bass on Day 3, catching eight total fish with his biggest weighing approximately 7 pounds on BassTrakk. Throughout the week, Cook has struggled during the morning hours and one big bass he saw on Friday was gone when he went back Sunday.

 

While there are new fish, both males and females, Cook was surprised he didn’t see more.

 

“If you would have said there was going to be a day off, you would think there would be more bass pulling up than there was,” he said. “A lot of that could have been from the local pressure. There were still new ones up there, and I’m sure there will be new ones tomorrow too.”

 

Cook plans to start Championship Monday in the same area on a big bass he saw Sunday and give the rest of the area a look. But he will likely be fishing new water much of the day.

 

2019 Bassmaster Elite Winyah Bay Day 2: Bill Lowen Takes Lead with 27-03lbs!

Cory Johnston 9th, Chris Johnston 21st and Jeff Gustafson 59th.

By David A. Brown

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Shallow water and river specialist Lowen figured out big bass.
(Photo: BASS)

Self-proclaimed river rat Bill Lowen found himself right at home in the Cooper River Friday and leveraged his current-born insights to catch a limit of bass weighing 13 pounds, 15 ounces and take the lead on Day 2 of the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Elite at Winyah Bay.
After catching 13-4 during Thursday’s opening round, Lowen has a two-day weight of 27-3.

Lowen, who grew up fishing the Ohio River, made a nearly 100-mile run south and avoided the broad rice fields that have seen significant traffic this week. Instead, he targeted a 3/4-mile stretch where he focused on creek channels with marsh drains and current that helped optimize his bite.

“Yesterday, they were on the deep channel swings; today they were on the shallow swings,” Lowen said. “It’s either going to be one or the other. You just have to figure it out fast enough which one they’re on. And tidal fish are notorious for — if that’s what they’re doing — every single one of them is doing it.

2019 Bassmaster Elite Winyah Bay Day 1: Jason Williamson Bags 15-11lbs and Lead!

Cory Johnston 13th, Jeff Gustafson 43rd and Chris Johnston 53rd.

By Bryan Brasher

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Long runs and short fishing time story of the day.
(Photo: BASS)

Forgoing a long run to the presumed big-bass “promised land” of the Cooper River, South Carolina’s Jason Williamson remained close to the takeoff site and found the right bites to amass a five-bass limit of 15 pounds, 11 ounces which leads Day 1 of the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Elite at Winyah Bay.

While over half the field committed to a hour-plus run south along the Intracoastal Waterway, through Charleston Harbor and into the Cooper River and surrounding waterways, Williamson stayed in the Waccamaw River and played his time-management strategy to perfection. Essential to his plan was a thorough and persistent approach.

“A lot of guys are running the bank and flipping. You have some fish that are spawning supershallow. You have some postspawners that are done. And you have some that haven’t spawned yet,” Williamson said. “What I’m doing is trying to get the best of all three worlds in one area.

“I’m fishing shallow, I’m backing out and fishing deeper and I’m doing some midrange stuff too. A lot of guys are buzzing through an area, catching what’s aggressive and then going. I caught what was aggressive, then I backed out and got a few more bites. Adjusting throughout the day was key for me today.”

Williamson threw a mix of flipping baits, topwaters and finesse baits. The right area, he said, was one with greater depth than surrounding backwater spots. This allows the fish comfortable postspawn habitat, which keeps them in the area longer.

“Some of these backwaters have 12 to 15 feet of depth, and those fish move up and down with the tide; they adjust throughout the day,” Williamson said. “I was able to move with them in one area.”