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Hobie BOS: Sunday Comebacks with Mega-Limits on Santee Cooper


The end of March brought the second Hobie BOS event to Santee Cooper Lakes in South Carolina, one of the most popular lakes on the East Coast known for its monster bass and large range of structure and cover that can suit just about suit any angler’s strengths. The lake is loaded with cypress trees, grass, pads, docks and hard bottom areas that are magnets for bass throughout the year.

For anglers not familiar with Catch Photo Release (CPR), the events go by bass length in place of weight, using an approved measuring board they lay the fish down on the board, photo and then release the fish. With the equivalent of a 5 pound bass being around 20” that is the mark anglers look for as a solid fish. Anglers shooting for a top limit would be looking at the 90-100 inch mark which is the bass boat weigh-in equivalent to 20-25lbs and heavier during spawning times. High 90's per day is expected in order to finish in the top of the field at a big bass fishery like Santee Cooper.

Throughout the week the practice looked promising for smashing big green fish as local and visiting anglers posted up fish after fish on social media. Queen City Kayak Anglers (QCKBF) director Vinny Ferreri had posted up about having limits over 90 inches. Although speaking with Vinny he noted “the water was dropping every day, you could see the water lines on the trees and you just wanted it to stop.” As with just about every early Spring event in the Southeast the weekend was also calling for a cold front with heavy winds.

Struggles for Saturday

Water still dropping along with the temperature paired with heavy winds didn’t deter the anglers as they headed out to battle nature. With the water churned up in wind blown areas its not uncommon for the fish to be less aggressive and harder to trick. It was apparent when looking at the top of the leaderboard that the bite was not fantastic for all but the top 10% of the field. Nathan Conley, Rus Snyders and Cody Milton held the top spots with only 1.5 inches between them with 4th place Terrik Walker sitting 5” from the top spot. Getting down to only 18th you see Bassmaster Kayak Series Champion Eric Sidiqi with only 4 fish and the field past that point looked to all be struggling with the bite.

At this point local anglers Vinny Ferreri and Teng Vue were nowhere close to the top of the pack. Local hammer Matt Hawj was the only angler from the region in the top 10. Vinny was in 50th spot with only 4 fish totaling 59.25 inches. Teng was also stuck with only 4 fish himself for 73.50 inches, which was enough for 10th place in the local QCKBF event that has a 4 fish limit but left him in 30th on Saturday for the Hobie event.

“I felt going into this that it was my shot to auto qualify” Vinny said with the goal being qualifying for the Hobie BOS Tournament of Champions “but it didn’t happen.”

Going into the event Teng was also confident with a good Friday practice “I had like 5 big bites that I shook off but one accidentally got hooked and it was 21 inches.“ noticing that the spot was baron of other anglers and feeling he had the spot to himself Teng commented “So I quickly let the spot rest and just moved… I knew I would ace this tournament!”

When asked about when things were looking bleak come Saturday, Vinny responded “at about 8:30 AM. I had been trying to force feed them a chatterbait and hadn’t had one swipe”. He noted he hadn’t even caught a jack fish (chain pickerel) at this point which was common throughout practice. “That was a tell tale sign that everything had moved.” He explained.

Teng, who was concerned about the high winds, said “My spot was blown out so I just wanted to grind it out and try to just get a limit [and] survive Day 1 but I lost 2 fish that could have jumped me into the top 10.”

Sunday turns into a slug fest

Going into Sunday many anglers were feeling defeated and feeling they were just going through the motions to maybe catch a few fish and grab as many points as they could. Vinny had felt like calling it a weekend “I literally wanted to go home, I was in a borderline state of depression” which is a feeling most anglers know very well. However he decided instead to just “hang out” for the day and maybe save face opting to fish a completely different spot with Mathew Sandefur for the final day of the event.

Teng was feeling he could possibly get up in the top 20 still but at this point top 5 seemed like a monumental feet “I knew there were a lot of good anglers there.”

The early leaderboard was fairly similar to Saturday, however there were some fish not uploaded yet. Vinny had stumbled onto a juicy looking spot and had started smashing bass right out of the gate. “I had around 100 inches at 9:00 AM” and when pressed about what he was thinking at that moment he said “I was thinking I need to cull these 18’s!” Vinny was confident there had to be a couple more over 20 inches around. There was a problem, no cell service. A common issue on some areas on the lake has always been cell coverage. “I sent a text to AJ and he replied “What is this?” and I told him that’s my limit for today.” After being hounded by AJ to get them on the board so he could get the story out there, Vinny explained to AJ that he was “in the jungle” and didn’t have any cell service, barely enough of a connection to send a text.

A couple young anglers in a jon boat happened to be fishing nearby so Vinny asked if they had coverage and hot spot capability, and was able to get the fish uploaded. Most saw the board update showing 102 inches for the Sunday lead and Vinny was currently 3rd place overall at this point. By the end of the day Vinny would put up 105.25 inches, just shy of his personal best in an event of 105.75 inches. Vinny was throwing a black and blue jack hammer and a Rapala DT-10 custom painted from Line Out Customs who is no longer in business, but may be hounded to come out of retirement after this.

When I asked Teng if he was thinking he would have a 100 inch plus day he responded “I was aiming for the 90’s for both the QCKBF and Hobie BOS events but it went way beyond what I expected!” Teng surpassed the 100 inch mark anchored by a giant 23.75 inch tank. “I was literally shaking after i caught that 23.75 inch which I weighted and it was 8.7lbs. i couldn’t believe myself that I actually did it. I broke my personal best on both PB bass and 5 fish limit.” Most of Teng’s bigger bites came around cypress trees in 3-4 feet of water while throwing a black and blue Texas rigged Strike King Rage Tail Menace.

Back at the check in Vinny saw Teng and asked how his day went “he nonchalantly said 108 inches and I was like not for the event, for today!” When the answer was the same Vinny immediate response was “you better have a QCKBF jersey with you! I thought I broke the Hobie record and you just smacked me in the mouth!” As much as this was a gut punch he was still happy for Teng and ecstatic that he was able to save face and have a great day on the water.

At the end of the weekend Teng took home 4th place overall for the Hobie BOS jumping up 26 spots and Vinny ended cashing a 10th place check which was an astounding 40 spot leap. Other local anglers with a good Sunday comebacks were Corey Racer with a solid 93.75 inch limit and Adam Filmore also had a tough Saturday and came back on Sunday to finish just 0.25 inch shy of the check off spot of 20th.

“I’m just glad I went out on the water and maybe showed people who go home after a bad Saturday that anything can happen.. anything can happen.” Vinny said.

Wait, who won?

Saying that with a little jest, there was a champion of this event and not to take anything away from the win with a solid 2 day consistent limit totaling 194.5 inches was Saturday leader Nathan Conley from Ontario, Canada. The major factor in 2 day events is being able to lock in a consistent limit over both days and Conley did just that with 98.75 inches on Saturday and 95.75” on Sunday.

Rus Snyders held onto 2nd place just a half of an inch off with 194 inches with another consistent weekend almost a mirror image of Conley’s with 98.5 inches on Saturday and 95.5 inches on Sunday.

Third place went to Cody Milton 188.5 inches who had a similar Saturday with 97.25 inches but wasn’t quote able to put up enough to jump ahead on Sunday with a still solid 91.25 inches.

View the results at TourneyX

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Eric Nelson
Professional Kayak Bass Angler

Biography

I was born in Southeastern Massachusetts, where I began fishing for bass when I was in my early teenage years, graduating to competitive bass tournaments in my late 20’s. I moved to North Carolina in 2015 and found the passion for bass fishing from a kayak, and quickly became involved in both the local and national kayak bass tournament scenes. My fishing skills have allowed me to qualify for almost every major event since joining the clubs, be it at a club, state and even national level.

Being a professional in the online web development and design field for publications, I have always used my skills to help promote the clubs and the sport as a whole in my spare time.  I have been a part of the club directors for Cape Cod Bass, and now for Carolina Kayak Anglers, one of the larger kayak clubs in the country. I am also a part of the national KBF tournament advisory board.

The Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF) format has allowed me to travel across the United States, fishing against the best fisherman in the country. Now with the KBF Pro format, and the merging with the FLW organization, I am looking forward to where this adventure takes me in the future.

Highlights

Total Career Earnings - $3,250

Competition Highlights
Inaugural FLW / KBF Cup Championship Qualified 2019 - Hot Springs, AK
KBF National Championship Qualified 2020 - Lake Guntersville, AL
KBF Challenge Championship 2018 - Toledo Bend, LA
2019 KBF National Championship - 57th overall out of 462 anglers - Shreveport, LA
KBF Regional Trail Championship Qualified 2019 - Lake Wheeler, AL
KBF National Trail Championship Qualified 2019 - La Crosse, WI
2nd Place 2018 KBF National Trail - High Rock Lake, NC
2nd Place 2019 - Plastic Pirates - Randleman Lake, NC
11th Place - 2019 KBF Southeastern Region Trail - Santee Cooper Lakes, SC
13th Place - 2019 KBF Southeastern Region Trail - Chickamauga Lake, TN
46th Place 2019 FLW / KBF Cup Qualifier - Nickajack Lake, TN
2nd Place - Plastic Pirates - Randleman Lake 2019
1st Place - Cape Cod Bass,  2002 - Lake Winnipesaukee, NH
1st Place - Cape Cod Bass, 2008 - Glenn Charlie Pond, MA