COLUMBIA, S.C. — If we compared Brandon Cobb’s day to a cookie, it would be an Oreo — two good things with something really sweet in the middle.
Spoiler alert: we’re talking three big bites that helped put the South Carolina pro into first place in the Tedy’s Team Bassmaster Elite at Lake Murray with a three-day total of 67 pounds, 3 ounces.
“Believe it or not, I fished the exact same places I fished yesterday, but while I couldn’t get them to bite yesterday, today was biting conditions,” Cobb said. “On these (blueback) herring lakes, what you do is run a bunch of places, but what I’m doing is a little bit different.
“I don’t have a ton of places with fish on them, but I’m not sitting anywhere. If they don’t bite in four to seven casts, I’ll go try another one and I’ll come back to it later.”
Employing that rotation strategy yielded plenty of action punctuated by three big bites — a 5-pounder shortly before 9 a.m., a 7 around 9:30 and one just over 5 1/2 in the final hour of fishing.
Cobb said timing has been the key factor in his daily fortunes.
“I had good timing on Day 1, bad timing yesterday and good timing today.”
Reflecting that point, Cobb started strong with a Day 1 limit of 24-3 that left him tied for fifth place. Day 2 was less generous and a bag that went 16-6 dropped him to 22nd.
Roaring back with a Semifinal Saturday limit of 26-10 — the event’s heaviest single day catch — Cobb heads into Championship Sunday with a lead of 1-7 over Trey McKinney.
Cobb targeted what he termed “textbook herring spawn places.” Comprising a mix of clay points, saddles and flats with grass, these areas saw bass capitalizing on the distracted baitfish.
Cobb caught all of his fish on a Zoom Super Fluke in the glimmer blue color. Notably, a lot of competitors have fared well with chartreuse colored soft jerkbaits, but Cobb channeled a throwback vibe.
“I feel like the chartreuse is so bright and they see it so much that now, going back to a natural color is almost better,” Cobb said. “Chartreuse has been good, because they hadn’t seen it, but now I do better with naturals.
“I changed my retrieve every hour, because a lot of fish aren’t biting. They’ll just blow up on the bait or they follow behind it, so I’ve been changing my presentations to try and trigger bites.”
Herring lakes like Murray and Cobb’s Lake Hartwell home waters often see bass schooling, but he caught only one of his Day 3 fish that way. The rest, he caught either by spotting them on his Garmin LiveScope or casting to a promising spot.
Cobb said his final-round game plan will likely look a lot like the one he’s followed for three days. The one hopeful exception would be a shot at better quality fish.
“I caught my fish off four different spots today, but I have another 12-15 that I think are good, but I don’t know if they’re as good,” he said. “Today, I was catching fish, so I didn’t want to go exploring too much.
“I have a couple of deep places I’ve been mixing in, but I can’t get them to bite. There’s actually bigger fish than I caught on today’s spots, so if they start biting, we might be able to catch a lot.”
Hailing from Carbondale, Ill., McKinney is in second place with 65-12. The 2024 Bassmaster Elite Series Rookie of the Year has kept himself in the conversation all week, starting with a ninth-place limit of 23-11 on Day 1.
McKinney added 19-3 on Day 2 and gained a spot, before making a serious run at the top spot with his third-round limit of 22-14.
McKinney caught his fish on a mix of topwaters and soft plastic jerkbaits. Diversity, he said, proved to be the most influential factor.
“I kinda stayed with the same stuff, just different cadences and different ways of throwing the baits,” he said. “Every fish is different, so I’d twitch a bunch of different ways in one cast and whichever way the fish acted the hottest is the way I’d keep it going.
“I hit about 10 spots today and I had two spots where I caught three each and all six of them were 4-pounders.”
Paul Marks of Cumming, Ga., is in third place with 65-12. (After Day 1, ties are broken by the heaviest single day catch.) Marks caught 21-14 on Day 1 and placed 14th, before moving into second with a limit of 22-15. Marks’ Day 3 bag weighed 20-15.
On Day 2, Marks said he prefers targeting fish in deeper spots over brush, cane piles, and humps, but Day 3 offered a mix of opportunities.
“I caught my two biggest ones up in less than 5 feet,” Marks said. “It was cooler today, so a lot of them went back to the bank and I didn’t adjust right. But tomorrow’s another day, so I’m gonna go run around and see if I can make it happen.”
On a day that saw him catch shallow and deep fish, Marks three a Zoom Super Fluke on a 5/0 Gamakatsu offset worm hook. Chartreuse was his most productive color.”
Alex Redwine of Blue Ash, Ohio holds the Phoenix Boats Big Bass lead with his 7-15.
McKinney leads the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings with 454 points. Caleb Hudson of Lincolnton, Ga., is second with 413, followed by Cobb with 410, Cory Johnston of Otonabee, Canada with 385 and Justin Atkins of Florence, Ala., with 381.
Sunday’s takeoff is scheduled for 6:30 a.m. ET at Dreher Island State Park. The weigh-in will be held at the park at 3 p.m.
Follow along with the morning action of Bassmaster LIVE on FS1 May 10 from 8-11:30 a.m. ET before heading to Bassmaster.com for afternoon coverage. All weigh-ins will be available live on Bassmaster.com starting at 3 p.m. ET.
This event is being hosted by Capital City/Lake Murray Country.