Angler Spotlight: Patrick Walters
Get to know the 2019 Bassmaster Elite Series rookie, Patrick Walters in this episode of Humminbird and Minn Kota's Angler Spotlight.
Hometown: Summerville, SC
Home Lake: Santee Cooper Lakes - Lake Marion - South Carolina
Patrick made a name for himself during his college career and two seasons on the Bassmaster Open circuit, winning an event in each series. In his first season on the Elite Series, he posted three Championship Sunday appearances (Top 12) in his first four events and ended the season 3rd in Rookie of the Year standings.
Question #1 - Shoes, sandals or barefoot in the boat?
Answer: I would have to say, in order, I prefer to probably go barefoot, flip-flops, tennis shoes, and then booths when it's raining or when it's cold.
Question #2 - Favorite lake and why?
Answer: I'd have to say Santee Cooper here on Lake Marion, the home pond and I'm gonna say everybody loves their home lake, but it's got so many different faces, whether you're above I95 and you're in the swamp, or down towards the canal. You catch fish offshore you catch a shallow all year round. It's has a lot of big fish in it and that's what I love. I love catching large fish.
Question #3 - From Chris Zaldain (Bassmaster Elite Series Pro): Would you rather weigh a single ten pounder on a ned rig, or five two pounders on a frog?
Answer: I do love frog fishing, everybody does, but a 10 pounder... I mean, god, I don't care what it is. I don't care if I've got two pound line and a brim hook or something on a bobber with a cricket. I'm going with the 10 pounder on a ned rig, all day!
Question #4 - From Joseph J: You need to cull one and it needs to be the kicker. During the pre-spawn/spawn, do you head offshore or do you beat the bank?
Answer: Well, if you know me personally, I'm a bank beater, truly, hands down. Growing up on Santee fishing shallow, this is funny, I didn't think a bass could live deeper than 15ft of water, but I did learn quickly that you can catch them a lot deeper than that, but beating the bank during the pre-spawn/spawn is where the fish are going to be heading. That's where I like to be.
Question #5 - Explain the deal with "Straight Braid"?
Answer: Well, that originated with Davy Hite and Mark Zona. We were fishing on Santee Cooper with the Wired2Fish guys and we were talking about the college football saying, "Roll Tide!" and how everyone loves saying it. So we needed some fishing slang, "Straight Braid", it's like hell yeah, straight braid all day, baby!
Question #6 - From Kyle S: What body of water did you get your start on as a pro and how did you do?
Answer: First body of water I fished as a Bassmaster Elite Series pro was on the St. Johns River in 2019 and I actually finished in 4th place and had 90 pounds and some change. It was a great tournament overall.
Patrick also finished 5th place at his first Bassmaster Northern Open on Oneida Lake in 2017.
Question #7 - From Seth Feider (Bassmaster Elite Series Pro): What's the ideal inseam on a pair of shorts if you're 5'10"? Asking for a friend. (Referencing Patrick's tendency to wear short shorts while fishing)
Answer: We all know he's asking for himself, but I have to say the perfect inseam if you're 5'10", 6'4", 4'2", it doesn't matter, it's probably around 6", maybe 5" if you're feeling frisky - but no longer than 6".
Question #8 - How many rods do you have on the deck at any given time?
Answer: I think I'm a rod border. On a tournament day, I'm gonna say a minimum of 12 on average. It's between 12-14. Six and six or seven and seven on each side. I feel like if you pass something it could be any piece of cover, a brush pile or a tree or anything, if I make one cast with that one rod at any time, it was worth it in my opinion. I love to have as many rods as possible.
Question #9 - From Lee Livesay (Bassmaster Elite Series Pro): How many cypress trees are in Santee Cooper?
Answer: Tell you the truth, that's a good question. I might count them - but I would be 76 years old by the time I get it done. I'm gonna say about a hundred... thousand.
Question #10 - From Brad T: What is your last resort bait/presentation when you need a bite?
Answer: The first thing that comes to mind, is my bailout bait. It's a wacky worm. It's a Zoom Fluke Stick on a VMC Neko hook, gosh, that is a bite getter! Throw it on a spinning rod, 15lb braid to a10lb leader, that right there catches 'em.
Question #11 - From Steven T: When fishing offshore rock piles and humps, what do you find yourself using most, 2D sonar or MEGA 360 Imaging?
Answer: If I'm fishing offshore and I'm at the bow using the trolling motor, it's 360 all day. I usually just run the 360 Imaging and I don't even put 2D up sometimes, but if I have two graphs I'll run one with mapping and 2D and one for MEGA 360 all-day, hands down. That way it tells you what's beneath you, what's in front and whats behind you if you do pass over something.
Question #12 - From Parker S: What's your go-to bait in murky water after it rains and the floodgates are open?
Answer: I'm gonna head into the dirt and tie on a big 'ol spinnerbait with Colorado and Indiana blades. It just gets bit and you can cover a lot of water and find those fish. I'm looking for current breaks where those fish can really get out of the moving water. Possibly find some cleaner water and I'll hunt them down with the spinnerbait.
Question #13 - From Tom P: What is your favorite sonar views when graphing in practice?
Answer: The one thing I love about my Humminbird Electronics is I usually have two graphs at the console, which is not needed but that's really what I like to do, and on the left screen I'll have GPS/Mapping and Sonar, and that screen probably stays on there 99% of the time. The second graph will have Side Imaging and Down Imaging when I'm graphing. The one thing I love about HELIX units is that I can change the screen panel size, so it'll probably be 70% Side Imaging and 30% Down Imaging, and the MEGA Imaging will hands-down tell you what you're looking at and how to find those fish.
Question #14 - From Jared B: How did you work your way up to the (Bassmaster) Elites and what advice can you give guys who have dreams to make it big?
Answer: Well, I actually started fishing locally and then started fishing the college series at the University of South Carolina, and that didn't really propel my career, but it really advanced my skills as an angler from on the water and behind the scenes in the business industry, really making contacts, learning the ins and outs of the fishing industry, and how to kind of approach people. In my senior year of college in 2017 I started fishing the Bassmaster Northern Opens and did pretty decent, actually missed the Elite qualification by two points, which was probably a good thing cause I still had a semester of college to finish up. I probably wouldn't have finished college and Mama wouldn't have been too happy about that. The next year in 2018 I fished the Eastern and Central Opens and qualified through both divisions and made the Elites in 2019.
Make sure you check out Patrick Walters on his social media accounts at @PatrickWaltersFishing.