CLARENDON COUNTY, S.C. (Feb. 27, 2026) – After a canceled day due to wind, the actual Day 1 of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by MillerTech event on Santee Cooper lived up to the billing in some ways, and was also one of the stranger tournament days in recent memory.
Launching in a steady rain, the pros waited for hours to actually start Stop 2 Presented by Star brite , as a dense blanket of fog made navigation on the main lake unsafe. The field finally took off at nearly 11 o’clock, with check-in times extended by an hour. Consequently, the pros had a majority of their fishing day to use forward-facing sonar, and not much time to waste regardless – it turns out that three hours of ‘Scope and five hours of fishing goes fast.
Leading the way, pro Aaron Yavorsky of Palm Harbor, Florida, hammered out 35 pounds, 4 ounces. Tuscola, Texas’ Austin Pemberton tallied an even 35 pounds in second, and pro Matteo Turano of Puryear, Tennessee, slipped into third place with 31-9. The Top 10 all caught over 25 pounds ( Cal Lane did it on just four bass!), and TJ McKenzie popped 27-15 with a 10-pounder for Berkley Big Bass. Still, the day was far off the pace that was hoped for after practice, as the shortened day, bad luck and fish movement definitely hurt the overall weights. That said, MLFNOW! produced a boatload of highlights, and when the full field shoots it out for the win tomorrow, it’s sure to be appointment viewing again.
Link to Photo Gallery of Day 1 on-the-water Highlights: Santee Cooper delivers during Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Stop 2
Link to Video of Fish-Catch Highlights of Day 1 on Santee Cooper
The self-styled “’Scope GOAT,” Yavorsky led on Day 1 at the Harris Chain but weighed in only four fish the rest of the tournament, slipping to third. Today on Santee Cooper, he was culling 6-pounders.
“I made a long run down to Moultrie – I started on some fish I had on stumps, and they left,” he said. “So, I ran to the other end of the lake, and was fishing stumps – just prespawn around stumps. It happened in like 45 minutes. I caught a 6 ½ first thing, and as soon as I caught that one, I knew I was going to catch them, because there were four or five others with it. My next cast I caught another 6 ½. I weighed them once I got five, and two casts later I caught a 7. I was throwing 6-pounders back before my ‘Scope ended.”
A lot of anglers had good practices in this event, which was part of why today was so hotly anticipated. But Yavorsky definitely knocked the three hours of forward-facing sonar out of the park.
“It’s kind of like home, running and gunning isolated structure – that’s what I like doing at the Harris Chain,” he said. “It’s a little bit different because it is deeper, but I feel pretty comfortable. I think there’s a morning bite, hopefully that fires tomorrow. But, I’ve got a lot of stuff I didn’t check that was good in practice.”
Yavorsky has also tightened up his approach between events, and it paid off today.
“I didn’t really practice for the no ‘Scope, after that first Harris Chain event, I figured out you have to be dialed in that three hours,” he said. “So, I dialed-in the ‘Scope, and I figure I’ll go fishing wherever looks good.”
Both Yavorsky and Pemberton are no strangers to big bass, and Pemberton had this event circled on the calendar, despite never having been to the lakes before. Like Yavorsky, he didn’t start on the money, but he adapted quickly and correctly.
“I only had one good day of practice, and the rest of the two, I think I only had three fish a day,” said Pemberton, who neglected to mention that his “good day” produced 43 pounds. “I ran around today and went to the areas I had from practice – I burned like three spots that didn’t have any on them. I went to another spot and caught two 7s; about 30 minutes later I went to another spot and caught two big ones, and then caught my last big one kind of in the middle of nowhere, where I’d never fished before.”
His three hours of modern sonar gone, Pemberton then hit the bank with a lipless.
“I went up in the dirt and caught three or four over 6,” he said. “I did not expect that – I didn’t catch a bass without ‘Scope in practice.”
A guide on O.H. Ivie, Pemberton was itching to get to a lake with timber and that was famous for giants. After the last few days, this likely won’t be his last time at Santee.
“It sets up just like my home lake,” he said. “Giants roam around, and if you can figure out how to trick ‘em you’ll have a megabag. I hope we get to go out for a full day tomorrow – I think I could have caught them a little quicker if we had got out earlier.”
The top 20 pros after Day 1 on the Santee Cooper are:
1st: Aaron Yavorsky, Palm Harbor, Fla., five bass, 35-4
2nd: Austin Pemberton, Tuscola, Texas, five bass, 35-0
3rd: Matteo Turano, Puryear, Tenn., five bass, 31-9
4th: Hayden O’Barr, Scottsboro, Ala., five bass, 29-0
5th: Dylan Nutt, Nashville, Tenn., five bass, 28-2
6th: T.J. McKenzie, Georgetown, S.C., five bass, 27-15
7th: Brody Campbell, Oxford, Ohio, five bass, 27-6
7th: Matt Baty, Bainbridge, Ga., five bass, 26-8
9th: Cal Lane, Grant, Ala., four bass, 26-0
10th: Britt Myers Jr., Clover, S.C., five bass, 25-12
11th: Banks Shaw, Harrison, Tenn., five bass, 25-4
12th: Colby Miller, Elmer, La., five bass, 25-2
13th: Mitchell Robinson, Landrum, S.C., five bass, 24-0
14th: Dylan Hays, Pearcy, Ark., five bass, 23-11
15th: Kennie Steverson, Umatilla, Fla., five bass, 23-10
16th: Caz Anderson, Haysville, N.C., three bass, 23-9
17th: Carter Nutt, Nashville, Tenn., five bass, 23-3
18th: Kyle Austin, Ridgeville, S.C., four bass, 22-6
19th: Chad Mrazek, Montgomery, Texas, five bass, 21-7
20th: Mike Surman, Boca Raton, Fla, five bass, 21-3
Complete results for the entire field can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Overall, there were 380 bass weighing 1,492 pounds, 9 ounces caught by 116 pros Friday. The catch included 40 five-bass limits.
Pro T.J. McKenzie of Georgetown, South Carolina, earned the Day 1 Berkley Big Bass award of $500 after bringing a bass that weighed 10 pounds, 5 ounces to the scale.
After Day 1 on Thursday was canceled due to strong winds, the full field of pros now compete on Friday and Saturday in a five-fish, weigh-in format. The winner is determined by heaviest cumulative two-day weight and will be awarded the grand prize of up to $135,000. Forward-facing and/or 360-degree sonar is limited to only 3 hours of competition each day.
Anglers will launch at 8 a.m. ET Saturday from the John C. Land III Landing, located at 4404 Greenall Road in Summerton, South Carolina. Saturday’s Championship weigh-in will also be held at the John C. Land III Landing and will begin at 4 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and weigh-in events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLFNOW!® live stream and coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
The Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by MillerTech at Santee Cooper Lakes Presented by Star brite is hosted by Destination Clarendon.
The 2026 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by MillerTech features a field of up to 150 professional anglers competing across six tournaments around the country, for a total purse of $3.8 million and valuable 7 Brew Angler of the Year (AOY) points to qualify for the Pro Circuit Championship, set for Sept. 18-20 on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes in Kissimmee, Florida, and a coveted spot on the MLF Bass Pro Tour – the sport’s premier circuit.
The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and Rob Newell will break down the extended action live on Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. ET. MLFNOW! will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.
Television coverage of the MLF Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by MillerTech Stop 2 on Santee Cooper Presented by Star brite will air as a two-hour episode, premiering at 9 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Sept. 13 on Vice TV.