Santee Cooper Bass Fishing Report

captaindon · February 16, 2005, 07:50:32 AM

With the unusually cold winter showing signs of letting up, largemouth bass fishing is going to to be grand the next few weeks. Some bass are already showing up in per-spawn patterns. The water levels and temperatures are rising. Shallow drops, points and depressions are holding fish willing to feed. Fish a little deeper in the mornings and go to the shallow side during mid to late afternoon. Jerkbaits, small crankbaits, jigs and spinner baits are producing good fish.
Good fishing

HogHunter · November 07, 2005, 03:20:11 PM

I'll be back in Charleston bass fishing the Moultrie for the first time in ten years. What is happening there this time of year? We are launching from Short Stay, and should be on the water Saturday and Sunday.

Where are they, and what are they eating?

What's the water temp?

Live in N. VA now, and the bass have friggin disappeared the last month. (I think they are in the channels, waiting for the temp to drop)

I assume they haven't turned over there yet?

help!!

T1A · November 07, 2005, 05:18:56 PM

Hey Hog...I run SS...call me and we'll talk...I added a ton of stuff to the store! Richard

Mike Cork · November 07, 2005, 10:14:36 PM

Call me $:-\$ no fair we all would like to hear whats going on with the fish on Santee Cooper

T1A · November 07, 2005, 10:34:40 PM

Hey Mike...can we post pics in the posts or is that only for the gallery?

have some great shots of scwildbill and the gang fromthis weekend

Mike Cork · November 07, 2005, 10:45:50 PM

Triton1a, in order to get a picture posted it needs to be loaded to a web site somewhere and then use the insert image button above the smilies with the link

MotherNature · November 07, 2005, 10:48:48 PM

Well since you now have a Gallery button under your name as a new Charter Member you have your own Album in the Gallery and can post the pictures there and folks can just click on your button and go right to your gallery to see the photos

T1A · November 07, 2005, 10:53:19 PM

Lets see if this works

knew how do that from other boards..now have to figure out how to do the gallery thing...have a short cut ...anyone???

scwildbill · November 08, 2005, 08:48:44 AM

Triton1a you just ain't right!!!!...... I had to buy them boys lunch cause they kicked my butt with that stringer!

... Oh and for those that don't know The guy on the right is also a new member here on this board and he goes by the name of BigCheese.....

Creel Limit Zero · November 08, 2005, 01:38:35 PM

Those are some nice fish!

What did you catch them on?

Lipripper · November 08, 2005, 01:53:25 PM

All reight nice looking Fish there fellows

Oh an dif ya'll by chance happwn to hook into one of the Big kitty-kats while ya'll are Bass Fishing be sure to get a

of it too

BigCheese · November 08, 2005, 02:23:03 PM

Thank's for the compliments all

Those fish were caught on top-water in the morning. Probally about a 20lb sack give or take a pound. Thats a good bag here on Santee in the fall but would not even cut a check in the spring.

Thanks again for the lunch WildBill, now maybe your learn to keep your big mouth

Who loves ya brother

Kal-Kevin · November 17, 2005, 04:32:54 PM

Hay gang I moved the rest of this topic to information area to give it back to lake reports. if you want to visit it and find out what the gang said here is a link to it!

talk

Thanks for all your postings and keep them coming!

spetro · November 20, 2005, 09:42:23 AM

Dog gone

I sure miss that place. Nice basses

captaindon · December 20, 2005, 06:58:15 PM

November December 2005

The largemouth bass have been hitting very well the past couple of trips. We had 13 on 1 trip and 9 on the next. The fish have been coming from 10-15' of water around drop offs and creek channels. Most of the fish have come on crankbaits but we have also picked up some on carolina rigs. Over the next few weeks the fish should move closer to the heavy cover and hold very tight to it. December usually yields some really good fish. We had 1 around 9 lbs. on the 1st. day of the month. On the sunny days the fish will be setting right in top of the brush and will be hunkered down in it on the cloudy ones. Slow methodical probing will produce some good big fish action.

The crappie fishing has been good on the days the wind hasn't blown. On a recent trip we had a 3.25 lbs. with a couple more over 2 lbs. The fish have been coming from brush in 25' of water. Most of the fish have come on minnows but we have also been taking some on jigs. As the water cools more the jig will most likely produce more fish. A very slow presentation will be best.

The bream fishing has been excellent. We have limited out almost every trip. We are catching the Bluegills around brush in 15-25' water on crickets. The Shell crackers have been on deep ledges and fish over 3 lbs. are being caught, using worms on a drop shot rig.

The stripers are starting to school some late in the day but they are not feeding heavily. With a few more days of cold weather they should become more active. Last year my best trips were from the middle of December until the first of February.

The catfishing in the upper lakes has been pretty slow but I hear they are picking up somewhat. The Lower lake has been on fire with lots of really big fish biting.

captaindon · December 28, 2005, 05:07:47 PM

Hope Everyone had a great Christmas. It kept me off the water for about a week but other than that my was.

Any way we finally got out on the water yesterday. We had 8 bass with a really good fish around 7. The fish wouldn't touch our crankbaits or Carolina rigs but took Texas rigged plastics in 8-12' of water. The water temps fell into the high 40's and they were extremely tight to cover adjacent to creek channels. All the bites came between 10am and 2pm.

We catfished today and had 20 but the biggest was only 15. The bigger fish just seemed to have shut down. I saw some pretty good fish yesterday but I talked with the guys that had them and they didn't get the big ones today either.

scwildbill · December 28, 2005, 09:07:32 PM

Hey Don question for ya..... When you label the report as Santee Cooper, are you talking about the River or the Lakes? If you're refering to the Lakes are you fishing the Upper (Marion) or the Lower (Moultrie)?.....Kinda confusing as the Lakes are known as Santee Cooper Lakes and so is the River. Good job on catching them though.... We've been seeing some nice ones in the Cooper River... Have a Happy New Year!

T1A · December 28, 2005, 09:15:19 PM

were you one of the 20 or so boats around Short Stay today fishing for cats??...they have been taking a ton of cats from around there

captaindon · December 29, 2005, 07:39:05 AM

Wildbill sorry for the confusion but I fish both lakes and the rivers and canal.
I haven't been in the river lately but I usually fish there in Jan and early Feb. I have been catching most of the fish in the upper lake but have been taking a few from the lower Lake this past month.

Richard I was in that area most of the day but we were all catching smaller fish so I moved to the east dike and got the bigger fish and lost "Moe". The guys that went up to Marion had some real nice fish. They didn't pull much water at the dam most of it is going thru the rediversion canal.

Santee Cooper Bass Fishing Report

HogHunter