macfish

Don't know how much this will help but I live on Wyboo Creek which is on Lake Marion. I fish here and Taw Caw a lot and can tell you that ther ARE a lot of tournaments her and it tends to get hammered in the spring, That said there are a lot of big bass here. You may have a significant advantage with a kayak since you can probably access more secluded backwater areas than the big boat guys. I have had mixed results, kind of feast or famine, but even small tourneys (which I don't fish)will have someone bring in a 30lb bag! Since I've only been here for 3 years I can't tell you if it's trending up or down, but most seem to think it's getting better. The upper 1/3 of the lake has much more cover and is more protected than the areas below Route 95. Try any of the landings from stump hole up. Good luck and don't be surprised when you see how crazy the folks are here for the catfishing.

Hi pipes, Check out the comments I got from an earlier post on Santee they might help, They are consistant with most of the local info I've been able to get. . Ive had a place at S-C for a couple of years and I can tell you there are some big fish here, but numbers and consistency are my problems. Good Luck

Thanks sprintfns always nice to get tips from residents even if it was a while ago. Areas that produce don't seem to change that much IMO. I've fished the Rocks Pond area great results the first time and not so good after that, not sure I found the same spots since I did not have the GPS the first time to save the waypoints, It can get confusing in that area. The Angels Landing area is a new one that I'll be sure to try soon and I'm going back to Rocks Pond too, thanks again BTW, there was a FLW tourney this past weekend and in addition to several 30+ lb sacks, there was also a 34+ lb sack by a co-angler that was on the back of the boat of the eventual winner! Based on what I read looks like the bucks are on the banks but the females are still in the pre-spawn ditches.

Thanks Minnow, I've also had some luck in some of the cove arms in Taw Caw and Wyboo creeks during the spawn but it always seems to be all or nothing. I know there are a lot fish here but I think they really get hammered because there are so many tournaments, That would probably be a good way to get to know some of the local guys but that's just not my thing so I guess I'll just keep trying to fish during the week. Now that you mention it, many of the fish I have caught were on jigs or craw imitations so maybe I'll put a little more effort in that area. if things do get more consistent for me I'll be sure to post it here. until then I'll keep praying for warmer weather and water.

As a transplant from the snowy North country (CT) I'm finding the bass fishing to be quite different here in SC. In the north shad are not a large part of the forage base, mostly bluegill, crawfish, perch, shiners, etc. I now live near Lake Marion just off of Wyboo creek and I'm struggling with finding the bass at times. Admittedly, I have been mostly a "bank pounder" since most of my fishing has been in ponds and natural lakes and not in huge reservoirs like Santee-Cooper. A couple of days ago the water temps in the main lake were about 57 degrees so based on what I've read I tried fishing the points and channels at the mouths of the 2 large creeks here and basically came up empty. I tried a lot of different lures like jerk baits, spinner baits, cranks, and even some plastics. I have a SI unit on my Skeeter and did a lot of looking around as well as fishing but could not seem to locate any concentration of fish or baitfish. Over the last few years I have had some success fishing here but not with any consistency except during the spawn. Pre and post spawn seems to be when I struggle most. I know these are pretty common issues but I am not a beginner, but the conditions here seem to have me more confused than normal. Is there something about the different forage base that I'm not understanding or are the feast or famine results I'm having more common here in the South. I would sure appreciate any help I can get. Thanks,

Went to Blacks today with the better half so we got there late but still did OK 1 4lber a 3 and a couple of 2's. Saw a 6+ on a bed w/2 males but couldn't buy a bite from any of them. Thought about going to the hatchery but didn't, maybe tomorrow. got hot about 2 so we called it a day since we have the rest of the month. Thanks for the info Al. Gary BTW the wife caught the 4#er and 2 days ago caught a 18# catfish, will I ever live it down? I'd like to think I'm a good teacher!!!!

Thanks for the great info Al, we'll be heading down to Blacks or the Hatchery next week, probably tow and launch there. I'll let you know how we do. Gary

Thanks Al, Went to Blacks yesterday for lunch and they were saying that the water is warmer in that area, so maybe we will tow and launch there next since we're staying above the highway bridge on Marion. The one thing everyone keeps saying is to look for beds in areas where there is hard bottom, but how do you know where that is? Experience? I suspect it may have to do with the type of vegetation or grass but not sure. Have to change my battery charger that xxxxxed out today and will fish up here for the weekend, but will check out Blacks next week.Thanks again, Gary

Hi, I'm at Lake Marion the upper lake of the santee-Cooper chain. We arrived Saturday in very heavy rain followed by 2 days of 25-40 MPH winds on the main lake. We fished the area of cypress trees NE of the State Park without much luck. Kind of disapointed that the water temps are only 55-56 everywhere we ran yesterday, I thought with the warm winter they had here the fish might be ready to move on the full moon tomorrow, but with these temps I don't think so. Tried to also fish the large cove at the State Park but the water was the same temp give or take. Tried s-baits, soft plastics, shallow cranks, jerk baits etc. with no takers. Everyone says fish the cypress trees but it's hard o know where to start there seems like a million of them. Anyone with some help would be greatly appreciated. We are going to hit Blacks Camp and talk to a couple of guides we fished with in the past and try to pick a few brains

I would already be there if the wife wasn't stuck on the home we have now. We're looking into a condo at the place where we atayed in Santee as a vacation spot for our use and maybe a little word of mouth rental to pay the taxes. If I did re-locate there it would be in the Summerville/ Goose Creek area or Aiken. We've looked at a few but wife can't pull the trigger.

Thinking about a Nitro nx 882 DC with a 150 merc 2 stroke. I know it's not a Ranger or Skeeter but it looks like a very nice boat for the money. Everything is year 2000 and the motor has less than 150 hours. Just wondering what the opinions are out there about this rig. Anyone know of any inherant problems with this boat or motor? I've had many boats over the last 50 years from a 10' pram to a 36' sportfish but this is my first bass boat so I'm looking for some input. Thanks, Macfish

Broc, Just a follow up since I returned from SC. I took your advice and booked a couple of trips with Brett Mitchel and was very happy with him and the results. Plan to fish with Brett again this fall when I'm back mostly for deer hunting. My friends that went with me were also happy and will probably book him in the future also.He has top notch equipment and knows santee well. The fishing was very good, pretty much hit the spawn/ post spawn except for 1 week of rain and cold which kind of shut down the bite and us.

I'm looking at a 2000 Nitro NX 882 DC with a Merc 150. Any advice, I checked on Boattest.com and it tested well but then again they tend to be fairly soft on the major brands. I would appreciate any info you can send my way.

Thanks to all for the responses. I'm not thrilled about the "infested with snakes" thing, but I'll keep it from the wife. Not sure if I'm going to hire a guide or not, but I will talk to Brett about it. It's such a huge place I would like to explore the area within say 10-15 miles of where I'm staying (near the I95 bridge). Up here in CT we don't have anything even close to the size of this place but I'm sure there's good bass cover everywhere. We did take a Nature cruise out of the State Park 2 years ago and there was so much good looking cover that it would be hard to decide where to start. If there are any more comments from anyone I would appreciate it. Thanks again!

Hi, I'm a new member to the forum but I've been reading for a long time so I thought I would try to get some info. I'm headed to Santee, SC on March 12th for a month. We rented a condo on Lake Marion just above the I95 bridge and I'm looking for any advice I can get about the Bass fishing. Should be a great time to be there depending on the weather. Recently retired and we're going to look at real estate there and in the Charleston/ Summerville area because we have several friends in there but no serious bass fishing folks. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Mac