Santee Cooper Lakes?

[Flips]

I'll be fishing a big tournament as a non boater on Santee Cooper....I'll be down there the second week of November and was wondering what I could expect? I'm hearing Cypress trees will be a big deal... Any tips or suggestions on good lures or tricks to try?

Thanks guys!

[tngreenhead]

I'll be there with you. Were you at Kentucky Lake? Congratulations on making it. I hear there is so little water it is crazy dangerouse right now. Hopefully someone will help us out.

[Flips]

Nice, congrats to you also! I qualified through the Northern Regional at Lake Erie. All the replies I've been getting is... Watch your lower unit. Ha

[Al Wolbach]

If you don't already have one I suggest you get a good lake map now. The map will show you what you are up against and you can study it before you arrive. It's much easier to relate to info when you can see the area being discussed. Sorry I can't help, I have not fished there since the spring. I would be afraid to fish that lake without a GPS and a good lake SD card. You can get in big trouble in a hurry. Good luck to both of you...................Al

[macfish]

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

[Al Wolbach]

When you are fishing the cypress trees you need to find a group of trees that are in deeper water than the rest and a foot is usually the difference. Map study may help you find that foot, not sure. You can spend a lot of time trying to find them on the water because there are so many trees. The folks at Blacks Camp can be very helpful, someone there is always on fish and they will usually help.

Those lakes heat up pretty fast when the sun shines so I would expect the spawn will come soon. They should be staging. Check out the old fish hachery on the NW corner of the lower lake(near Blacks Camp), but may be a long run depending where you are launching.. It is a good area to fish during prespawn and spawn. Be careful lots of stumps, it is also somewhat protected from the wind by a narrow tree covered land mass that surrounds it.

Also the swamp area north of the state park is the river run in and probably cooler than the rest of the upper lake and surely cooler than the lower lake this time of year. Good luck...........Al

[macfish]

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

[Al Wolbach]

Hey Gary: If you launch in the fish hachery you will follow a canal to the hachery, good launch but narrow canal at first. If you are standing on the ramp facing the water go right and follow the canal.Follow the canal until it ends into a bank that will force you to the left along a tree line. This is the outer bountry for the hachery and the water is fairly deep around the tree line. As you follow the tree line the open water to the left is all spawning area 2-6 feet deep( must be 100 acres, huge). As you get shallower you will see the weed line that looks like an island, this is about the center of the hachery.The open water area is full of stumps and the fish will be around the stumps if the water temp is above about 55 deg. If the water is clear enough you should be able to at least see the stumps, but it does not take much wind to muck it up. Some of the stumps will stick out of the water. I would target the stumps with soft plastic, spinnerbaits, squarebills etc. If the water is stirred up just fan cast. When you find a stump make multible cast to it before moving. One bit of advice, when you are running the canal, do not leave it on plane, idle or trolling motor only. This will save you a prop or lower unit, but the canal is safe to run.

Outside the tree line there is a flat that drops into deeper water. This area is also a spawning area and full of stumps but is usually harder to fish because of the wind. But if the wind will allow fish it. Early morning is usually your best bet for light wind.

BTW this entire area is good firm bottom as most of the lower lake does. You will probably see a lot of gators. They will not bother you if you don't bother them.

Another good area for spawning is called the cow pasture and I believe it is marked by that name on the maps. It can be a really rough boat ride to get there if the wind is blowing as it usually is this time of year. I was reluctant to even mention it because of the danger and it would be my second choice after the fish hachery anyway.

If you decide to fish the river below the dam let me know. Good areas there that are not as affected by the wind.

Good luck and let us know how you do.........................Al

[Al Wolbach]

I forgot to mention: You can see the beds on both lakes if the water isn't stirred up by the wind. The locals have the time, maybe days, to find them when the water is clear. If you are there for a week and the wind blows for that week you may never see a bed, yet be all around them.

The cypress trees in deeper water is probably just experience. If someone tells you about the deeper trees, have your map handy and ask them to show you where some are. These people are amazingly helpful to a visitor. I lived there 9 years and never should have left but that's for another day.....................................Al

[macfish]

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

[macfish]

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!!!!

[Traveler2586]

If you don't already have one I suggest you get a good lake map now. The map will show you what you are up against and you can study it before you arrive. It's much easier to relate to info when you can see the area being discussed. Sorry I can't help, I have not fished there since the spring. I would be afraid to fish that lake without a GPS and a good lake SD card. You can get in big trouble in a hurry. Good luck to both of you...................Al

If your interested, you can download historical topo maps of the area from USGS at http://nationalmap.gov/historical/

They show the area before it was flooded. If you need more info or help with the USGS site just pm me.

Cheers, Eric