| April 24, 2005 The Lakes of Santee Cooper are famous for their landlocked striper bass. In fact these gigantic South Carolina impoundments were the first to be recognized for harboring stripers on a year round basis. Overtime fishing pressure has reduced the size and quantity of stripers in both lakes, thus allowing catfish to take over as the predominated fishery. Denver, N.C. resident, Charlie Blackburn called me a month or so ago and asked if I would like to join him on a fishing safari to Santee Cooper for large catfish. The trip came together allowingf us to fish last Wednesday and Thursday. While in South Carolina we fished with Capt. Darryl Smith on his twenty two-foot aluminum Jon boat. Day one was spent cutbait fishing with shad in Lake Marion, the upper tree infested lake of the two After a short run from Jacks Creek Marina, Capt. Darryl double anchored the boat and cast eight baits into the eleven-foot creek channel that flowed through the flats. The first couple of strikes were missed, than a rod near the stern doubled down. The fish was nice size, an Arkansas Blue Cat that weighed twenty-nine pounds. As the day wore on, we snagged a fish or two while the wind laid and the clear sunny sky sent air temperatures into the low eighties. The fishing day was nearing its close when a rod started to jiggle, Charlie picked it up and set the hook with the skill of a television fishing show celebrity. The big cat took drag and almost reached a cypress trees before heading toward the boat. When Charlie finally subdued the large Santee flathead, it weighted out at more than fifty-two pounds. On our second day Capt. Darryl opted to drift the waters of lower Lake Moultrie. It is a big bowl shaped lake that is void of much of the standing timber seen in Lake Marion. We started fishing in five feet of water on the lakes west bank. We used three sea anchors to slow the boats drift. Within minutes we boated several channel cats, all less than five pounds. They were certainly not what we were fishing for As the water got deeper the fish got bigger and more plentiful. A forty pound flathead was boated after quite a tussle, than a thirty six and two twenty eight pound blues. The big cats were released to fight another day. We slowly drifted further from shore. By now the boat was in eleven feet of water and we were feeling good about the possibilities of catching another really nice fish. As the trip came to an end we had our only double hook up. A twenty two pound blue was quickly landed while Charlie battled a big one on thirty pound test line. In took drag over and over again, but finally made its way toward the boat . The scales showed that it weighted forty two pounds, not a world record but a nice Santee blue catfish. We finished the day with fifteen fish, the five biggest had an aggregate weight of one hundred and seventy four pounds. The Hot Spots of the week is shallow water early and late and the sides of long points and drops offs during the bright part of the day. Live baiters are finding shad and bream to the stripers liking while diving baits are producing nice results for anglers trolling the deep water. The Lake level is 97.5 or down 2.5 feet from full pond. The water temperature is in the mid sixties. The past week, striper fishing has been good. Tips from Gus! The thick jaw bone of a catfish requires the use of hooks with a large gap between the point and shank. Therefore circle or "j" hooks in sizes up to 10/0 are used by experienced cat fishermen. Gus Gustafson of Lake Norman Ventures, Inc. is an outdoor columnist and a full time professional striper fishing guide on Lake Norman, NC. Visit his web site, Striper Fishin' with Gus! at http://www.lakenormanstriperfishing.com/ or call 704-489-0763. For additional information, e-mail him at lknormanventures@aol.com |
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Gus Gustafson talks Santee Cats!
Gus Gustafson talks Santee Cats.
