I know when you watch the pro’s they make everything look easy. I saw it first hand here on Guntersville. Holy cow does that fishery look fun. And man there are monsters. I wonder how it fishes year round? Looks like it has more biggins Than g ville I wonder how they compare?
I have fished it multiple times and some good fish for sure, but that place is massive. You get into the Hatchery on Moultrie and 1000000 stumps.
So far, what I have seen has been typical of the Santee fishing this time of year since all of the hydrilla was killed. There are a few big fish being caught, but you can fish all day without getting a bite and have no idea why. As you can see, with a couple of exceptions, the fish are not concentrated and you can cast to 10,000 trees and not get a bite. But, then get a bite on each of the next 4 trees...but can not repeat it the next day in the same area. You can see how quickly the weights drop off. And, it looks like the bottom 1/2 of the field was fishing a different lake. This is in sharp contrast to how great the fishing was when hydrilla was the dominant vegetation. It was hard to not get 12-15+ bites a day and have 5 of those fish be between 5-8 pounds...and everybody had a day like that.
Casey is fishing a couple well known community holes that get the tar beaten out of them every day in the spring. I hope they hold up for him. But, there will be a lot of locals fishing those areas on the weekend.
"The man of system is apt to be very wise in his own conceit; and is often so enamored with the supposed beauty of his own ideal plan of government that he cannot suffer the smallest deviation from any part of it…He seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chessboard.” Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Definitely a learning curve for Santee Cooper. I grew up there in Moncks Corner and had some fantastic days on the lakes but there have also been a lot of heart breaker days. Community Holes always seem to produce some fish but finding something that is all your own is tough. Local events get dominated by a few folks that put out TONS of brush piles and just concentrate on them during events. Santee Cooper Coop killed the old style grass fishing by getting rid of all the hydrilla that was there in the early 90's by planting tons of grass carp. Just saw a recent article where they were going to put even more in there and I'm not sure there's enough grass to sustain them these days. Eel grass is the "new" thing in the lake and produces a lot of good bags if you can find the good patches of it. Having fishing Guntersville a fair amount I would much rather be there even with all the pressure!
Haven’t had a chance to watch today. Is Casey in Marion or Moultrie?Originally Posted by Jeff Hahn
Some hydrilla is coming back, big question is if they let it grow or nuke it again. Back in the day it was awesome fishing.
Are you making your yearly trip again?
BassBlaster linked an article saying that Santee Cooper was purposing to plant 50% more sterile grass carp in Santee Cooper this year than they did last year. The don't want it coming back or for any grass to be in the lake it seems like! The lakes were built for hydro power generation and Santee Cooper Coop has shown over and over that they care nothing about the fishing that the lakes provide.
I fished it prior to vegetation, while it was thick with grass, but have not fished Santee in about 15 years. Someone mentioned "The Hatchery" oh was that FUN back in the 80's. I'd launch and run my 14' tin boat to one of the cuts, pull up my 25 tiller and just drift until I got out the other side bumping stumps all the way. This time of year I'd be somewhere in Angels. I'll watch it this weekend.
One day in August years ago it was steaming hot no shirt on just shorts ,about lunch time throwing a buzz bait I caught 7 ,7 pounder in a row same cast and missed a few it was the biggest bag and day I ever had ,only thing was I was just fishing for fun but I love going to Santee bite or not
I’d like to spend a week there during this exact time of year. Looks incredible!
Casey was fishing the upper lake.
I’m heading down on April 7 for @ 10 days.
"The man of system is apt to be very wise in his own conceit; and is often so enamored with the supposed beauty of his own ideal plan of government that he cannot suffer the smallest deviation from any part of it…He seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chessboard.” Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments
This ^^^^ is, unfortunately, exactly what has happened over the last 25 years. And, the SCDNR apparently has no authority to stop them. I am shocked that Santee Power can get away with all of the weed spraying given the bald Eagle population in the area. I would think that the EPA or some other alphabet agency would step in to protect the Eagles.
"The man of system is apt to be very wise in his own conceit; and is often so enamored with the supposed beauty of his own ideal plan of government that he cannot suffer the smallest deviation from any part of it…He seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chessboard.” Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments
My buddy who has a trailer on the Diversion Canal went to Angel’s yesterday to stay out of MLF guys way. No MFL guys were there. And, he said the fishing was dead as a hammer, which is unusual for that area this time of year.I fished it prior to vegetation, while it was thick with grass, but have not fished Santee in about 15 years. Someone mentioned "The Hatchery" oh was that FUN back in the 80's. I'd launch and run my 14' tin boat to one of the cuts, pull up my 25 tiller and just drift until I got out the other side bumping stumps all the way. This time of year I'd be somewhere in Angels. I'll watch it this weekend.
"The man of system is apt to be very wise in his own conceit; and is often so enamored with the supposed beauty of his own ideal plan of government that he cannot suffer the smallest deviation from any part of it…He seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chessboard.” Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Won't be dead for long
Never fished it, but played the Santee National golf course quite a few times
Lucas is working on a bag for 5. Over 26 pounds on just 4 fish.
Good bag so far!!!
5 for 33lbs
Yea… that’s a very dirty thirty. One of the few guys looking at them with ffs too.
This right here is spot on. The place fishes extremely small and varies wildly from day to day. I live close by and choose to fish other lakes most of the time. I never had the opportunity but have heard stories of the hydrilla day's and it sounded like a fairy tale. IMHO, I think Santee is riding the coat tail of that time period.
USMC Vet!
Santee can humble you. You can catch the biggest fish of your life and have an awesome sack, or you can leave scratching your head.
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