With all the talk about Santee, me and 2 buddies ventured down there this week, here goes the 1.5 Days on the Lake report (which was supposed to be 3 Days on the Lake).
Monday April 1
11:30 - arrive at Blacks Camp, get checked in, eat a a couple hot dogs and onion rings, washed down with a glass of sweet tea (in case you can’t see where this is going, keep reading).
12:45 - on the water, 66 degrees, having never been there got some info on how to run the lake, but with only a half day, decide to stay around Blacks, especially since the wind was blowing 15+.
1:00 - hit the canal, fish out to the main lake throwing chatter bait, senko and worm with one peck.
1:30 - decide to run out in the channel just to see how the wind was. Basscat Puma handled the wind and waves well, but no way I venturing into unknown waters in those whitecap conditions.
1:50 - have moved up the canal about 1/2 to the bridge, floating down hitting every piece of cover.
1:55- light a hand rolled cigar from Tampa, very happy now.
2:07 - our buddy from France lands the first fish of the trip! It’s a “tiddiler”, which I guess means small, cause all of its 10” had inhaled a shakey head worm in green pumpkin.
2:35 - wind is still blowing hard, we enter back into the cove going to Blacks Camp, the Ultrex is on 8 fighting the wind and current getting to the flat on the right (as you enter).
2:40 - another boat tells us he missed a 2 pounder on the cypress tree in front of us. I am conflicted if we should fish that tree, since we have violated the “no info” rule. We fish it anyhow without any success.
2:47 - another fish, caught on a 4” black/blue Senko with a small weight on the edge of the grass. We are in less than 3’ of water, fish was pushing 3.
3:14 - we continue into the backwater, another Senko fish.
3:19 - we see the No Swimming sign, aka 6’ gator.
3:54 - I catch my first fish, a solid 2 pounder on a black/blue senko.
4:30 - we make the run back Camp, about 1/2 a mile. Lots of whitecaps, fun!
5:15 - after throwing plastics to grass without success, our French buddy comments that with the clouds moving in, it’s perfect for a topwater. He ties on popper and proceeds to miss two small fish.
5:30 - a hawg engulfs his Megabass topwater, he fights it for a few seconds, the fish goes one way and bait the other. Time to head in, but not before I learned what I presume were a few French curse words.
5:45 - at the room, beer in hand, time to relax.
6:30 - walk over to the restaurant, there is a birthday party with about 30 people. Staff was a bit overwhelmed, but did the best they could. Food was ok, and we scored some birthday cake.
7:45 - another stooge, a cup of Blanton’s, and all is well.
7:50 - talk with 2 guys, they had been there for a week and their best 5 on one day went 15, with a 4.9. Not a good sign for us.
Tuesday April 2
6:00 - Restaurant opens at 5:30, so a cup of coffee, some pancakes, and we ready to roll.
7:00 - decided to trailer down to The Hatchery, since wind is already 10 mph
7:25 - idle down the canal, turn right, and start fishing. Water is 66, 2-3 ft deep, and clear. Fish grass and throw at every stump with a topwater, swimjig and worm without a bite.
8:30 - get to the first big cove and get back to back fish, one on a Senko, the other on Beaver, both up against stumps.
8:31 - what is our take on the day so far. Well, we need to fish shallow, but with the small size of the fish, we decide to move out towards the main lake to see if we can find some staging fish.
9:30 - we make it out to the big island, after bumping into no less than 100 submerged stumps.
9:55 - I finally figure out my problem, hadn’t had a cigar yet, so light one up.
10:00 - find a large patch of eel grass, put down the power poles and fish it hard.
10:15 - not seeing anything on the FFS, that’s why we aren’t catching.
10:30 - fish no less than 100 cedar trees from 2-4 feet with no action.
11:30 - wind has picked up, there are 3 boats in the area, and we aren’t catching. Let’s go back to Blacks.
12:30 - Head out to the end of the canal, turn left and fish out of the wind for an hour. At least we had really good ham and cheese sandwiches and cold Pepsi’s.
1:45 - We are still having a great time, the ribbing never stops, and we realize that our dreams of being BassMaster Classic Champion are quickly fading.
2:00 - we are across from Blacks, fishing grass and trees. Water is 72. There is lots of slime, but when we found grass and weeds that wasn’t slimy we caught fish on plastics, fished slow. Just had to let it sit and you would feel weight.
4:00 - we have all caught fish, nothing big, but we got numbers, and we have another day and half of fishing, so we head in.
4:45 - picking out a place to eat in Monck’s Corner, see that Music Man BBQ is closed on Tuesday’s. Go to a Mexican place which was good, of course the second margarita may have had something to do with that.
7:15 - talk to a guy and his teenage sons, they had the same experience we had, although they ran around allot more than us. A local came up and asked us about fishing, he surmised that there has been too much pressure that last couple years. I told him that we just suck.
7:30 - one good thing about having a buddy who is French, and a chef, is he likes nice wines. Don’t ask me what it was, but it soothed our nerves about the weather the next day. And it paired very nicely with the Montecristo he gave me.
Wednesday April 3
5:15 - am awaken by thunder, lightening, and rain. Step outside and the wind is blowing, there are whitecaps in the creek.
6:00 - breakfast and the catfish guides are talking how nasty the next few days would be. Thunderstorms and heavy rain until the afternoon, then the cold front is moving in. You can guess where this (and our crew) is going.
7:00 - finished a leisurely breakfast, made the decision that hanging out all day, only to fight the wind and cold was not a great plan.
7:45 - say our goodbyes, start planning our next trip, and on the road, raining and windy. Boat will be a mess when I get home.
11:45 - wife is surprised I am home, told her I missed her so much I couldn’t stand it, and came home. She called me a liar. At least the dog was happy to see me.
Summary - the wind made it difficult to fish, and not having been there before, and having a new engine, I wasn’t risking anything. Seemed there wasn’t much catching, but that would have just been a bonus. In the next couple weeks it will be on. I had planned to launch out of TawCaw Thursday, next time!
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Originally Posted by n2ratfishin
