[mf7406]

Hi,
I'm planning to take my wife & 2 boys to santee. Leaving out on 4-5. We fish out of hill's landing. Just wondering if anyone could advise me on where to fish. Is the upper or lower lake better right now & do you know what depth people are catching good fish. My boys (7&14) love to fish & I want to try to put them on some big blues.

Thanks, Mark

 

[ToonCat]

Welcome to the board Mark. Hills is a good starting point, but the first thing I would ask you is what is your experience at Santee? The shallow water can be very unforgiving and extremely dangerous in even moderate winds. If you are not using a guide, I would either stay in the canal or set your boundaries at the dam on Marion to about Marker 25 or so at Moultrie. Setting up on humps in front of Harrys can be productive this time of year as well as drifting across the channel on Moultrie. Good luck and be sure to show those boys a good time!

 

[Cat Master 1]

Welcome to the board Mark. I would just drift around in the canal and see if i could mark some fish laying in those holes. Stay on the powerplant side of the canal. Find you some fish anchor down on them and be ready it may take a little while but they will bite.PS: USE CUT BAIT AND FRESH AS YOU CAN. Let us know how you done.

 

[mf7406]

Thanks for the advice. I have fished both lakes some, but I have more experience in lake Marion. I haven't been able to get down there since last summer. That trip we caught most of our fish @ 20-30 ft of water . I can get around OK in lake Moultrie but haven't fished it enough to know how to find where the fish are without a lot of trial & error. Someone from my area just got back & said people were catching some good fish in shallow water. Does anyone know if this is right. I hope I can post some pictures when we get back.

 

[catch & release]

You can catch them shallow or deep. I have done fairly well in both lately

 

[rivercatsc]

Anywhere you can find some shallow water with a good quick dropoff to deeper water closer to the land will be great. If you dont know how to drift I would get in a good flat on either lake at night and fan cast your rods out and give them about 30min if no bites just move about 50-100yards and rerpeat. The fish are shallow jst use real fresh bait and have enough to freshen it up every 45min to an hour. Dont use Big baits unless you are just after really big fish after you start catching some fish then maybe switch a couple of rods to bigger baits and see what happens. The night bite should be onfire in the shallows. I wouldnt fish in the canal unless I got blown off the lake by the wind. I certaintly wouldnt travel all the way to santee to just limit myself to the canal. If you want to learn where and how book a trip with Roundhill he will show you how its done and put yall on some good fish. If they still have the large river herring deffinatly use them for bait. Good luck and get lots of pics and a good report for us.

 

[catfisherman_eky3]

Good luck on your fishing trip hope ya catch a bunch