— Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.6 in Lake Marion (1.2 feet below full pool) and 75.3 feet in Lake Moultrie (.2 feet below full pool).  Water temperatures are in the upper 70s and the lake is clear again after the recent rains. In the May 14 CATT on Santee Cooper Lex Costas fishing alone […]

— Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.5 in Lake Marion (1.3 feet below full pool) and 75.2 feet in Lake Moultrie (.3 feet below full pool).  Water temperatures are in the low to mid-60s and for the most part clarity is back to normal. In the April 9 CATT tournament on Santee Cooper Steve […]

Water temperatures on the Santee Cooper lakes shot up in early to mid-March, and on the path they were headed down it looked like summer would come by mid-April!  It certainly looked like the bass spawn would essentially wrap up in March.  However, “Not so fast” said Mother Nature, and over the last 10 or […]

As is expected in late March, a number of species are biting well in the Santee Cooper system.  And while a lot of popular species are “on the move,” particularly between deep and shallow water, probably no game species is traveling as far as striped bass.  Relying on his own fishing as well as information […]

After spending a week on Santee Cooper practicing for and then fishing in the Costa FLW Series event, it was understandable that tournament angler Dearal Rodgers of Camden started out fishing the CATT event on Lake Wateree Saturday by looking for fish that had moved up shallow.  In the Costa tournament Dearal had spent his […]

Note: Content on these pages, including tournament reports and fishing reports, is generally available only to customers of the Angler’s Headquarters online fishing tackle store.  Any purchase (no minimum value) gives readers full access to all information on this site for 90 days.     In the understatement of the year, Steve Harmon sums up his […]

— As should be expected with seasonal changes underway, Santee Cooper catfish are starting to move into shallow water in greater numbers. Captain Jim Glenn (843-825-4239) points out that blue catfish will move shallow at times even in the dead of winter, and he has caught fish in 6 feet of water on 18 degree mornings.  […]

— For the last week or two Captain Steve English (843-729-4044) reports that his boat has been catching some crappie in the shallows, and when this pattern first started that meant that there were a couple of shallow spots where they could find fish.  Naturally these were some of the first places to warm, and […]

— The March 5 Carolinas Bass Challenge Santee Cooper tournament is in the books, and Santee Cooper bass fishing is living up to its reputation – in all respects.  Plenty of big fish highlighted the tournament, with two fish over 9 pounds being caught (including a 9.53 pound beast), and a 32.55 pound sack at […]

IMPORTANT site changes coming.  Effective March 1 only customers of the Angler’s Headquarters tackle store will have access to our fishing reports.  Read more here.  It appears that the bite for Santee Cooper catfish is finally turning a corner, and after a rough winter Captain Jim Glenn (843-825-4239) reports more consistent results on recent trips.  While […]

It’s been a wet (fall and) winter in South Carolina, and all that water has to go somewhere.  With many of our lakes drawn down to normal seasonal levels and below, that somewhere has been the Santee Cooper lakes.  The latest reading has Lake Moultrie a couple of inches above full pool at 75.7, while […]

In November and December the Santee Cooper lakes seemed to outdo themselves every week, at least on the catfish front, and news of 40-pound fish gave way to news of 50-pound fish which gave way to 80-pound fish.  But while January can be one of his favorite times to fish the Santee Cooper lakes, Captain […]

Around the Christmas holidays it’s a safe bet that big blue catfish are feeding in South Carolina, and even with unseasonably warm weather this year is no exception.  From the North Carolina border to the Midlands to the lower part of the state, South Carolina anglers are putting some big catfish in the boat right […]

The big fish have been eating on the Santee Cooper lakes recently, and last week Captain Jim Glenn (843-825-4239) reported that a nice 43-pound fish had been caught drifting cut mullet in 17 feet on Lake Moultrie.  Then a few days ago Jim sent me a picture of a beautiful 53-pound fish which longtime clients John […]

Captain Jim Glenn (843-825-4239) reports that water temperatures were down to 59 degrees in the mornings this weekend, and the lakes are still very full.  Due to the significant inflow there has been recent spilling at Santee Dam as well as significant discharge from the St. Stephens Dam, and Lake Moultrie now appears to be more […]

Water continues to pour into the Santee Cooper lakes, and despite the power company releasing water through all three discharge sites Lake Marion is at 76.6 and Lake Moultrie is at 75.1, both only a few inches below full pool. At the same time that the lakes are experiencing massive inflows, Captain Jim Glenn (843-825-4239) reports […]

Everyone knows that the Santee Cooper system has a history of producing big fish, whether largemouth bass (co-state record), catfish (3 state records and one world record), crappie (state record black crappie), bream (state record shellcracker), or striped bass– among other species.  However, a 3-pound crappie is a big crappie anywhere, and catching more than […]

Perhaps it’s the season, and perhaps it’s the effects of the recent rain, but largemouth bass fishing has been wide open on Santee Cooper recently.  Captain Linwood Thornhill (843-509-8174) reports that on one recent trip he caught 40 fish, and on another he caught more than 30 bass.  Most of these have been in the […]

Captain Jim Glenn (843-825-4239) reports that he has had some good days recently drifting for catfish on Lake Moultrie, and on a recent trip drifting white perch in 14-25 feet of water yielded about a dozen fish with more than half of them keepers.  Included were the 14- and 17-pound fish pictured below, as well a […]

While Captain Jim Glenn (843-825-4239) continues to report that the overall fishery for blue catfish in the Santee Cooper lakes is a bit down from past years, recently his boat has been having successful days for big catfish on both lakes.  He has caught a number of fish in the 30-40 pound range as well as […]

It may not be what people think of as traditional crappie season on the Santee Cooper lakes, but that doesn’t mean that anglers who know where to look can’t wear them out even during the heat of the summer. Captain Steve English (843-729-4044) reports that his boat is catching 50-70 crappie per day right now […]

Lake Marion is at 75.1 and Lake Moultrie is at 74.9. Crappie: Good. Captain Steve English (843-729-4044) reports that crappie are in a post-spawn/ early summer phase. His boat is catching good numbers of fish – 35-45 per day – fishing minnows around brushpiles in 15-25 feet of water. Bream: Good. Captain Steve English reports […]

The first time I went fishing with crappie tournament specialist Will Hinson of Cassatt was a warm-weather trip where we targeted crappie around brush and bridges. There were multiple other boats as well as bank fishermen in the same general areas we fished, and I noticed that we out-caught the other fishermen 10 to 1 […]