April 16
Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.72 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and bouncing around 74.9 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). The upper lake is clearing but still stained while there is a mud line in the lower lake. Water temperatures are generally in the upper 60s.
There is a mix of everything going on with the bass on Santee, and Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
April 2
Santee Cooper water levels are up to 76.30 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 74.66 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). The upper part of Lake Marion is blown out with mud and it is coming to the rest of the system. Surface water temperatures were down to about 61 this morning.
There are already a few post-spawn bass on Santee, but Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
March 19
Santee Cooper water levels are down to 75.30 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and up to 74.62 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Clarity is pretty normal and morning surface water temperatures range from 60-62 in the upper lake to about 58 in the lower lake. The wind has made fishing difficult recently.
A slight cool snap coincided with the CBC last weekend on Santee, and as a result Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
Last weekend's featured Palmetto Boat Center Tournament on Lake Murray was won by Justin Tingen and Jonathan Carter with an impressive 27.52 poundbag including a 7.30 pound big fish, but also impressive was reader Anthony Iocolano's guess - sack weight 27.62 and big fish 7.06 pounds. He was the winner of last week's $40.00 gift certificate to the store.
March 10
Santee Cooper water levels are down to 75.53 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 74.29 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). The lake is dingy all over and muddy in some places, and morning surface water temperatures have reached the high 50s and even low 60s in some of the ponds.
This weekend is the Carolinas Bass Challenge on Santee, and so you can forgive tournament anglers if they don’t want to say too much about how the bass are being caught. However, Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
March 5
Santee Cooper water levels are down to 76.03 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 74.59 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). The lakes have cleared and water temperatures range from about 53 degrees on up.
There have been some monster bags of bass caught recently on Santee, and Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
With temperatures expected to reach 80 this weekend, after a long, cold and wet winter, it will be interesting to see how the fish react tochanging conditions. There are a full line-up of tournaments, including multiples CATTs, an ABA event, several clubs tournaments and more. But this weekend we are featuring one of the two Fishers of Men events - this one on Santee. Let's see if another 30-pound bag can come out of Santee! Closest guess to the winning weight in the comments here wins a $30.00 gift certificate to Angler's Headquarters. Bonus: guess the winning bag and big fish weight and win a $500.00 gift certificate to the store. Deadline is 7:00 a.m. Saturday, February 27.
February 26
Santee Cooper water levels are just below full at 76.57 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 74.86 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). The lakes are muddy, with water flying through, and water temperatures range from the mid-40s to low-50s.
They call it fishing for a reason, and on Sunday in the CATT tournament David Matts and Garret Brown managed five that went over 30 pounds and there were several more big bags caught as well as a bunch of fish over 5 pounds. But on Sunday conditions had apparently completely changed, and Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
Tournament results will be posted here as they become available. ALSO - if you know of a future fishing tournament taking place in South Carolina that should be included on our tournament calendar, please emailjay@usfishingreport.com and we will add it.
February 20
February 18
Santee Cooper water levels are up to 74.40 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 73.54 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). The lakes are muddy and the power company is pulling the water hard, with water temperatures are about 50 degrees.
It’s been some another week of nasty weather on Santee, but Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
Tournament results will be posted here as they become available.
February 13
American Bass Anglers Open Series SC Division 9 Tournament on Lake Keowee from South Cove
BFL South Carolina Division Tournament (bass) on Lake Murray from Dreher Island State Park
The South Carolina Crappie Association had a tournament on Santee Cooper today, and conditions were brutal. Nonetheless, some impressive limits were weighed.
19 boats
February 5
Santee Cooper water levels are up to 74.54 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 73.38 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Surface water temperatures range from 49-53 and the lake is stained but not muddy.
It’s been some nasty weather this week on Santee, but when it’s worth getting out on the water the bass seem to be biting decently. Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
January 22
Santee Cooper water levels are back down to 73.84 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) but up to 73.09 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Surface water temperatures are around 48-51 degrees and the lake is pretty dingy.
The bass fishing is a little better this week on Santee, as judged by the results of the Sunday Showdown Series where a 7-pounder and a 5-pounder took the win, but Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
January 13
Santee Cooper water levels are up to 74.63 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 71.92 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Surface water temperatures are around 48-51 degrees and the lake is dingy but fast becoming muddy.
Very low water levels were affecting the bass fishing on Santee Cooper last week, but Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
January 5
Santee Cooper water levels are at 73.51 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 71.01 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Surface water temperatures are around 50 degrees and the lake is dingy but not yet muddy.
Very low water levels are affecting the bass fishing, but Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
December 17
Santee Cooper water levels are down to 73.90 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 72.56 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Surface water temperatures are in the low to mid-50s and the canal is dingy but not muddy.
The bass are in a cool weather pattern on the lakes, and Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
November 24
Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.91 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 73.89 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Surface water temperatures are around 64 and the lakes are dirty.
At last report Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) speculated
November 10
Santee Cooper water levels are at 74.56 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 73.90 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Surface water temperatures are in the upper 60s and while the lakes have some color they are not dirty.
There are probably some bass offshore out deep chasing shad along with the striper, but Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
October 23
Santee Cooper water levels are at 74.93 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 74.24 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Surface water temperatures have slightly warmed to about 72-73 degrees, and while there has been a ton of water moving through the lakes they remain fairly clear.
Over the last few weeks water temperatures have if anything risen, and as a result Captain Steve English (843-729-4044) reports
October 9
Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.14 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 74.97 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Surface water temperatures are around 70-74 degrees.
There are more than a few big name bass fishermen targeting Santee Cooper this week, and luckily Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
September 25
Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.32 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 74.33 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Water temperatures have dropped all the way to 73 or 74 degrees. There is a ton of water being pulled through the lakes creating some swift current.
We got the seasonal cooling that anglers knew was needed to move the bass out of a deep suspended pattern, but Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
September 18
Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.68 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 74.70 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Water temperatures have dropped to 80 or 81. It’s been extremely windy and there is a lot of rainwater coming into the system, but the lakes are starting out pretty clear and so the lower lake will probably stay relatively clean while the upper end of Marion may get dirty.
It was a brutal Carolinas Bass Challenge event last Saturday, and although it did appear that the patterns were not too far off from what was expected (offshore) weights were even lower than predicted. Gary Michaud and Dustin Compton took the win with 21.89 pounds, but Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) points
September 10
Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.42 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 75.27 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Water temperatures are down to around 83 degrees and clarity is very high in the lower lake. The upper lake is a bit dingier.
With many of the state’s best bass fishermen headed to Santee Cooper for the Carolinas Bass Challenge event this weekend, for this week’s report we decided to check in with a Santee bass expert who will not be fishing on Saturday and doesn’t mind giving his frank appraisal. Captain Steve English (843-729-4044) acknowledges