Rango, a question for you

[dontcatchmany]

Looks like the weather will keep me away from the coast for stripers this weekend. So my alternative plan is to fish Wateree. Gosh can not even go to Chaleston for Sheepshead with out getting blown out.

I have never been to wateree.

On the way to Colonel's Creek Landing, where can I get live bait.

Is there anyone open very very early in the a.m. that sells it.

Or do you know other places anywhere to get bait very early in the a.m.

As this is my first time to Wateree, I will probably not try to be on the water before first light like I do at Norman. I can maybe wait until some of the bait places are open.

Hope your fishing is doing well.

[rango]

DCM, theres only one place around that whole lake ive heard of where you can get big bass minnows for bait, and that is at cedar creek tackle. and im not sure if they carry em,, ive just heard they do. me and pete went all the way around that lake one sunday looking for some when we run out.. same story everywhere. "dont sell em and dont know who does." cedar creek tackles phone nummer is 803 285 3884. I just tried calllin em and they dint answer.. you might wanna try later and see if you can get em.
weve been gettin our bait the night before locally,, one place is at pendletons on 49 and the other at the gas station on the left just past the first redlight you come to after you leave the Buster boyd bridge on hwy 49 headed toward charlotte. Id check their count tho.. i bought 8 doz there night before last. had four buckets and told him to put 2 doz in each and when i got home,, i dint have but from 20 to 22 minnows in each bucket. I also told him i bought a lot of minnows and if he done me right hed get a lot of my business, but he screwed me by short counting em. if i buy anymore there, you can bet ill be counting em before i leave. too bad he done that as i buy a lot of minnows and hes lost me for a customer. he gets 4 bucks for an almost dozen. pendletons gets 5 dollars for a full dozen.. if cedar creek dont sell em or aint gonna be open, youd better buy em before you go down. they just aint noone handling em around that lake. the water got too cold on us yesterday and most our minnows died by noon. shiners dont take cold water well, and it was cold yesterday am....

[dontcatchmany]

Rango,

Thanks man.

I will call the Cedar Creek place later today.

I have gotten bait from both Pendleton's and the Service station you mention that is run by a bunch of Indian dudes.

I have never had any problems with the guys at the service station short counting me when I have bought crappie minnows ($1.00 a doz) and have never purchased the bigger minnows from them...Atually I have had them give me more like 8 dozen crappie minnows when I ordered 5 dozen. I will keep an eye on the short count.

Looks like I will have to buy the bait the night before. I have a 20 gallon bait tank and will probably spend the money to go up to Lake Norman and buy trout since they will definitely live in colder water and last longer as long as you keep the air to them and do not shock them from warm to really cold or vice versa.

At least on Lake Norman on Saturday and Sunday mornings and some holidays, Robichaux B&T on Brawley School road is open at 05:00. That gives me time to get bait and be at the appointed fishing spot prior to first light. Seems as the best bite on Norman is very very early or very very late. With more topwater at first light.

I just can not get my time together to get to the coast when the weather is good and the fish are biting. Every time I schedule a striper trip to Oregon Inlet, the weather is too rough.

Anyway, yours and Pete's and others posts on the stripers at Wateree have got me interested.

Have you ever tried Lake Murray around Columbia, S.C. I understand the fish are a little bigger there.

Thanks for your reply.

[rango]

Rango,

Thanks man.

I will call the Cedar Creek place later today.

I have gotten bait from both Pendleton's and the Service station you mention that is run by a bunch of Indian dudes.

I have never had any problems with the guys at the service station short counting me when I have bought crappie minnows ($1.00 a doz) and have never purchased the bigger minnows from them...Atually I have had them give me more like 8 dozen crappie minnows when I ordered 5 dozen. I will keep an eye on the short count.

Looks like I will have to buy the bait the night before. I have a 20 gallon bait tank and will probably spend the money to go up to Lake Norman and buy trout since they will definitely live in colder water and last longer as long as you keep the air to them and do not shock them from warm to really cold or vice versa.

At least on Lake Norman on Saturday and Sunday mornings and some holidays, Robichaux B&T on Brawley School road is open at 05:00. That gives me time to get bait and be at the appointed fishing spot prior to first light. Seems as the best bite on Norman is very very early or very very late. With more topwater at first light.

I just can not get my time together to get to the coast when the weather is good and the fish are biting. Every time I schedule a striper trip to Oregon Inlet, the weather is too rough.

Anyway, yours and Pete's and others posts on the stripers at Wateree have got me interested.

Have you ever tried Lake Murray around Columbia, S.C. I understand the fish are a little bigger there.

Thanks for your reply.

Ive never fished murray but coach, who fishes with me some, has and i think he likes fishing down there. pete told me the bait guy was generous with his minnows so i tried him, but he shorted me on every dozen of the big ones.. Ive never bought any small ones there. ill buy much more small ones in a year than the large ones. im gonna have to get me a bait tank fixed up.. wesley showed me his tank yesterday and it looked interesing.. i have been looking at some on the internet. i dont think it will be long before i get one. it would be good about keeping minnows alive from one trip to the next to keep from havng to buy so many each week then dumping em cause i cant keep em till the next trip..
let me know when you gonna hit wateree. ill see if i cant join you

[screwdriver]

Hey Don't catch many, if your going to Wateree I wouldn't fish with anything but shiners. First time down we had 8 doz. lively shad and a couple trout, the only action other than one stripe was circling Rango and the beast watching them pull in one fish after another.

[dontcatchmany]

Will do on Wateree. I to figure out the bait thing first. Weather permitting it will be this Saturday or Sunday.

I have to watch this cold weather as I have some hand circulation problems and can not let my hands get too cold. Mostly I get dressed up like a Eskimo and hope for the best and take a propane space heater with me as well as a couple dozen of those chemical hand warmers. I also wear a pair of mid calf 1600 gram thinsulate boots that if I go over board, I am gonna go straight to the bottom. Beats dying behind this desk though.

[rango]

Will do on Wateree. I to figure out the bait thing first. Weather permitting it will be this Saturday or Sunday.

I have to watch this cold weather as I have some hand circulation problems and can not let my hands get too cold. Mostly I get dressed up like a Eskimo and hope for the best and take a propane space heater with me as well as a couple dozen of those chemical hand warmers. I also wear a pair of mid calf 1600 gram thinsulate boots that if I go over board, I am gonna go straight to the bottom. Beats dying behind this desk though.

some us guys gettin a trip up for the 30th if you wanna join us.. thats on a sunday. screwdriver had one them propane heaters he brought the other day but as cold as it was that day, when wed lite it, the flames would freeze and break off. we had broken flames laying all over the floor that morning. so far i havent had any trouble with circulation except in my toes. they got so cold one morning pete and i was fishing, i figgered they had broke off , but when i looked they was there,, just dint have no feeling. i tried to get pete to let me sticke em under his armpits to warm em up but he flat out refused. good help is hard to find anymore . talking about eskimos,, wait till i get them photos back of marty, danny and ross in martys boat the other day. lol.. the only part of any of em you could see was the light glinting of their eyeballs. fishing,, you gotta love it....

[rango]

Hey Don't catch many, if your going to Wateree I wouldn't fish with anything but shiners. First time down we had 8 doz. lively shad and a couple trout, the only action other than one stripe was circling Rango and the beast watching them pull in one fish after another.

you gotta love it when something like that happens. we looked like we knowed what we was doing that day,, and had an audience to boot. you dont get many chances like that. Ive found it dont really matter if a man knows what hes doing or not, as long as he looks like he does.