Santee cooper

[big "E"]

Went to lake Marion and fished out of Randolphs landing this past weekend.Used everything under the sun for bait but could not hook up with a big cat to save my life.Everyone said the cut herring was what we needed , but we fished that bait all weekend without a bite and was fairly disgusted with the whole trip when a little bluegill bit my partner's line and I talked him out of throwing it back.I hooked him on a large 3/0 gamakatsu hook and threw him out in the trees off the main channel.After about 30 minutes my rod tip dove down with monster truck force.I've heard stories about these bohemoths and was really excited as I reeled him slowly back to the boat.Time after time he dove and fought and struggled and I began to fear for my line and knot tying ablilities.But I had on 50lb. spider line and a steel leader so in the end I won out and boated the fish.He was a lot smaller than my imagination had made him out to be.But my efforts had still landed me the biggest fish of my life and I guess that should be all that matters.The fish was a blue and weighed in at 23lb.Cant wait to catch a bigger one as this fight was the best of my life.Couldnt catch any crappie but marked a ton of them in the trees.They were at times stacked 5 or 6 high on the depth finder.I'm not familiar with the white bass' schooling patterns so it could have been some of them as they were the only thing we caught consistantly.All in all it was a good trip , and Randolphs is a pretty nice place to fish out of , even though its run by yankees.Eric.

[rango]

im in the process of lining up a couple trips to santee right now. several year ago it seemed like we was down there about every other weekend and we was hooking into some pretty big fish before the year was over, the biggest one being a 42 lb blue. those bad boys are a lot of fun.

[pete]

little advice......no need to use a steel leader......that may be why u are not getting as many bites.

[big "E"]

Thanks Pete , point taken.

[kunes]

Went to lake Marion and fished out of Randolphs landing this past weekend.Used everything under the sun for bait but could not hook up with a big cat to save my life.Everyone said the cut herring was what we needed , but we fished that bait all weekend without a bite and was fairly disgusted with the whole trip when a little bluegill bit my partner's line and I talked him out of throwing it back.I hooked him on a large 3/0 gamakatsu hook and threw him out in the trees off the main channel.After about 30 minutes my rod tip dove down with monster truck force.I've heard stories about these bohemoths and was really excited as I reeled him slowly back to the boat.Time after time he dove and fought and struggled and I began to fear for my line and knot tying ablilities.But I had on 50lb. spider line and a steel leader so in the end I won out and boated the fish.He was a lot smaller than my imagination had made him out to be.But my efforts had still landed me the biggest fish of my life and I guess that should be all that matters.The fish was a blue and weighed in at 23lb.Cant wait to catch a bigger one as this fight was the best of my life.Couldnt catch any crappie but marked a ton of them in the trees.They were at times stacked 5 or 6 high on the depth finder.I'm not familiar with the white bass' schooling patterns so it could have been some of them as they were the only thing we caught consistantly.All in all it was a good trip , and Randolphs is a pretty nice place to fish out of , even though its run by yankees.Eric.

Wow--sounds like that big cat really made the trip. Lucky ya caught that bluegill and had the presence of mind to use it as bait. But I guess you knew that from that time on Wylie when ya caught that 1lb bluegill and threw it back with a hook in it and caught that big flathead ,what was it 20 lbs? and when ya got it to the surface it wasn't hooked--just too onery to let go. Biggest fish of your life--can't wait to see the pics!..Glad ya like Randolph's. Too bad about the ownership tho---freakin yankees own everything---ya know like Randolph's or this website---what's a poor ol 'neck gonna do....

[big "E"]

Kunes , yeah I was ready for that gill all night , and my buddy thought I was crazy.The yankees at Randolphs aren't that bad they just all seem to have a dry personality and are in a hurry to do any and everything.They werent bad folks , just different.As for the pics all I have is a polaroid and it wont scan for nothing.Will be going back soon though and will be taking a livewell full of lake wylie bluegills with me.If I offended any yankees I apologize.Eric.