Awful quiet in here today

[Patrick Vowell]

I don't really have anything to add on long rods. Don't know much about young of year except they are a waste of a minnow. Let's talk river channels... I'm fishing in 2 classics coming up and I know absolutely nothing about either lake... What seem to be the key areas on Santee Cooper and Guntersville to narrow the chase.... Are there solid channels or are they real shallow lakes? My hotspots maps have'nt come in yet and I 'm getting ancy.
Patrick

[Don@Eden]

I used to bass fish on Guntersville a lot, never fished for crappie the first time. The lake is a shallow lake with a bunch of milfoil, assuming that you are crappie fishing,I remember seeing the crappie fishermen fishing the big bridge just as you go into the town of Guntersville, there are also a few bluff banks some that have boat docks on them, shooting the docks might be a possibility, good luck and thanks for sponsoring the Fall Brawl.

[Patrick Vowell]

Glad to do it , and thanks for the info... How deep is the water around the millfoil and is there any structure?

[gcromer]

Patrick, I won't be much help, but I fish the swamp area of upper Santee, Lake Marion. At times I will go into the lake above I-95. That part is mostly what I would call a shallow lake. About the only deep water is around the river run. From I-95 on up it is mostly trees.

I can dig up a map and send to you if that would help.
Gerald

[Tim The Lippa Rippa Mon]

I don't really have anything to add on long rods. Don't know much about young of year except they are a waste of a minnow. Let's talk river channels... I'm fishing in 2 classics coming up and I know absolutely nothing about either lake... What seem to be the key areas on Santee Cooper and Guntersville to narrow the chase.... Are there solid channels or are they real shallow lakes? My hotspots maps have'nt come in yet and I 'm getting ancy.
Patrick

Hey Patrick, we fished CAST's Classic along side of Wally Marshall, and the rest of the tournament winners right in the Big Saute arm at Guntersville. There are 2 creek channels in that arm, one that has silted in areas leaving small troth areas(some are hot, but hard to find), and the other channel is very well defined. The well defined one has several very sharp bends in it, and that spot is pretty much straight out at 1 O'clock from the road bridge(very hot). We were catching fish all the way down to 17', most came between 12-15' down, in 17' of water. We did find a few secrets(but too late for us to place in the money). 1 was to only use 1 hook, or jig per pole thats out. The bite was terribly light, and extremely finnicky. 2 we caught some very big fish by dragging a pearl Gene Larrew Spider behind the boat (right on top of the water) by trolling the weed edges & points around the bridge there. We had some huge shinners that we dragged the same way, and got the same results. The fish were stacked up under the bridge too. Very selective though, and heavily pressured. The locals basiclly live under the bridges(very heavily pressured) to fish for Cappie there.

The mouth of the little Saute arm produced fish for us too, right off of the weed edge nearest the big drop into the River channel.

Another pattern we found, but it was for smaller fish, was dipping the laydowns that were in the current areas, wayyyyyyyyy up the River. Did not have any luck shooting docks anywhere, and nobody else that we talked to after weigh ins did either.

We didn't troll any cranks because of major boat problems- electronics, pole holder theft, and busted out the front deck bouncing over a huge wave in a wind storm(completely eliminated our pre-fishing), but I bet it would produce for ya's.

You can use any color there, as long as it's white, or pearl. Water was very clear, and weeds made much of the water unreachable/unfishable.

I hope this helps you guys, and that you fare better than we did. Good luck!

<,"}/>{ Rippa

[Patrick Vowell]

I appreciate all the help you guys have given.. My hotspots maps for santee and guntersville should be here in a couple of days... i am looking forward to fishing these lakes...when I get my maps I will ask about areas and that way i will be on the same page as yall....
thanx again, Patrick