Thread: Best Time to Fish Santee Cooper

As a die hard who loves these lakes, I would say anytime! Not knowing your skills at any particular technique, I would say the very best time for catching numbers and size is late March to early April. Wind is your biggest is obstacle, and that time of year it can be troublesome, but there are options to work around it. For a chance at a true monster crappie, fish Lake Moultrie. For avoiding wind while catching numbers with good quality fish one of the creeks in Lake Marion.

Inkdabber, I am from eastern NC. All that we have up here are creeks and rivers and I know that Lakes fish much different. I've bee to Lake Marion one time last April. We stayed at Goat island and fished for 3 days. Probably caught 60 fish total BUT I caught my biggest so far 2.60. I know there are much bigger ones there. Would love to get a 3-3 1/2 pounder!!!! I plan on taking a trip back down there in 2020 but this time id like to stay a solid week. So I am just trying to get some info to get the best out of my trip. Its about 5 1/2 hour drive for me which is the furthest that I have been for a crappie!! LOL I have caught them long lining, tight lining mainly with jigs but have used minnows as well. Are there any good Crappie Guides that could maybe at least get me gonging the right direction. Thanks for your help!!!!

I like going down in mid to late April. The Crappie always bite well that time of year. You can't forget about those big blue cats that start really getting active then and there is starting to be some big shellcrackers caught as well.

If catching a bigg'un is your goal, Lake Moultrie is where you need to concentrate. Long line trolling with minnow tipped jigs would be the preferred method. As stated, wind and wind direction will need to be monitored. Get a contour map and study it. You will be fishing open water areas over creeks and ditches. Find these areas on the map. Look for fishing boats in any chosen area. Mid to late March will put you in the best time slot. Have a back up plan to fish another area (which will mean trailering) if inclement weather hits you will need to fish a protected creek in Lake Marion. The main creeks are Wyboo. Potato, Tawcaw, Jacks, and Eutaw. There are many smaller creeks as well, all will hold some nice fish.

Guys Thanks for the info!!! I really appreciate it!

Guide - look up Joe Dennis. He has FB page too.

Originally Posted by speckle75

Inkdabber, I am from eastern NC. All that we have up here are creeks and rivers and I know that Lakes fish much different. I've bee to Lake Marion one time last April. We stayed at Goat island and fished for 3 days. Probably caught 60 fish total BUT I caught my biggest so far 2.60. I know there are much bigger ones there. Would love to get a 3-3 1/2 pounder!!!! I plan on taking a trip back down there in 2020 but this time id like to stay a solid week. So I am just trying to get some info to get the best out of my trip. Its about 5 1/2 hour drive for me which is the furthest that I have been for a crappie!! LOL I have caught them long lining, tight lining mainly with jigs but have used minnows as well. Are there any good Crappie Guides that could maybe at least get me gonging the right direction. Thanks for your help!!!!

I would contact TC Lloyd 843-307-6678 with Southern Angling Guide Service for a guided crappie trip. He is T.C. on here I believe.