If I come over to fish want time do they open (love breakfast)
Professional Crappie Removal
Safe and ethical
One rod, one jig, one fish at a time.
hobo LIKED above post
We've got one of their Jon boats reserved for Saturday. I suppose we should head up the creek, or that little cove in the other direction. We want to find some fish close enough for kayaking and the Jon boat will give us some more mobility to search & try to find fish. I don't know if crappie will be on those docks up the creek or if we can find them in brush. I have a small Garmin on my kayak but not sure how useful that would be just randomly searching with no local knowledge. We could load up the kayaks and go up to stumphole landing and from there cross into the timber on the other side. We're good with catfish even, just don't know where to even start with them. I've spent the last 30-35 years in a trout stream & really haven't kept up with the warm water stuff. Last time, only time, I was at Santee I was maybe 15. Maybe we'll find someone to point us in some direction and not spend all our time on the hunt!
Like I said at the start, we're not looking to drain the lake, and it's all about the trip and just getting away. But it IS about catching a few too as a bonus.
Thanks again for the info!
If the wind is low, going across from Stumphole into the woods is a good choice. It's one of the most productive areas that's kinda close to you. You'll love the kayaks back in the trees.
When we fish for Bream and Shellcracker we use 10' telescoping poles, basically cane pole fishing. No reel, the water averages around 6' in that area so a simple rig like with cork and hook are fine. We try to drop a worm or cricket by every cypress tree.
Good luck.I
PS But pay attention to the wind. You don't want to cross in white capping water.
Mark 1:17 ...I will make you fishers of men
Thanks for the info SeaRay. I was looking at the crossing thinking it looks like maybe 3/4 mile of open water, just guessing. No problem but yeah, high wind would be a concern. Been thinking all along the kayaks will be handy back in the trees. I plan to take some light crappie rods 8'-9' and an 11' B & M. Redworms and crickets is the plan!
SeaRay LIKED above post
Just a follow up. We went last weekend. Friday evening found just a few smallish bream and one large shellcracker right around the mouth of Poplar Creek. Saturday we tried all over Poplar Creek, found just a few keeper bream and got some nice fillets off a half dozen or so channel cats. We targeted the panfish but stumbled into these catfish willing to grab crickets or redworms. Still not what we were looking for. Sunday we took the kayaks up to Stumphole landing and paddled across. People had told us the water was way high and it was evident with the lower limbs of the Cypress in the water. We kept poking around in Stumphole and my depth finder was consistently at 7'-9'. I kept saying "We aren't going to find bream bedding in water this deep, we need to find shallower water." Ended up all the way back at the river and hit 'em in 4-4.5'. My buddy got a limit, I caught a couple dozen I guess. A mixture of bluegill, Redbreast and a few nice shellcrackers. I released a lot of pretty good size fish, my buddy wasn't quite as discriminating! All were good fish though. Fighting those big bream on an 11' B & M jigging rod was a hoot. They can get some leverage on that long rod. I caught a nice Blue cat on a 1" C. Brewer panfish jig. He wouldn't fit in the cooler and considering the numbers of gators we'd seen, I didn't think it wise to hang him on a stringer! We got two other catfish but my buddy was unhooking one that flopped back into the water. We paddled back in there Monday morning before heading home and dropped another dozen or so in the cooler. Anyway, a pretty good trip and I really appreciate all the help on here! Thanks again!
Don't know why it rotated this photo.
Inkdabber LIKED above post
Glad it all worked out. Stumphole has cabins too but not in sheltered creek like Popular Creek.
Did you eat the breakfast special????
Mark 1:17 ...I will make you fishers of men