On Mon, 01 Jan 2007 15:09:58 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Mon, 01 Jan 2007 09:21:34 -0500, Jack Goff wrote:

On Mon, 01 Jan 2007 11:17:43 GMT, Tom Francis
wrote:

On Mon, 01 Jan 2007 01:06:38 -0500, Jack Goff wrote:

Before some of the non-boaters show up, let me say... I own a boat.
Was on it Saturday. The weather is nice in SC.

I'm heading down there this week to close on a house at the lower end
of Lake Moultrie.. I'm looking forward to checking out the winter
fishing scene down there.

So, as it happens, I have a couple of questions.

How is the Santee Cooper lake system fishery this time of year?
Active, non-active? Species? How about the Charleston area?

Oh, does the State support open launch ramps or are they mostly
private?

Tom, I've only been on Lake Murray and Lake Thurmond (AKA Clark's
Hill), so I can't help you with Moultrie.

From the website www.sclakes.com
"Moultrie is the sister lake to Lake Marion owned by the utility
Santee Cooper. Moultrie is 60,400 acres and is connected to Lake
Marion by the Diversion Canal. Moultrie is located in the lowlands of
the state near Charleston South Carolina. The lake's large oval shape
and huge width can draw high winds creating high seas type conditions.
The world record channel catfish came from these waters in 1964, and
the state record black crappie was caught here in 1957. Fishing guides
are available at this lake. Although not as many as Lake Marion, there
are plenty of campgrounds, marinas, restaurants, places for lodging,
and boat ramps. There is no state park on the lake, but the closest
state park is Old Santee Canal State Park."

Lake Murray is owned by SCE&G, and has a few public boat ramps, along
with several privately owned marinas. I suspect that Moultrie will be
similar. As far as fishing, again from the same website:

Lake Moultrie:

Largemouth Bass: Slow. Try plastic worms deep.
Striped Bass: Good, fishing live herring off the bottom, trolling
Stretch 25s or jigging Flex-It spoons.
Crappie: Slow. Try minnows around fish attraction areas.
Catfish: Excellent, using cut bait, shiners and nightcrawlers.
Bream: Slow. Try red-worms around public fish attractors.
Shellcrackers: Slow. Try red-worms around public fish attractors.

Thanks. I really don't have any contacts down there.

I'll hunt around for guides and see what I can scare up for a short
tour.

You'll like Charleston. Lots of history, great food.

Loved Charleston when we were down there this summer. Had a great
time. I fished the rip off Fort Sumpter with a guide out of
Charleston and had a blast - couldn't get over the quality of the
speckled trout we were catching on white shrimp imitations.

My youngest boy is a State Trooper working the Orangeburg/Calhoun
counties so that's pretty much why we're moving down there.

Plus, I hate being without a boat in the winter. :)

We have a little bit of winter here, but not a lot, and not for long.
Saturday it was 70, and it's supposed to be 60 or better all week.
We'll have a couple more cold snaps before spring, but rarely does it
go more than a couple of weeks without warming back up.

Just be prepared... on the rare occasion that we get 1/2 inch of snow,
everything shuts down. There's no salt trucks, snow plows, or snow
tires. Everyone freaks. It's pretty funny.

Tell your son that if he sees a blue Boxster, it is not to be stopped
and ticketed. :-)