The summertime catfish report on the Santee Cooper lakes shows many blue cats being caught. Capt. Kyle Austin’s anglers are catching plenty of them at night, which helps beat the heat. But the daytime bite hasn’t been bad.
Capt. Jason Wolfe of Wolfe’s Guide Service has a two-part strategy for summertime cats on Santee. First thing in the morning, he likes to anchor down in fairly shallow water. He baits up with cut baitfish, casts out a spread of six to eight rods, sets the rods in the rod holders, then waits.
Wolfe suggests anglers leave the rods in the rod holders until the rod is doubled over. Many anglers try to set the hook, which he said is a mistake. The circle hooks he uses will do their job once the fish commits. And the action of his Catch the Fever rods coupled with the reel’s drag will allow the catfish to swim away long enough for the hook to embed itself in the corner of the fish’s mouth.
As the fish continues to swim away, the rod finally doubles over. Sometime the drag begins to sing, letting you know that a true fighter is on the line
As the sun gets up and the day begins to warm, the catfish leave the shallows, so Wolfe does too. He heads for deep water, usually on the main section of the Lower Lake. Here, he replaces his weights with Drifting Stix, then casts all his rods again. And once again they go in rod holder.
Now, Wolfe suggests his anglers kick back and watch the rod tips. As they drift over humps and deep holes, the bait is being presented to catfish of all sizes. When one takes the bait, you’ll know it quickly.