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Caught the fever - By Brad Wiegmann
What happened? I got the fever. It’s not as bad as it sounds.
It all started with an invite from Whitey Outlaw and some assistance from Ed Moes the editor of Crappie.com website. The good news for me was Ed had a prior commitment on the weekend of the Father and Son Outdoor TV and Catch the Fever media camp on Santee Cooper lakes in Cross, South Carolina, which opened the door for an invite to attend from Whitey Outlaw.
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Outdoor media fish camps open a door of opportunity for bona fide media to attend and gather content that’s produced instantly or in the future. This camp was loaded with East Coast media representatives from Trilogy Magazine with Publisher Englis Glover and columnist Jeff Dennis and Carolina Sportsman editor Brian Cope. I was the outsider coming from Arkansas to the event plus it being my first time to attend. I was there representing Crappie.com and my podcast show The Fishing Guide Podcast.
The camp started with an evening meal attended by members of the media, crappie pro, fishing guides, lodging hosts along with camp sponsors like Catch the Fever. To be honest there were probably more sponsors, but we will just say thanks to everyone that helped make this camp happen.
Traditionally meals at media fish camps are legendary and this camp lived up to the high expectations. Normally breakfast meals are something fast and easy as everyone wants to get out on the water getting content. Lunch is packed so that the anglers can keep the media out on the water. An exchange of media is done at the launch area or on the water boat to boat. Of course the evening meals are best sometime featuring local cuisine or even fresh fish.
Evening meals took place at the Boat Dock which used to have fishing bait tanks. Apparently, the structure had been in total disarray before the current owner took over and did a complete overhaul making it a premium location for eating meals with large groups.
Did I say they had fresh boiled peanuts? You can’t travel to Cross, South Carolina without finding some freshly cooked boiled peanuts this time of year. No exception here, but I did hear that these were purchased at fresh roadside market.
Another intricate part of any media camp is lodging. As luck would have it our lodging was at Hill’s Landing & RV Park adjacent to the Santee Cooper Diversion Canal in Cross, South Carolina. The camp has lodging, however, at the start of the year they will be removing the old hotel and trailers to open more RV spaces and amenities. The owners Tony and Stephanie Goodwin were the perfect hosts and were extremely active in camp activities.
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What about fishing? The media camp was two days long giving media ample time to get content for any of the Catch the Fever pro staff; in addition to Tony Cayton co-owner of Catch the Fever. I had the pleasure of being in the boat with crappie pros Shannon Suttle and Shaun McAbee that fish multiple crappie tournaments yearly. Both are accomplished anglers; in addition to being on the Charlie Brewer Slider Fishing pro staff which I plan on writing an article about in the future.
In the afternoons winds picked up on Santee Cooper Lakes so we switched gears to doing podcast shows with crappie pros and others involved in the media camp. My podcast show The Fishing Guide Podcast that is also posted on YouTube along with another podcaster doing his show in the afternoon.
The next morning Whitey Outlaw the official “ring leader” of the media camp asked if I wanted to go fishing with Tim Johnson an accomplished crappie angler and buddy of Whitey’s, however, there was a catch. Tim was going out in an aluminum boat with no trolling motor and would be in the boat all day. No way was I going to refuse an offer to see how and where Tim was catching crappie especially in a boat with no trolling motor.
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How did it turn out on the lake with no trolling motor? Well, that is a whole different story and one I will write up for Crappie.com in the future. I will say the trip was pretty amazing.
One thing that you can be sure if Whitey, Tim Johnson and Matt Outlaw along with others get together it will be entertaining. However, what happens at media fish camp stays at media fish camp so our lips are sealed. I will say that we know Whitey may or may not have pranked someone using an alligator.
Media camps are important because that’s how information on places to fish, new products; in addition to new techniques anglers are using to catch fish reach the public. In the following months you will see content that was gathered at the event posted on the internet and other publications.
