Fishing the Skinny Water at Santee

[Inkdabber]

With the wind expected to howl on Friday, I decided to load up the jon boat and jig poles and try to find a few fish shallow. I started out fishing a few brush with limited success. Once the winds got cranked up. I headed into a shallow bay full of trees and pads/grass and started dabbling my jigs around the structure. First tree I stuck it by produced a chunky little bass. The next couple nothing, the jig got thumped on the fourth tree only to have me jerk and miss. I pitched back in and a solid big black buck crappie commenced to pitching a fit on the end of my pole. After a good tussle, I lost him at the boat. It's tough fishing when your using an 11 foot pole, with only two feet of line hanging at the end of it fishing under trees in 20 MPH winds, but it was fun! Not every tree held a fish, but enough did that my attention was focused the entire time I was on the water. Along with 3 bass and a couple of jack fish, many fish were lost, but a nice limit was kept, and the fish were a beautiful glossy black when caught. The cooler shot doesn't do them justice, but the ones I'm holding up get my point across. Water temps reached nearly 68 degrees in that shallow flat, nearly every fish was caught in two feet or less of water around standing, live trees. Pink and blue jigs in 1/32 ounce weights were best, vertical jigging was the method used.



One of the first fish caught on the day.



You can really see the beauty in this one.



The cooler shot.

[gabowman]

It's always fun catching shallow fish. Congrats on that nice mess of males.

[strmwalker]

Ink,
that's a nice box of fish !!! their colors are awesome thanks for sharing !!! as always congrats on quality fish !!!

[lightnin]

Always enjoy your posts. Havent been to santee for anything other than gator hunting in 7-8 years, but your pictures (2nd one) always bring back fond memories even though we never had the success you do.

[STUMP HUNTER]

Awesome catch and colors on those crappie. Shallow water fishing is hard to beat when they are that size. Congrats.

[usafret99]

Now this is how to report a day on the lake (better than I went fishing here's a pic don't know why some folks bother). Great report and pics thanks. Makes me miss fishing on santee for sure.

[uncle remus]

way to go Ink thanks for the pics and report

[jonesz2]

Great report. I think I discovered your secret (the double glasses method). Hey, if you got longer arms you wouldn't need those glasses! Man those are some huge fish.

[Inkdabber]

Thanks guys, that's one of the worst things about getting older, my eye sight continues to get worse with every passing year. Unfortunately born with short arms, reading glasses are now required. lol

Great report. I think I discovered your secret (the double glasses method). Hey, if you got longer arms you wouldn't need those glasses! Man those are some huge fish.

[hollidas]

Nice mess of fish Ink. Love the tux he is wearing