October is the prime month for overall fishing on the Santee Cooper lakes, according to several professional guides. To begin with, both Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie offer great largemouth bass fishing. The crappie fishing continues to be excellent, and the striped bass fishery opens on the first day of the month after a 4-month closure. In addition, October is generally regarded as a premier time to hook into a heavyweight catfish.
For many, the top target will the largemouth bass, and according to guide Inky Davis (803-478-7289), October rates as one of his favorite months for a variety of reasons.
“First, the water has cooled enough that the fish are actively chasing forage, and that sets up a great fish-catching situation,” Davis said. “One of the best things is that bass can now be caught on a wide variety of lures, with crankbaits being among my favorite. Fish will bite crankbaits throughout the day but can also be caught on spinnerbaits, topwater lures and several different bottom-bumping baits.”
Davis said that the schooling action is outstanding, and heavy-bodied lures that can be cast a long distance are ideal.
“I prefer a Little George that I can sling out there a country mile,” Davis said. “Often that’s the key to success: just get the lure to a topwater feeding fish, and you’ll get bit. Swimming-minnow lures are also very good. I prefer the heavy lures for schooling fish because it is very annoying when a big bass surface feeds and he’s just out of reach of a typical lure. So I keep a couple rods rigged just for schooling fish that I can grab and cast quickly.”
He added that another key to success is the forage.
“The threadfin shad have reached a size where bass are working them hard,” Davis said. “You can work lures that dig down from four to 10 feet around a variety of cover for excellent results. I usually prefer a chartreuse pattern crankbait, but a black-back, silver-side shad imitation is also very effective. But find the shad, and you’ll find the largemouth.”
Another Davis, Kevin Davis, owner and guide at Blacks Camp (843-753-2231) said this fall should be a sensational striper season.
“The striper fishery has really made a strong comeback,” Davis said. “This spring, just before the season closed, we were catching a lot of keeper-sized stripers. I think with a full summer of protection and heavy feeding on the shad and other forage, we’re going to have an outstanding fall season. There will be some excellent schooling action in both lakes during October, and live-bait drift fishing will also be productive.”
October is also a big month for catfish on both lakes, and huge blue and flatheads are caught every year. Many catfish anglers consider it to be one of the best months for big fish.
Most of the action on flatheads will be in Lake Marion by fishermen anchoring and fishing live bait or fresh cut bait, according to several guides. Blue catfish will be caught using cut bait with flat-line rigs fan-cast around the boat. Channel catfish can be targeted fishing the edges of the drops with cut shad, nightcrawlers and stink baits.
But one guide begins to catch some monster blue catfish in shallow water during October on Lake Moultrie.
Guide Marlon Ormseth ((843-825-4713 said that as the month progresses, he’ll begin to catch fish in very shallow water, particularly at night.
“During October, blue catfish can be targeted and caught in shallow water drifting at night, and I’m talking water less than 10 feet deep,” Ormseth said. “The presence of forage in the vicinity is the key to this shallow fall fishing, regardless of the depth of water.”
“Daytime fishing also gets very good again; look for the fish to be in water 15 to 35 feet deep, especially along the drops and ledges,” he said. “Good baits include cut herring, shad or perch. We’ll catch a lot of fish in the 10-pound class, but plenty of 20- to 30-pound catfish are taken — and a few monster-sized fish as well.”
Both lakes produce good crappie fishing during October, and some of the crappie will begin to scatter into shallow cover. For those fish, it’s a hunt-and-move type fishing — catching a few here and there — but you can end up with a good catch if you work at it. However, the dependable fishery for most guides is the sunken brush in 10 to 20 feet of water.
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