Dragging for blues

Drift Santee’s lower lake for hot catfish action

For Capt. Charles King of Capt. KingFish Charters at the Santee Cooper lakes, December is a great time to troll for blue catfish, and the Lower Lake is his favorite.

King’s favorite method of catching catfish this month is by drifting, which he said is also known as dragging.

“You really can’t beat drifting with cut bait this month,” said King (843-296-1083). “There’s no other way of covering such a vast amount of water, and so many different depths, than by drifting.”

The cut bait helps spread lots of scent in the water. And when those chunks of bait swim past a hungry catfish, they will come after it.

“This time of year, catfish can be at any depth. And on any given day, some catfish will be in 10 feet of water, and others in 40 feet of water, with still others at a variety of depths in between,” he said.

King uses a Santee rig, which employs a weighting system made up of lead shot stacked in parachute cord lining. This slides through debris more easily than egg sinkers and other weights. He fishes with multiple rods, and drifts backwards.

If the wind is blowing especially hard, he’ll drop drift socks to slow his drift. When the wind fails to blow at all, he’ll use his outboard in reverse to slowly crawl along the lake’s surface.

“Keep fresh bait on all your hooks, and keep the rods in rod holders until the fish has one loaded up,” he said. “Don’t try to set the hook on a fish. When they’re hungry, they’ll double the rod over, and it will stay that way until you start fighting the fish.”

Slow and steady

And when anglers do pick up the rod, King said it’s best to keep a controlled fight.

“Lift the rod tip, then reel as you lower it. Slow and steady, don’t get too excited. Sometimes the line will peel off the reel, and that’s okay. That’s just the fish pulling against the drag. Let it pull, then gain line back when the fish stops running,” he said.

King catches catfish in a big variety of sizes this time of year. Catfish between 5 and 25 pounds are pretty common, and every December, he puts his anglers on some much bigger, including some in the 60+ pound range.