While the water temperature may be heating up on the Santee Cooper lakes, but don’t expect any slowdown in the fishing action. In fact, based on past history and the awesome spring enjoyed so far, June should proved to one of the more productive months of the year.
However you may have to alter where and how you fish for some species to continue to be successful.
For many, June marks the beginning of the “dependable” season for crappie fishing. Several of the guides on the lakes will quickly tell you that while the spring’s fling to the shallows for slabs is fun, the fish can be scattered and hard to pinpoint. But the month of June certainly stabilizes that fishery.
Steve English, a crappie fishing guide out of Blacks Camp (843-753-2231; www.blackscamp.com) said the fishing during June is some of the most productive of the entire year. English knows about crappie, his father and grandfather were crappie guide on the lakes as well.
“By June, the fish are back in the deeper water and will be congregating around the brush piles and other woody debris in the lakes,” English said. “I fish both lakes and have a lot of cover in both. I look forward to June and the rest of the summer for predictable fishing. The fishing is not only consistent in terms of fish-catching success, it’s actually sensational. With the excellent spawns of crappie in recent years the lakes are loaded with crappie in a lot of different age groups. I feel we are set to have an awesome season on crappie throughout the summer and fall. Last fall, winter and this spring were excellent inter terms of numbers of fish and a diversity of sizes. The crappie fishery is back and is stronger than in many years.”
Of course the largemouth bass fishing is also very good throughout both lakes. One of the biggest differences is that the fishing is very good in shallow water during June because of the abundance of weedy and woody cover and the resurgence of the bass population.
Jim Marshall of Manning said that the key to bass fishing success in June will be to cover a lot of water with different lures.
“I’ll expect to find fish in shallow water,” Marshall said. “However the fish will have transitioned from their spawning areas of March and April. But in many cases they will pull back to weedy or woody cover near drops or ledges in slightly deeper water, but still be found in relatively shallow water. This is true on both lakes. The post spawn bass may not be as fat and heavy as pre-spawn and spawning fish, but June can be a great time to catch both quantity and quality fish.”
June is also a prime time to catch lots of catfish on both lakes. Marlin Ormseth, a professional guide on Lake Moultrie, (843-825-4713; www.santeecoopercatfishhunter.com) will primarily drift-fish and make some outstanding catches on cut bait.
“The fishing for the big blue catfish gets very good during June and throughout the summer months,” Ormseth said. “My general pattern is to fish the last few hours of the afternoon and on until about mid-night. The dark hours often produce the real heavy fish, but also, just at sunset when we’re transitioning from day to night is another excellent time to catch several hefty fish in a short period.”
Of course the bream and shellcracker fishing continues to be very good throughout both lakes. The bluegill will certainly be on the beds again during the full moon in June and the shellcrackers, while not bedding as heavily, can still be caught in limit numbers in slightly deeper water. One of the best places for big shellcrackers will be along the edges of the Diversion Canal and in the shallow ditches that feed into the canal.
According to Chuck Porter, a longtime bream and shellcracker fisherman on the lakes, use worms to key on shellcrackers and you’ll also catch some bream. If you want to focus entirely on bream, then use crickets or small artificial lures such as beetle spins.
One final note is that June is also an excellent time to fish at night under the lights. Using lights to attract baitfish, anglers can expect to catch crappie as well as blue, flathead and channel catfish.
Remember the fishing for stripers is now closed until October, but the good news is the spring season was very good in terms of numbers of fish and by this fall many guides are expecting to see a lot more legal-sized fish being caught.
Terry Madewell of Ridgeway has been an outdoors writer for more than 30 years. He has a degree in wildlife and fisheries management and has a long career as a professional wildlife biologist/natural resources manager.
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