Once again, a little slow. I caught 4 keepers before picking up Jazzed at the landing. We caught 2 more keepers before we left.
Posted by Rockbottom3:
quote:
With the populations decreasing rapdly in Santee Cooper Lakes - why take so many fish?
I am doing nothing wrong. All the fish are cleaned and ate 
. I will continue to catch them as long as I can! Thank you for your appreciation of such a spectacular fish. I appreciate them as well!
KeyWest
Bluewater 2020CC
Yammy F-150
Yea LynnâŚwhy you catching all the fishâŚoh yea from what i see you are the only one goingâŚ300,000 acres of water and you keep ten fish and get beat up like thatâŚwhat is this world coming toâŚI think i saw somewhere on here where they put in 2 mllion fingerlingsâŚdid you get some of them too???..bad fishermanâŚcalll me
I find it funny that some people have to try and find something wrong with someone having good fortune and having fun. According to my unit, there are plenty more fish down there [:0]. A buddy and I are going tonight. Are you able to go?
KeyWest
Bluewater 2020CC
Yammy F-150
It is all the news about the decline of the fish population and fish not living long enough to reproduce. If you look at numbers from ten years ago it is hard to argue the population is down. That being said you are following the rules and doing nothing wrong. It is up to the law makers. They are in the process of changing the rules now, so I guess you are just getting them while you can.
Thatâs true. I understand the numbers are way down. I have never hit them as hard as I have lately, but I know the laws are going to change and like you said, I am getting them while I can 
. June will be here before we know it. I feel if they are going to change the regs they should get serious and close the season all together for two or three years. The reason I say that is because there will be alot of floaters (short fish or fish caught during the closed months) on the water with the proposed changes. I guess they know what they are doing though.
KeyWest
Bluewater 2020CC
Yammy F-150
quote:
Originally posted by lynnmcdThatâs true. I understand the numbers are way down. I have never hit them as hard as I have lately, but I know the laws are going to change and like you said, I am getting them while I can
I would never assume ANY governmental agency knows what they are doing!!!
Good job on the fish man! If I had a couple nights in a row like that Iâd be out there every night and sleeping through work every day!
KeyWest
Bluewater 2020CC
Yammy F-150
Pioneer 197
I dont think Rocks question was so far out of line. I think it is a very real question. I totally understand that you are not doing a thing wrong and respect that, but I do understand the other side also that just because someone can doesnt mean they have to. I have caught stripers all my life. Growing up on the Edisto river gave me a great respect and I have seen those populations dwindle. I have seen the populations declining in the lakes. The problem is something that is gonna take a great conservation effort to turn this fishery around. I do agree with you. I think they should totally close the season. Other places have done it and it works. I have fished several places for stripers and have seen what the efforts of good conservation programs can do.
My post was not intended to be a smear on LYNMCD. My intent was to simply bring to light the fact that the fishing is terrible on Santee Cooper Lakes currently. I know LYNMCD is catching fish and he is to be congratulated as he seems to be the only one with the correct pattern at this time. I fish the upper lake and rockfish are pretty well non-existent up there. Most guides have stopped booking trips for Stripers as a result.
I have fished the Lake for a number of years and over the last 7-8 have seen a steady decline. I donât think fishing pressure is necessarily the main culprit but I do think conservation has to start with the fisherman - If we donât preserve our own resource we can never get any agency to do the same. It is very frustrating because this is our âState Fishâ and it all started at Santee Cooper. I think our state is burying its head in the sand regarding this.
I started seeing declines in bait around 7 years ago - followed shortly therafter by steady declines in fish - Spawning fish. This time of year historically the fish have moved up the river and spawned. I challenge anyone to go in the river above the Lake and have any success. The fish simply arenât there in any numbers. Spawning fish equals the future. I know that they release fish but this has not worked either. This post is simply pointing out that there is a problem. It does not offer any solution - I wish that I had one. LYNMCD is aplogize if my original post offended you - that was not my intention. âAttentionâ was my intention.
Congrats on great catches - I wish that I had your success (catch and release of course)
Steve Kight
Florence SC
I agree with all of the aboveâŚwhat i am saying is you cant catch them from the couchâŚand from what i see yea the numbers are down from 5 to 10 years ago but if yea get out there and look there a lot more fish other than the ones lynn is fishing forâŚ,.seen nice schools upper part of moultrie 2 weeks ago âŚpost on here i belive of plenty of fish on marion âŚwater bein low has slowed down the fishing for themâŚI usally only keep 1 to 3 fish but catch moreâŚand far as the guides there are still a few old timers that can put you on the fish
Cuda dawg - Thanks for reply. Please donât take this the wrong way as some people do on this site but I have to disagree with you on the population of upper lake. I have a place near Randolphâs and talk to guides often. The population is more than slightly down. Sitting on the couch has nothing to do with it. Get a guide - your choice letâs go fishing on Marion - if we catch 5 keeper fish between the two of us Iâll pay for the whole trip and post a picture of you feeding me âcrowâ on this website.
Again - I donât want to get into a pissing contest because I think we both would like to see the fishing getting better but I also do not think that minimalizing the problem is helping
I wonder if the stocked fish do not know how to run the river and spawn. Last year there were barely any fish up here on the columbia rivers. Two years ago I caught fish every time I was out. last year I went four times and caught one 12" fish. Some of those fish he got look like they should be up the river spawning, or at least staging. But they are at the dam, seems odd.
I agree Steelytom - they ought to be at least staging to go in the river especially as warm as the water is. Biologists insist that stocked fish will spawn naturally but you have to wonder. My guess would be you wonât see any fish in Columbia this year or any in the near future. There are no fish of any significance
Well lake murray is full and the river is up and flowing. So the few fish that do spawn should be successful. Plus all the hatchery fish. All of that and the soon to be restrictions should help. Seems like they should have a slot limit, but I guess the big striper probably do not release well in warm water. I just hate seeing breeding sized females killed when they so close to spawning. To survive the 5 or 6 years to get to breeding age and die a few weeks before spawning seem wrong given the state of the fishery.
Well said my friend - well said
Some very good facts and figures stated in this article.
http://www.dnr.sc.gov/wildlife/publications/pdf/fisheriesfacts.pdf
if you read the articles on catch and release you will find you are better to keep them. about 75% of stripers that are caught and released during the summer will die. Death usually
occurs later, after the fish appears to swim off healthy. i also understand that they are caught in the winter months as well. lynnmcd is my brother, i have enjoyed many fish cooked by him. nobody is going to hurt the population. the fish he has caught in the past few days cant hurt a population of thousands. if the people that are trying to draw âattentionâ to the situation could go every night and have that kind of luck, they would.
OK - I give on this one - still donât agree and by the way it is not summer now so mortality rates should be lower. If I conceed that 75% of released fish do die - will you conceed that 100% of kept fish die?
Lynmcd - congrats on the great catches
Catman, you make the comment âif the people that are trying to draw âattentionâ to the situation could go every night and have that kind of luck, they would.â Shouldnt we all be âthe peopleâ that are trying to draw attention to a very real declining population of our State fish. This is another very interesting read on the subject.
South Carolina fishing: Restrictions proposed on striped bass
Anglers and tourism officials hope size restrictions and shorter season will bolster depleted fish Santee population
By JOEY HOLLEMAN - jholleman@thestate.com
Related Content
PROPOSED STRIPER CHANGES
In a move that clashes with South Carolinaâs donât-tell-me-what-to-do mentality, a coalition of fishing guides, tourism officials and anglers is pleading with the Legislature to place more restrictions on catching striped bass.
For years, some groups ignored evidence the popular species was declining in size and numbers. Others couldnât agree on the best way to turn around the decline.
Now, after a series of meetings when they were asked, rather than told, what to do, the groups have stepped forward to say: Stop us before we do more harm.
âThrough a shared suffering, we can turn this thing around,â said Jerry Hilbish, who fishes for stripers on the Saluda River near Columbia.
The meetings led to proposed legislation, H. 4548, which would ban fishing for striped bass in the Santee River system from the Lake Murray dam south to the coast from June 1 through Sept. 30. (That includes the Broad River up to the Columbia Canal diversion dam and the Wateree River up to the Lake Wateree dam.)
The rest of the year, anglers could keep only three striped bass a day, with a minimum length of 26 inches. Currently, the year-round limits are five fish a day larger than 21 inches.
For fishermen around Columbia, the changes would cut short the striper season and steal some of the excitement from the spring weeks when the big fish run up the Congaree, Lower Saluda, Broad and Wateree rivers from downstream lake
I agree, but it is not like I am going out and having the same success day in and day out every week of the year. I had a couple of good weeks of fishing. I have no reason to apologize. I am glad that there is people that catch and release, it helps me out. As much as I would not like it, I still say that they should close the season for two or three years all together. With the raised minimum length, the chances will increase that someone will catch a short fish. If you are live bait fishing, you run the risk of a short fish swallowing the hook and ending up a floater. Same goes with trolling lures. They can get messed up pretty bad from the treble hooks. This is aside from the warm summer water aspect.
Maybe I shouldnât post here anymore my results. Just kidding, I feel that there are alot of fisherman that like reading my posts. I know I enjoy reading of otherâs success. Hey, letâs all get together and go catch a few limits:smiley:.
KeyWest
Bluewater 2020CC
Yammy F-150
yOU KNOW i WOULD BE OUT THERE IF I COULDâŚand I agree-----close the striper fishing sor several years and see what happensâŚfish under the size limit will be killed off by swallowing the bait too deeplyâŚitâs just naturalâŚand no one benefits from these dead fishâŚ
good luck Lynn and keep us postedâŚ