Santee Cooper lake Marion ?

any of you guys ever fish Santee Cooper lake Marion, I like fishing different places. and have been thinking of trying lake Marion in SC. if you have fished it what was it like? what kind of fish did you target? how many a day did you catch and where did you launch your boat from.

I've been reading online about the lake, and about the different species of fish in it.
I read it has good numbers of striper and held the world record until 1993 and it weighed 55 lbs. and held the record for big blue catfish until 1996 and it weighed 109 lbs. and holds the SC state record for largemouth bass at 16.2 lbs. it gave up a 5 lb black crappy, and a 58 lb channel cat. so it has to be a good place to fish. I was just wondering if any of you guys could give a first hand report on what you did when you fished it. and thanks in advance for any info that you will share.

[QUOTE=waterdog101;526522]any of you guys ever fish Santee Cooper lake Marion, I like fishing different places. and have been thinking of trying lake Marion in SC. if you have fished it what was it like? what kind of fish did you target? how many a day did you catch and where did you launch your boat from.

I've been reading online about the lake, and about the different species of fish in it.
I read it has good numbers of striper and held the world record until 1993 and it weighed 55 lbs. and held the record for big blue catfish until 1996 and it weighed 109 lbs. and holds the SC state record for largemouth bass at 16.2 lbs. it gave up a 5 lb black crappy, and a 58 lb channel cat. so it has to be a good place to fish. I was just wondering if any of you guys could give a first hand report on what you did when you fished it. and thanks in advance for any info that you will share.[/QUOTE]

We fished it almost every weekend when we were stationed in Charleston SC. Actually fished Marion and Moultrie and the Diversion Canal that joins the lakes. My Dad helped Guide some for stripers back then so that's mainly what we targeted. I remember those days of hanging around and looking for birds and then racing to the big schools of stripers once we found the birds diving. I would fish that area again in a heartbeat if I could just for the memories.
I have seen several shows on tv about the fishing there and like you have seen it is fantastic.

That's where I first learned about bass fishing. I would take that old Jon boat out and fish around the cypress trees with purple/grape Manns jelly worms. We stayed/camped at Mack's fish camp or the military are called "short Sta" (that's what we called it) and it really is some of the best memories of my childhood.

The one thing I also learned is that the lakes had a lot of stumps in them back then! If you got out of the channels you were asking for a messed up prop or hull. I'm guessing a lot of those stumps have rotted away by now.

That's also the first time I ever witnessed a true Mayfly hatch. I'm talking millions upon millions in the trees and fish popping them on topwater as they fell. Just an amazing thing to see as a young boy eat up with fishing. We lived in Charleston for about 4 years.

I know this isn't what you were looking for on a post but man you took me back to some great times and memories. Dad has been gone for a few years and this really made me smile thinking of that place. Thanks!! Good luck to you if you go!