12-21-09 THRU 1-2-09

Let me start by saying that this is the wettest, coldest, windiest Dec.-Jan.that I can ever remember in my life time. The lake is higher and muddier than I have ever seen it for this time of the year and the results of our recent trips tell the tale! On Dec. 21 I had Mr. Patrick Wood and the boys back again and the fishing was slow. We marked most of our fish on the South side of the lake along the old river channel but the water was so muddy that the fish just wouldn't bite. We ended up going to the North side of the lake around mid-day and picked up 5 fish with no big ones. We came back to the South side to make one more stop before calling it a day and didn't get a bite. On Dec.22 I had Mr. Richard Ditmar along with his son and grandsons and we headed to Moultrie after such a slow day on the upper lake. They ended the day with 7 decent fish in the box including a 32 and a 24 pounder. We had the eighth fish up to the boat and tried to lift him into the boat without the net because he was wrapped up in another line and the hook came out and we lost him. On Dec.23 I had Jordan and the boys back again and it was slow again on lake Moultrie with 9 fish for the day with the biggest fish weighing in at 26 pounds. On Dec. 28th I had Dennis Miller and the gang down and it was so ROUGH that I knew that we couldn't fish the lower lake so we stayed on the upper lake and that was a good decision. The water was the roughest that I have ever fished in and either the fish finally started feeding or we just plain got lucky. They ended with 10 fish for their efforts and they were all nice quality fish. On Jan.3 I had Mr. Que Motley back again along with his father and son Quinn. Again, the water was too rough to fish the South side of the lake so we had to go to the North side in order to get in water that was calm enough to fish. We hooked 7 fish and only got 5 of them to the boat and no big ones. All other trips were cancelled for these two weeks because of the high winds. Hopefully the cold winds will lie down and the temps will rise a little before Jan. 16th. The weather man is calling for 20 mph. winds again for this weekend so we have had to cancel again. Looks like it may be a long cold winter for us this year.

11-27-09

I had Mr. Mark Proctor, his son Daniel, and his father in-law with me today to try our luck again on some Lake Marion cats. We went shallow at first light and picked up 3 nice cats quick but then they just quit. We managed to hit the outside point and picked up 5 more. We decided to start drifting about 11:00 and we managed to pick up 10 more before calling it quits at 2:00 with the box slap full. They managed to put 18 fish in the boat today with the biggest one weighing in at 29lbs. 14oz.

11-23-09

I had a trip planned for this week with Mr. Jeff, Jeff Jr. and Ms. Pam from Nc. We decided to do it early because of the success on Sat. and the wind was still blowing. We went shallow at first light and it was like a repeat of Sat. They managed to boat 34 catfish before noon with the biggest one being a 31 pounder. We set a new boat record today with over 550 pounds before lunch. They had 251 pounds in the box and threw back over 300 pounds with a few of them over 36 inches long. Just a unbelievable day!

11-21-09

I had Chad and the boys in from NC and the wind was blowing 20mph.+ for two days. We took a gamble and stayed on the upper lake to fish shallow water and boy was that a good decision. We put the first rod in the water at 7:35 and the box was full at 8:00. This is the fastest that I have ever seen the big fish bite. We kept 295lbs. and threw back over 120lbs. and were back to the hill at 10:00. To tell you how fast the bite was, I had a fish on the first rod to hit the water before I could get the second one in the water and it was like that for an hour and a half!

11-14-09

I had some of my repeat customers with me today, Mr. Calvin Mauldin and some of his friends as well as his wife. We managed to fill the box but the fishing really slowed around lunch time when the winds shifted from North to West. They had 12 fish with most all of them in the teens and low twenties. A really pretty box of fish for their efforts.

11-7,8-09

I had the guys back down from Hardie Inc. for a couple of days fishing and we had a blast. The bite has being better on Marion than Moultrie but the boys fished with me last year for a couple of days on Moultrie and we wore them out. I was just scared if I fished Marion and didn't do good they would think that we should have been on Moultrie so we went to Moultrie for day one. The fishing on Moultrie was slower than normal with us only boating 7 fish for the day so we decided to fish Marion the second day. The fishing was good from the start with us filling the box by 2:00. No real big fish but a box full of 15-20 pound fish and lost two big ones that wrapped us in the stumps.

10-17-09

I had Mr. Charles Ayers along with his wife, daughter, and grandson today on Lake Moultrie. The trip was a birthday present to his grandson and boy did he have a ball. He put 17 fish in the boat with most of them weighing 8-12 pounds, keeping enough for a fish fry and releasing the rest. The winds were awful early but let up around noon for us to get out and look for the fish instead of hiding. Hard to believe that we pulled this off today after such a bad day yesterday. Sometimes people don't understand how bad the weather can affect the bite. Like I always tell my customers: I am a guide, not God and I can't make them bite. However if I can't get them to bite it doesn't cost you anything and that is as fair as I can possibly be. This was their second trip with me this year and we are going to do it again in Dec. or Jan.