September 10
Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.42 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 75.27 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Water temperatures are down to around 83 degrees and clarity is very high in the lower lake. The upper lake is a bit dingier.
With many of the state’s best bass fishermen headed to Santee Cooper for the Carolinas Bass Challenge event this weekend, for this week’s report we decided to check in with a Santee bass expert who will not be fishing on Saturday and doesn’t mind giving his frank appraisal. Captain Steve English (843-729-4044) acknowledges
August 26
Santee Cooper water levels are up to 76.09 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 75.55 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Water temperatures are have dropped to about 80-85, and so far clarity is still good even as dirty water moves towards the system.
It’s August on the Santee Cooper lakes, and Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
July 29
Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.60 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 75.47 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Water temperatures are in the upper 80s to lower 90s, and overall clarity is good.
Even though bass fishing is seasonally tough on the Santee Cooper lakes, Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
July 17
Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.49 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 75.43 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Water temperatures are 88-90 degrees, and overall clarity is good.
It’s not exactly the peak time for fishing – let alone bass fishing – on the Santee Cooper lakes, and Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
June 26
Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.90 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 75.48 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Water temperatures range from about the mid-70s to low 80s because of all the cool freshwater coming into the lakes, and overall clarity is good.
Even though water temperatures are relatively mild on the Santee lakes, Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
June 9
Santee Cooper water levels are at 76.38 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 75.20 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Surface water temperatures are in the mid-80s in the morning. The lower lake is clear while the upper lake has improved from muddy to just dingy.
There have been some really good bass catches recently on Santee, and Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
June 2
Santee Cooper water levels are at 76.72 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 74.89 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Surface water temperatures are around 80.5 in the morning, and the upper lake is very muddy which is also coming to the lower lake.
Even though it could come back on the next full moon the shad spawn seems done for right now, and Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
May 20
Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.90 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 75.07 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Water temperatures are around 74 degrees in the morning and the lakes – which have been dingy to clear – are about to get very muddy.
The bass are still shallow on Santee Cooper, and Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
May 12
Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.79 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 74.75 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Water temperatures are in the upper 60s. The upper lake is muddy while the lower lake is just colored.
The bass remain in a similar pattern on Santee Cooper, and Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
April 30
Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.71 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 75.26 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Water temperatures are in the upper 60s and both lakes are dingy with so much wind and some recent rain. The canal is muddy.
The bass fishing remains strong on Santee Cooper, and Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
April 15
Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.46 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 75.15 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Before the mud from Sunday’s rain arrives the lakes are clearing, while morning surface water temperatures have dropped back into the upper 60s and lower 70s with the cold snap.
The bass fishing remains excellent on Santee Cooper, and Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
March 31
Santee Cooper water levels are at 76.25 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 74.43 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5) and the lower lake is dirtier than the upper lake. Water temperatures have gotten as high the low to mid-70s in places.
The bass fishing is wide open and pretty fantastic right now on Santee Cooper, and Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
March 25
Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.20 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 74.90 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Water temperatures have risen into the 60s and the lakes have cleared considerably.
There might be other ways to catch bass on Santee Cooper, but Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
March 12
Santee Cooper water levels are at 76.57 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 75.15 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Water temperatures range from the upper 50s to low 60s, and the whole lake is still muddy.
It’s March on Santee, and Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
February 28
Santee Cooper water levels are at 76.36 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 75.01 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). The whole system is muddy, and water temperatures have dropped into the low 50s.
When bass are able to move away from extremely dirty water that is often what they will do, but when there is no clean water to be found they have no choice but to get used to it. And figuring out how to adapt to the mud is exactly what Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
February 18
Santee Cooper water levels are at 76.39 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 74.73 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Surface temperatures in the lower lake are around 55 degrees, but with so much inflow the upper lake is running closer to 50. The whole system is muddy, and even though some areas are slightly cleaner it is generally not much.
To say that the Santee Cooper lakes are muddy is really an understatement, and Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
January 24
Santee Cooper water levels are at 76.29 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 74.88 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Surface temperatures have dropped all the way into the low to mid-50s in some places, and there is still a ton of dirty water moving through the system.
It was always an anomaly to have almost a week in the 70s that pushed water temperatures into the 60s in January, and the cold front of the last week has been a reminder of just that fact. Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
January 14
Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.83 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 74.47 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Surface temperatures have risen into the low 60s in some places, and the water ranges from stained to muddy.
All of this warm weather has completely changed the bass bite on Santee Cooper, and Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
December 22
Santee Cooper water levels are at 74.50 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 72.81 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Surface temperatures range from about 47 to 52, and while the lake is not yet muddy it could be getting there very soon with all the recent rains.
The bass bite has been pretty good on Santee Cooper, and Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
— October 31 Santee Cooper water levels are at 73.21 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 73.17 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Morning surface temperatures are in the mid-70s but should drop with the cold front. Santee Cooper bass fishing is a tale of feast-or-famine, and in the Carolinas Bass […]
— The newest Santee Cooper fishing report can be found at: http://www.anglersheadquarters.com/ahq-insider-santee-cooper-sc-fall-2019-fishing-report/ August 21 Santee Cooper water levels are at 74.92 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 74.83 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Morning surface temperatures are in the mid- to upper 80s and without much rain clarity is good. There continue […]
— The newest Santee Cooper fishing report can be found at: http://www.anglersheadquarters.com/ahq-insider-santee-cooper-sc-summer-2019-fishing-report/ June 21 Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.74 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 75.22 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Surface temperatures are in the low to mid-80s, and the upper end of the system is fairly muddy because […]
— The newest Santee Cooper fishing report can be found at: http://www.anglersheadquarters.com/ahq-insider-santee-cooper-sc-summer-2019-fishing-report/ June 6 Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.48 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 75.34 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5). Surface temperatures are in the low to mid-80s, and the lake remains relatively clear. There’s not a lot of […]