# Lake Wateree Catfishing



## Carolina Rebel (Aug 25, 2005)

Adventure bug bit me this past weekend, so in spite of the weatherman's suggestions otherwise I loaded up my kayak, tent, couple changes of clothes, cast net, food/drinks, and fishing rods and headed for nearby Lake Wateree in SC. Target species was catfish, they're pooling up near the dam at Cedar Creek in pursuit of spawning shad, and this creates an ideal kayak fishing situation. Got out there by lunchtime Saturday, quickly netted some shad from the bank, and then with storms looming I took off paddling down the river to set up camp. That done, I hit up a secret spot only to find two boats anchored up over it. One guy was having decent luck, had caught a 55lb blue cat that morning and he caught a 40lber while I was out there. Other boat wasn't having much luck, they were catching mostly small blues in the 2-4lb range. I baited up 4 rods with halves of the biggest shad I had in my bait cooler (read small water cooler from Goodwill), and with the current kicking pretty hard and the anchor trolley pegged full forward I cast two baits well behind the kayak, then dropped two straight down until they reached bottom. Caught a couple babies and missed several more before right rear reel's clicker started a slow, steady buzz. Threw her into gear and it was fight on, definitely not a baby. Drag was set pretty tight on these reels so that I can keep the fish clear of other lines and anchor, so that first tug yanked the kayak around pretty hard. Guys one one boat saw it and expressed a little concern , but I had the fish, a 15lb blue, stringered up within about 5 minutes. Would have been quicker, but in spite of it all it managed to twist itself up in another line right at the boat. After another hour or so of dealing with babies night started falling, and since I hadn't checked in with my wonderful wifey I decided to head upriver toward both the dam and the land of Sprint service. All turbines were cut off by time of arrival, and since this generally inhibits fishing I decided, after my phone call, to hit the bank, stretch my legs, and try to net some more bait. Succeeded on all counts, then paddled straight out to a deep spot right near the dam to try my hand. Baited all 4 setups with super fresh cut shad, and since there was no current I set all 4 rods pretty well straight down. Action was immediate, and within an hour I had 4 cats stringered, all in the 4-6lb range. Got a solid hit at this point on my leverdrag reel (bad juju reel, never gets hit) and caught an 8lb fish. I released one of the smaller cats in favor of this one, and as soon as he was stringered another reel started screaming. This one pulled a little better and wound up being in the 12lb range. Things slowed down then, and I called it quits around 12:15 with no more fish to show as lightning was lighting up the sky in a big way down the river, getting closer. Hit the bank, gave the 8lber away, coolered the 12lber, released the rest, and headed to the tent for some rest. Rest was the idea; the reality was a night full of deer splashing in the river and snorting, raccoons (presumably, I have no idea what it really was) milling around, splashing, refusing to run when I yelled, coyotes howling, driving rain, stringered catfish (tied to a submerged log) intermittently coming to the surface and causing a ruckus.......not too much sleep. Woke up around 6:30 to a steady, cold rain, and went back to sleep until around 8:30. Scarfed some carbs and water, donned rain gear, and got back to it at the now vacant secret spot. Started out with cut shad there which yielded more babies, not the goal. Seeing white perch pummeling the surface, I rigged up a #10 j-hook with a few split shots on a spinning rod, baited with slivers of shad, and tried for white perch. Catching was easy, and after I got 4 or 5 boated I started chopping them in half and putting them out. 30 minutes later right rear rod was buzzing nice and slow, and when I put her in gear the circle hook went right home. Catfish didn't like this, and my rod was plastered to the holder for a few seconds. Got it pried up, and this fish was kicking! While it was pulling downstream I cranked up the other line on that side of the yak, just in time as the fish charged hard toward me. Was a nice little fight, after a couple minutes though I had this one stringered, estimated 18lb blue cat. Rebaited and recast, and within 10 minutes same rod was hit, old Daiwa Sealine 30H was getting a workout! Another good fight, this fish was a non-estimated 21lbs, and I have to say after I got it stringered I was feeling pretty good about myself  Prior to that weekend, my best kayak fish was a 10lb blue cat, so my weekend was made! Things slowed down for a bit at this point, and unfortunately the wind started picking up from the north, working with the intermittent rain to make things miserable. I sat it out for around an hour, and chilled to the bone, my phone dead, wonderful wifey inevitably worried, and the task of taking down camp and paddling home in this miserable wind still ahead, I decided to wrap it up. Got two rods on right side of yak up when front left rod bent down and started buzzing slowly. I flipped the Saltist 20H into gear, then had to pry the 6' Ugly Stik out of the rod holder for the pressure from this fish. This bait had been directly underneath the kayak, and after I cranked the reel one time this fish decided to try to get that line back. Rod bowed way down, then I found the reel plastered against the hull, all portions of rod above the reel was submerged and presumably wrapped around the hull as I held on for dear life. Fish kept this up for a minute or two, but my 60lb Power Pro mainline and 80lb Trilene leader held. I thought about giving this fish some drag, but a little devil in me convinced me to keep pressure on this fish to see what happened. It finally quit pulling down and started toward the anchor line, at which point I pulled desperately the other way, managing to turn the fish. I was gaining line slowly, though the fish kept diving down, pulling for the security of the big rocks below. I finally saw my sinker, then the swivel, then a BIG blue cat, fair bit larger than any of the others. After a little commotion at the surface I grabbed the leader with my left hand, set the reel in freespool with clicker on, placed rod and reel in rod holder, switched leader to right hand, and then pulled fish into my lap with my left hand. I commenced to whoop and hollar, probably let some bad words fly, but hell I was excited! This was the biggest cat I'd ever caught, boat fish included, and by far my biggest kayak fish ever. Cold, out of white perch, and with more fish than I could bring back I called it a day at that point. Headed for camp to dismantle everything, I released all but the 21lber and the big fish, which turned out to be a skinny (spawned out) 33.5lbs. Strapped the beast to my dry hatch and paddled home, haha it was nice getting some recognition from passing boaters! 








Had a GREAT time! Can't wait to give it a shot again this weekend, got plenty of meat in the freezer for my wife and I so I'm planning on just targeting big cats for the next month or so. Will post up if I can top this one.


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## landlocked (Jun 10, 2001)

Great report for great times.


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

Awesome report. congrats on the catch.


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## JFord56 (Feb 5, 2008)

Great post and nice cats!!!!


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## redgrappler (Nov 18, 2005)

They taste great, but dang they are ugly fish  Nice catch!


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