Adventure Fishing in the Swamp: Santee-Cooper, South Carolina 

Clay Lucas
6/30/25

Deep in the heart of South Carolina lies a fishing destination like no other. A dense, disorienting, flooded cypress forest chock full of gators, osprey, sunken boats, and trophy largemouth bass awaits the adventurous kayak angler...

Santee-Cooper is the collective name for the Santee-Cooper Reservoir, which comprises Lake Marion on the upstream end and Lake Moultrie on the downstream. The Congaree and Wateree rivers come together to form the Santee River shorlty above Lake Marion, and further downstream it becomes the Cooper River below Lake Moultrie. At the time of the reservoir's construction in the 1940’s it was one of the largest hydroelectric projects in the country. Famously, this project spawned the birth of freshwater striped bass fishing. As an androgenous species, striped bass swim upstream from the salt to spawn in freshwater, and when the dam was put in place, it landlocked a population of fish. In the years after the dam was completed, anglers and biologists noticed healthy populations of stripers spawning and continuing to thrive solely in the freshwater, which had never really been observed before. This led to stocking programs of striped bass in freshwater lakes all over the country and cemented them as a staple of sportfishing. In addition to striped bass, Santee-Cooper is also famous for trophy catfish, shellcrackers, and what we were chasing of course – largemouth bass.

Though I grew up in Georgia, a lot of my time as a kid was spent visiting family all over South Carolina, between Camden, Charleston, and Easley, but I’d never been to the storied Santee-Cooper. When we had the opportunity to take a fishing trip with Feelfree down there this spring, I was thrilled and jumped at the chance to finally explore this corner of South Carolina. None of us knew exactly what we were getting into, other than rumors of great bass fishing under a flooded cypress forest, which sounded pretty cool, and like something we should go check out! So with not much of a plan, I booked literally the only air b&b I could find in the area, which just happened to be right across from a boat ramp that looked like a decent place to start fishing. So Jake, Colin, Jonathan and I loaded up the trailer with our fishing kayaks and a variety of tackle and hit the road, planning to figure it out along the way. 

After a 4 AM wakeup call and a 4 hour drive, we arrived at the lake to find gusty 30 mph winds and a severe thunderstorm warning in effect for the afternoon. Not to be dissuaded, we waited out the weather for a little bit and found a window before the big storm rolled in to hit the water. Opting to stay close to shore due to conditions was a good call for us, and after a couple of hook-ups that didn’t quite come to fruition and a nice catfish that took Jonathan by surprise, the boys caught a couple of nice 5lbers back-to-back to kick off the trip! Escaping the imminent weather, we high tailed it back to the ramp and headed to the local Mexican cantina (per usual) in Santee to properly fuel our bodies with burritos and Modelo for the long day of fishing ahead.

Another early wake-up call ensured getting to the boat ramp before the sun came up, and we found much calmer conditions than the afternoon prior to make the 2-mile open water crossing to the flooded timber forest across the lake from us. I had spied this huge tract of flooded timber on google earth, and after zooming in saw a few boats so figured this must be a decent spot to fish, so off we went!  The Lures and Dorados gave us plenty of confidence for the crossing – even with years of experience in all kinds of water, being in such a small boat on such a large body of water can be a little unsettling. With nothing more than a google earth image on my phone to go off of, we arrived at the massive stand of trees in front of us and crept our way into the forest. Within a few hundred yards of sleathily floating through the trees, we lost our sense of direction entirely. Channels would appear through the trees, twist and turn and then turn into impenatrable brush right in front of you. It was truly a unique and extremely disorienting place to start fishing, but once getting acquainted with our surroundings, of course we got some lines wet and got down to business.

The fishing was slow going at first as we tried to figure 'em out, where they were sitting, and what they would bite but after a little while we started getting some action and it wasn’t long before we had a few fish landed in the kayaks. Casting straight at the trunk of the trees was the key to success, the closer the better. A black and blue senko worm was the money bait but we also got bites on spinners and chatterbaits as well. The hours of the day flew by as we aimlessly crept deeper into the swamp, following the path of least resistance to the juiciest looking water. 

Alligators cruised in the shadows and sunned on downed trees, and ospreys were ever present in the trees above – the fauna combined with the dense forest, draping spanish moss and stained water gave the entire place a totally prehistoric feel – and gave us a true sense of adventure being in such a wild place. Fishing for largemouth in the southeast does not always provide the most adventurous of days, it’s usually a lot more technical fishing in more standard looking bodies of water – but fishing on Lake Marion felt like a true backcountry experience. It is a place worth visiting whether you are fishing or not, and to be honest I could have paddled around out there all day just exploring.  

As late afternoon rolled around, we had to force ourselves to put the rods down, and figure out where the hell we were and how we were going to navigate back through this maze and find the main channel of the lake again! Google earth was again supremely helpful for finding a heading and some relatively clear water to motor back through. The Motordrives were welcome after a taxing day in the sun, and we carefully made our way back through the swamp to the main lake, avoiding the maze of hidden underwater tree stumps and false channels. 

After a marathon 8-9 hour day on the water, it was time to crack some cold drinks and fire up the grill back at the house. I had brought a couple of ducks Jake and I shot over the winter, and turned ‘em into some killer jalapeno poppers for an appetizer before throwing some steaks and veggies on for a certifiable feast. You really couldn't dream up a better fishing trip, spending all day on the water, followed by sitting around the porch watching the sun go down, trading fishing stories from over the years, and thinking about the next day ahead of us back in the swamp. 

Till next time...