Fishing Report: Santee Cooper Lakes

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Bass: Slow to fair. Steve Harmon reports that fishing has slowed down but the pattern remains basically the same – although a surprising number of fish seem to have moved shallow in the last week or so. Early in the morning fish can be caught in shallow water where they will take topwater lures, and later in the day fish can be caught in middle depths on down. When conditions are calm soft plastics are working best for the deeper fish, and when it is windy spinnerbaits work better. Catfish: Fair. Captain Jim Glenn reports that between the heat, storms and wind there have been some difficult fishing conditions, but when anglers can get out fish can be found both shallow and deep. Some pockets of smaller fish can also be located and there are plenty of channel catfish at various depths that will take cut bait or dip baits. Crappie: Slow to fair. Captain Steve English reports that crappie fishing has gotten a lot tougher, and it’s really taking some searching to pick up random fish here and there. Fishing minnows around brush is still the main pattern. Bream: Slow to fair. English reports that the bream bite continues to be down, and while decent numbers of fish can be caught locating fish big enough to eat has been a struggle.