Not that much is known about catfish because for years nobody cared. Several "studies" have been going on about catfish the last couple years with little feed back on the subject. One study said in a good lake with plenty of bait fish a cat could grow to a decent size. (30lbs I think) in 15 years, it would take longer with a less productive lake. Fishing is not a natural predator to the catfish, If they were not fished for I think there would be some much larger catfish in a lake. Natural progression would probably be larger cats eating smaller cats. Our "help" is not needed in growing these fish, I think our "help" would be to leave them in the lake for someone else to catch and release. Some people say you can't "fish out" a lake. But then I think about all the fishing restrictions on the ocean. Fish are very protected on the ocean, size limits, number of fish you can catch and some fish can't be kept at certain times of the year. So if the ocean can be harmed by reckless fishing most certainly a lake could. I'm not that old, If I catch a catfish that is as old as me...what right do I have to take it? I take my picture with the celebrity catfish and send it back out. These Monster cats are real trophy fish and should be protected like any other fish. EX. Try jugging for trout.

jerry9497
Jerry Arnold
Tobaccoville, NC

CPR (catch photo release) is a touchy subject among many anglers today. While some anglers see fit to eat what they catch in todays world there seems to be a more dedicated group pushing for the release of trophy size fish for future generations to enjoy. These groups/clubs are popping up everywhere and have started pushing for more laws to protect the trophy fisheries through the state wildlife depts. Until recent years catfish was left to fend for themselves with unlimited harvest on every body of water in the Carolinas. These fish are not stocked on a yearly base like alot of states are doing. The fear over over harvest of trophy fish has became a major concern for these clubs. These trophy fish are the base for the production of eggs in any waterway. Current NCWRC studies show a 60 lb fish out of badin lake to be in the 15-16 year old range. Jugging has taken its toll on the trophy fishery of badin lake due to unlimited laws in the past. While jugging can be seen as fun for the beginning angler with a aggresive approach at landing a trophy size cat. It can also pose a threat to the trophy fishery with unlimited harvest. The NCWRC has done studies through gill netting and shocking with limit success on gaining enough trophy fish to complete their studies...currently. Thus many dedicated catters along the Yadkin chain of lakes seek CPR on a personal base to protect the tropy fishery. With that said CPR can have its disadvantages on some bodies of water also where water temps never really get low enough to stop the urge for the cat to stop spawning. Santee Cooper comes to mind....tons and tons of fish are harvested on a weekly base out of santee while the numbers seem to hold there on. Hard to believe when in the mid 60s less than a 1000 blues was stocked into that big body of water. Santee is a catfish growing machine. Without harvest too many other fish will pay the price for the more dominate catfish. So CPR can have its advantages and disadvantages depending on location/climate. Even with CPR the smaller fish must be removed to control the populations. The smaller cats carry less contamination and therefore are better table fair. So CPR can be a great tool for the trophy fisheries when harvest to control numbers is done through smaller fish.

Santee Cooper has been known for decades as the Catfish Capital of the World. Here I have 19 confirmed World Records on fish up to 100.5 lbs. I have caught 4 fish from 90 lbs to 100.5 lbs here. I truly believe when fishing Santee your next strike can truly change your life.

We catch BIG FISH year round here. I weigh and record my fish everyday. I have caught, weighed, and recorded an average weight over the last 6 years straight of 45,000 lbs of fish each year. THERE IS NO BETTER SEASON OR TIME OF YEAR TO CATCH BIG FISH HERE!!!! WE CATCH THEM YEAR ROUND! There is just different style fishing per seasonal changes! All we do is just change what depth water, and style of fishing depending on the time of year! Change with the seasons and you too will clearly see the difference in your catch weights TOO.

When you come to Santee fishing you need to come prepared with the right equipment. Big Catfish demand the best equipment. Most medium weight fishing equipment can handle just about any size fish as long as you are in clear open waters. Clear and open is NOT Santee Cooper. People tell me all the time “ I hooked up on a monster and never turned it around”. You want a monster catfish, come prepared! Dream shots of fish 80 to 100 lbs don’t happen everyday. But when it does you want the best chance you can get! Your equipment is the only thing between you and that MONSTER Moby Catfish!

The upper lake called Lake Marion literally has a tree or stump every 4-10 feet apart. It was never completely logged out. Hurricane Hugo came threw and broke 99% of the trees off just under the surface. The Lower lake, Lake Moultrie is different. It has more open waters in it with a lot of under water humps with stumps in the shallows.

The first thing I EXTREMELY recommend is a GOOD DEPTH FINDER AND GPS SYSTEM. I use a Lowrance 113 CHD Graph myself. It has a Great Contour map showing water depths, and by being a GPS (Global Mapping System) I can go find were I want to fish in the deep darkest night, or even in heavy fog. Winter and spring we have heavy fog banks come in.

By knowing how to use a GPS I can go out fishing, and come back in safe fully threw the fog. IT can save your life by having one, but, will definitely improve your fish catch! Buy one that you can afford. It doesn't take the most expensive graphs out there, But as you spend more on it, you get better details on it!!! Have one when you come!

There are 2 main different styles of fishing at Santee Cooper that really produce fish, and that I recommend.

1: is Drift Fishing dragging your baits across the humps, riverbeds, and open waters.

2: is Anchored Down Bottom Fishing or some like to call it Flat lining.

If you are coming to go Drift Fishing I am a 100% true believer in 1 particular outfit. It is a Shakespeare 8 foot Ugly Stik Tyger Downrigger Rod. Put a Pflueger Trion 66 reel. No one can convince me that there is a better outfit in the world than this one for drift fishing at Santee Cooper. We have put 2 fish in my boat over 90 lbs and numbers of world records in the boat with this outfit. This outfit will work for Drift fishing and Bottom fishing depending on how it is rigged.

Spool the reel it with 25-30 lb test line. For drifting you need to rig with a slinky weight attached to a 36-inch leader of 60 Lb test. I Demand myself Fluorocarbon leaders! Put a 2 ½ inch cork little over half way to the hook and the hook I use is a Gamakatsu 5/0 Octopus Circle hook. All Colors of hooks and corks!

As far as bait goes, we use very form of bait from bream, white perch, shad, heron, shiners, mullet, crappie, and carp. I use all of them at times. Mostly I use the readily available baits they sale in the bait shops like shad, shiners, or heron. Size does not matter much. The bigger the bait is does not always produce the bigger fish. All my world records came off baitfish not over 4 inches long! I always cut my bait drift fishing. I have 7 world records on flathead catfish and they all hit cut bait. Bottom fishing sometimes I use live. But most of the time I cut it.

When Drift Fishing I always want to be drifting up, or down a hill, across a riverbed, and when the fish get in to the big flat areas I make long drifts across the flats.

The object of drift fishing is to COVER A LOT OF GROUND. Putting your bait in front of the most fish. Sometimes we make drifts as long as 7 miles in a day. If we are catching fish the whole way we don't stop and start a new drift. We run out of bites we go back and start a new drift. As long as we are getting bite " YOU NEVER LEAVE BITING FISH!"

Anchoring Down and Bottom fishing takes different equipment than Drift Fishing. We have put 2 more fish over 90-100.5 lbs in the boat doing this style fishing. On the more open waters I use a Shakespeare Ugly Stik Big Catfish Rod, Topped with Shakespeare Tidewater size 20 reels. I spool with 30-60 lb test line using everything from a 1 ½ oz to as much as 4 oz of lead sinkers on a Carolina Rig (Carolina rig is a 1-2 foot long leader of 60 lb test with a Double Barrel Swivel on one end and anywhere from a 7/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook to a 10/0 Eagle Claw 084 style hook on the other end. The weight is above the swivel on the main line coming from the rod so it will slide up and down the line).

We bottom fish everything from 2 feet deep water to the deepest we have here about 60 feet. Depending on time of year and seasons. The key is DON’T SET OVER 30 MINUTES IN ONE PLACE UNLESS YOU ARE CONSTANLY CATCHING FISH. When the fish bite slows down and quits, MOVE! The bait is the same for bottom fishing as well as drift fishing.

When we Bottom fish in the spring we fish from 2-15 foot deep water. Thru the summer every depth for the fish are scattered. In the winter we fish on deep ridges, humps, and break lines, and riverbeds.

Now Bottom Fishing in the rivers, canals, and in the heavy timber is highly recommended.T he Shakespeare heavier Ugly Stik Tyger Rod topped with a Tidewater size 20 reels. Spooled with 60 lb test line only and TIGHT DRAGS! Same Carolina rigs apply here. You want this heavier rod and bigger line for the abrasion resistance against the lake structure. You will need the heavy backbone of these rods to be able to pull the fish out from around the heavy structure, and threw the heavy water currents. IF YOU GET THAT DREAM SHOT ON THAT MONSTER CAT IT WILL TAKE THIS HEAVY EQUIPMENT IN THE STRUCTURE!

Now once you catch that big fish there a alot of controversy over Keep It, or Release It! Now as far as Catch and Release is Concerned, I am told by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources that the people fishing with rod & reels cannot impact these lakes. As far as big fish, if it is your biggest fish you ever caught and if you want to keep it, KEEP IT! IT’S YOUR FISH, IT’S YOUR DECISION TO KEEP IT OR THROW IT BACK. It will not hurt the system if you keep it. Keep what you can eat and release the rest is my motto. Leave some for seeds.

Most people only get to come here to fish a few days a year to fish, so don’t think you going to impact the lake by taking your fish home. Now if you fish like I do close to 300 days a year that is a different story. First of all, What can you do with all that fish! As long as it is being eaten, I personally see no problem.

But now I can tell you from experience. Those big fish are not good to eat in my opinion! Up to 40 lbs the fish are good eating. After 40 lbs the physical grains of the meat are so large that the meat gets tuff, and grainy. I prefer the 15-35 lb fish to eat myself.


Before hurricane Hugo we fished much different because the ecosystem was different. The fishing styles we used then don’t work so well anymore. The ecosystem took a huge changed after Hugo. So I had to adapt with the changes, or go by the way side.

I have fished at Santee Most of my Adult life. I have been guiding since 2000. Because of learning the habits of the fish I chase, and adapting to whatever style of fishing it takes I CATCH FISH EVERYDAY.

The only thing that has changed is were I fish, what methods I use, and the style of fishing I will do. The earth is forever changing and all water systems change as they get older just like people. From the first day a lake is built and flooded mother nature starts right then trying to reclaim it Flood water moves a lot of dirt, and silt with it filling in and changing bottom depths. I have seen bottoms wash out deeper, and seen them fill in making them shallower.

I think temps are more important than clarity, and temps during the time of year fishing. Flatheads become lethargic and shutdown when temps get below 50*, where Blues become more active and easier to catch as water cools from summer into fall and winter.

I know most guys use bream, goldfish, or gizzard shad for flathead fishing, the key is live and frisky baits, although sometimes cut baits will catch them. Blues prefer cut baits, I prefer large pieces of cut bait as I don`t normally fish for eater size fish. (under 10 lbs) We are mainly CPR and believe all fish over 10lbs should be released to let other fishermen enjoy catching them too.

Winter blues in the daytime is an excellent fight, when water is anywhere between 40* and 70*, it can be too cold sometimes to stay out at night to catch them but some do it with luck, a little too cold for me, especially when you can catch them during the daytime. Flatheads can be caught day or night once the water gets up to 50*. When the water is warming up from winter during the day, it is one of the times cut bait will work. Flatheads are looking for easy meals during this time because they have not likely eaten anything all winter long. And one of the best cut baits is a crappie fillet and carolina rig.

At Stuffy’s Taxidermy and Game Processing, a family affair it is and 21 year old daughter Candace Dulin is a master of her craft when it comes to taxidermy.With dad (Danny Dulin) running the day to day operations Candace focuses on the taxidermy side of the business and according to dad “she is the expert when it comes to mounting all types of game animals, especially deer”. And I have to agree after seeing some of her mounts in the stores showroom.
Candace was first introduce to taxidermy at age 15 by mom (Sandy Dulin). Mom was taking taxidermy classes at Montgomery Community College and Candace begin attending classes with her at that time. After the classes she attended with her mom she served as an apprentice for (4) years with another taxidermist in the area and continued to develop her artistic skills and reputation as an accomplished taxidermist.