SCLakes.com

Fished the Catt tx Sat Only 1 fish crankin FT SR.
The Lake was Muddy to Bad Stained Temp 63 to 65.

I have fished Wateree for many years but the last 5 are so years have been bad fishin! For me.
Any one see fishing dropping off? Thanks..

Well, Ive only been fishing that lake for 2 years now, but it isnt an easy place to fish. It changes A LOT. The fish get hammered, A LOT. I have heard it used to be a cool lake to fish, and it was easy. Now days there is a boat on every rock and chunk of wood, depending on what time of year. I fished last Saturday and caught them kinda good, while others I talked to hadnt caught a thing. Look at CATT results, those guys are out there fishing week days (I see you out there!) and probably have YEARS of exp out there. Good luck, but I choose to go other places, even though it is 32 miles from the house.

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http://www.thehookuptackle.com/
www.azbaits.com

Wateree has leveled off the since the late 90's ...we did have some good years around 2002 to 2005 but that was because the water stayed high all spring for 3 straight years...but in the 80's and early 90's the lake was full of 2 pound fish and most of the time a BF at a tourny was 4 to 5 pounds...we won the red fox in 1990 with 16 lbs and that was a 10 bass limit...there will be less pressure this year than last year because of some tounrys not coming to Wateree but in the Fall there are very few people fishing...week days in the Fall you may see 4 to 5 boats here and there...I work at the lake on Wednesdays and even in the Spring I seldom see a bass boat trailer at the ramps...the Summer fishing isn't what it once was but I think thats because of the White Perch...right now I would say Wateree is better than Murray and Wylie...

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http://www.carolinaanglersteamtrail.com

1995......those were the days. A good crank would catch 30+ fish in the 2.5 to 3.5 range any day of the week, any section of the lake, in any weather conditions. Now-a-days I can not get the wife to go with me. It is too boring she says.

Aside from the white perch, which will eat anything it can get in its mouth, people numbers are what's killing it in my mind. The fishing pressure from all of the tournaments at Wateree these days is just insane and most, sad to say, are not putting fish survive post release at the top of their list. The wife and I were heading back to Clearwater one day last month and when we went by the Dutchman area, we noticed dead bass floating in a line for about a mile. She asked what I though could have done that......I said people, there must have been a tournament out of Dutchman's that day. Its sad really.

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Z21/Merc 250

Back in 1995 there were only 4 open tourneys at Wateree and the SCTTA came every year in June plus the Red Man which is the BFL now...that was it...When I started up CATT in 1997 I intially had plans to fish because there wasn't any tournaments to fish at the time but I don't because it's a lot of work...

Since 1997 there are a lot more people bass fishing and thats the reason for so many tournaments...most tournys are 5 bass limits but I think almost all of club tournys are 10 bass limits...thats why you see more dead bass at club tournys...I had only 1 checked in this past Spring at Wateree...

As far as pressure on Wateree there is a lot but you can go during the weekdays and you may only see 2 to 4 other bass boats...as I said in the Fall the lake is deserted during the weekdays...if I had to rate which lake in the Midlands has the less pressure it's got to be Wateree...

and if people say Wateree was easy at one time then I would asked them how many times they won the larger tourneys..I can tell you a lot about crankin...I was one of the first who caught on to that in the late 80's. You could catch them like crazy in the afternoon but sometimes during tourny day it was as easy as most think...

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http://www.carolinaanglersteamtrail.com