Santee Cooper Adventure

[Capt. Jon Tennant]

I just got back from a boat rescue/salvage mission on lake marion sc last weekend and the draw of the notorious santee catfish has some how got its grips in me,
good or bad I'm not for sure??? Got some pretty good pictures so guess I'll tell the story……………………………………



I good buddy of mine, his dad and granddad were always going on fishing trips to santee for as long as I can remember growing up. They eventually got a house boat and it has been in the family ever since…. 25+ good years I know for sure. I've been several times as a kid with my friend Dave fishing on the boat but it has been quite a while.... great times & great memories. Since then Dave’s dad and granddad have passed on and Dave had moved the boat from Polly’s landing (the long standing home port for the boat at santee) after problems with new owners over a year ago. In-between marinas and hard at work out of town he anchored it off up in a cove near lower falls (near the top of lake marion on the santee river). Last year the water got low in the lake and it was left stranded high and dry for months.

Fast forward to a week ago....

Dave now does outage work and is gone for months at a time. Talking on the phone with him, he tells me the news, "man, the scdnr is going to take my boat and scrap it if I don't get it moved to a marina & the motor won't run". already thinking O-s*** he continues to tell me, "I've got an extension, but only have till the end of the month and I can't get home in time". I quickly tell him, “I’ve got a plan!"..."I’ll just run right down there and tow it with my skiff for ya" "won't be no problem at all". (someone should probably have made the commit about famous last words lol) We worked out the plan & came to a agreement on the boat… if I’ll save it and help do the labor to fix it up, he would payroll the operation & I’d have full rights to use it. Right On!



The adventure begins…

Saturday morning me and my wife hit the road from holden beach, nc with the J-16 in tow. got to santee in good time. Made the stop at the bait shop and scored a hotspot chart for the journey... yea a chart for a lake. it looked A LOT bigger coming across 95 than what I had remembered in the past.lol got to lower falls and found the boat floating right across from the ramp where it was supposed to be.... things are going great!


Some of the fish shacks in the cove…




check out the chart.....14+ miles???.......this can't be right??? I think to myself, “sure is going be a long way to lakeside marina”. O well, time to check out the boat... got the skiff put in the water and made our way across to the house boat. Pulled along side and made my way across the rail to see what I would be dealing with. I could see the front plexa-glass door was broke out. wrote across the top of what was left of the door was a note scratched on what was left of the plexi- "sorry, boat sank in storm, was life or death", at least they left a note. Well, as soon as my weight gently rocked the boat it started..... A quick buzzing drew my attention from the debris and damaged door. The buzzing quickly turned into a rumble that I swear was vibrating the whole boat. "D***", "LOOKOUT.. WASPS!". Needless to say we had to exit stage left in quite a hurry. Back to the landing and straight to the store.




An hour later we try again, this time armed with a multitude of poison and sprays. Time for our invasion!

after a hard fought battle with god knows how many wasps and a huge hive of bumble bees I was finally able to get hooked up to the boat and get it pulled over to the ramp to do a good check before we started or tow. Turns out that not only did the bees set up camp on board, a huge water moccasin had also set up residence. "holy cow! what have we gotting into?" a good hour of poking around with a stick and several evacuations and a couple stings later we had regained control of the boat. I felt as if I had won not just a battle, but the whole dang war... heck I must be a hero or something. Well after finally looking around I quickly found out I was not so much a hero, more like the best entertainment the locals have had at the landing in quite some time.



It was almost 6:30 in the evening when we finally got pulled out of low falls into the river. It was our first time that far up the lake and i was quite surprised at the beauty as the river opens up to the lake and the cypress tress begin to thin away to open water. We made our way fairly good and decided to tie up before we got on the open water of the lake and make the rest of the tow in the morning.

[Capt. Jon Tennant]

Day two….

Put the skiff in at lakeside marina near the bottom of the lake and started the run back to the houseboat for the final leg. Took a good 45mins. to get there running hard, so I knew it was going to be a long day. After getting to the boat I could not believe my eyes… mayfly invasion! The whole back of the boat looked like that dirty kid from charley brown & the peanuts that had the cloud of flies swarming around him all the time. Thank goodness these don’t bite and after getting away from the trees and out in the breeze they quickly dispersed.
We made our way on down the channel, and then made for the side in front of the santee state park. With what seemed like the worst behind us, it would be smooth sailing from here on… it just seemed like it was on the slow boat to china….not that that was a bad thing. We couldn’t have asked for a nicer day to be on the water. The slow trip really gave us time to enjoy the scenery along the way. Got to see a couple fish get caught, several skiers and tubers, kids enjoying summer on a rope swing, sunbathers on the little beaches along the bank, & of course some stumps (some got a real good look) lol





After a little over 5hrs towing and 8gals of gas we finally made it to lakeside marina and then the real fun began… cleaning of the boat. “O BOY” several hours and a pick-up truck later, we finally got it back in decent shape and put in a slip. Getting late in the day, we loaded the skiff and hit the road home as quick as we could. Somewhere along 378 at about 10 o-clock in the middle of no-where it happened. Broke the leaf spring, tire went into the fender and blew. Had to get a roll back wreaker to tow it to Florence as we continued home for work the next morning. Finally on tuesday, an extra 4 hours driving, and a $900 new trailer my adventure finally came to an end. The only thing that keep echoing in my head were those famous last words, “i'll just run right down there and tow it with my skiff for ya" "won't be no problem at all". While all this might have discouraged a smarter person, it has only reignited my passion for freshwater fishing even more and has provided me with a great project to make it happen. I’ve already located a new motor for the houseboat and plan on being back to santee in a week to start the restoration with a really good cleaning & a new paint job. I know it’s not going to happen overnight, but in a few months I’m hoping to return “HORNE’S ARK” to its former glory and become a regular on the lake. Mr. Whiskers…. You better watch out!

Here’s a couple shots of the boat cleaned up… this is one mean lake fishing machine.









& The future for Horne’s Ark as seen through Photoshop’s glass ball….





fishing reports to come...

[Ace1st]

Jon....nice area, spent alot of time on the lake when we had our place at ANGELS LANDING.

Low Falls is BEAGLEWOMANS neck of the woods, you should give her a shout Ill bet she knows the boat.

Good Luck with the project!

[Wesco]

Great story. Keep the pictures of the restoration and any fishing coming.

[Flooringman]

John:
Great story keep us updated.

[beaglewoman]

If this is not the right one, it is the shack to the left of my pic. Looking for a better one. There used to be a shell cracker bed close to that one.

If we had known, BeagleMan and I would have gladly lent a hand at the adventure you had.

Those Mayflies are great to fish near. I am sure if they were there, then the fish were there too!!!.
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[WAHOONBOX]

THIS IS ONE OF THE WILDEST BOATING TRIPS I HAVE READ ABOUT IN A LONG TIME....

JON...VERY COOL STORYLINE!!! I LOVE YOUR DILIGENCE...AND THE PICS ARE FANTASTIC....AND A VERY EASY ON THE EYES PIC WITH THE BRIDE'S SMILE!

[Bird Dog]

Awesome story, thanks for sharing

what's the deal with the white plastic chair in the cabin with the hole in the middle? A dumper?

[Capt. Jon Tennant]

I can't wait to get some of the work done so I can try out a few tricks I've picked up from the saltwater. One very cool thing about it is My buddies dad and granddad always keep a journal of their fishing on the lake with loran #'s, time of year, water temp, bait, etc.... its almost like having 30+ years experience without putting any time in yet.

If this is not the right one, it is the shack to the left of my pic. Looking for a better one. There used to be a shell cracker bed close to that one.

If we had known, BeagleMan and I would have gladly lent a hand at the adventure you had.

Those Mayflies are great to fish near. I am sure if they were there, then the fish were there too!!!.

It was right to the left of that shack. I not sure you would have liked me too much if you seen the swarm of stingers flying around on the boat. They had to have been millions of those mayflies near the end of the river right before we were on open water... we seen the fish popping them off the top of the water around all the trees. Are there some big carp in the lake? we saw several swirls from big fish with dark backs coming out the water but didn't know what they were.

Awesome story, thanks for sharing

what's the deal with the white plastic chair in the cabin with the hole in the middle? A dumper?

that was the state of the art hopper back in the day... it even has hooks for the bucket underneath.

[gottaflylee]

Jon, this is a very cool read with great pictures, thanks for taking the time to share your adventure...