Old Friends & A Favorite Place

Later this morning, the truck will be pointed east - headed toward Blacks Camp on the Santee Cooper Lakes. Friendly folks, fine fishing and great country cooking are just a few of the things that make Blacks Camp one of my very favorite places to visit.

We'll fish some for shellcrackers and stripers because I have some specific story needs for those species. The world record shellcracker came from Santee's dark waters, and it was there that fisheries biologists first discovered that stripers could survive in an inland impoundment after the lakes were built in the 1940s. Beyond those species, we may also go after crappie, bluegill, bass or big cats. Who knows? The options are pretty much endless at Santee Cooper.

Before we get to the lakes, though, we'll make a couple stops - first do a bit of fishing in a smaller lake I'm wanting to explore, and then to swing by a gathering of the South Carolina Outdoor Press Association in Clinton, SC. It's a three-day gathering and we'll only make tonight's dinner, but it will be a joy to see some friends from the writing industry who I have not gotten to visit with in person for numerous years.

Probably no internet on this trip, by the way, so the fishing reports will have to wait till I return. Guess I'd better get to packing now!