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Dock Talk: Santee Cooper Lakes 2026

Will the abundance of vegetation be a game changer in the tournament?

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Photography by
Andy Crawford
Captions by
Craig Lamb
Welcome to Dock Talk, Episode 6 of 9 for the 2026 season. Practice is wrapping up for the Yokohama Bassmaster Elite at Santee Cooper Lakes. Lots at stake this week. Now is the time for some to tighten up Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year points to keep inside the Classic cut. For others, the window of opportunity is beginning to narrow to get in. Photo: Craig Lamb
Notables for the week include a non-forward-facing sonar derby. Aquatic vegetation and especially eelgrass is flourishing, resulting in improved water clarity and more habitat throughout the cypress-filled waters of Lake Marion, the upper lake pundits say holds the winning catch. Photo: Craig Lamb
Luke Palmer
“I think someone who catches them shallow will fall out quick if they just do that. It could happen because of all the vegetation, but the color of the water has completely changed,” Palmer said.
“Two feet of visibility was a lot of clarity when I won here three years ago. That’s all changed. The vegetation has added more water clarity and the fish are educated, they can see better now.
Cody Huff
“I think it could be won shallow or deep. I’ve stayed offshore. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of them out there so that tells me there still are a lot of fish on the bank,” Huff said. 
“There are bluegill spawning on the bank, so that could be a key. 
“What I’m trying to do is find where the bass are located given the postspawn transition, so they could be somewhere between the bank and offshore areas.”
Hank Cherry 
“I think it will be won shallow by fishing a mix of grass, the cypress trees and fish on bed and guys who are keying on the bluegill bite. So those four main patterns,” Cherry said. 
What is ‘shallow’ this week? “The main strike zones will be in 10-feet of water or less.
“The vegetation has really changed this lake. Where you might have predicted 14 pounds a day to stay in contention it’ll be more like 19 or 20.”
Austin Felix
Shallow, deep or both? “I’m going with mid-depth given where my fish are in postspawn,” Felix said. “For me that’s three to 10 feet for where I’m finding the fish.”
Will the grass be a factor? “Oh yes, a big factor. It’s repositioned the fish. It’s eliminated the brushpiles as the main type of habitat.
“They now have all the vegetation, the eelgrass, to transition to in postspawn, all the ambush points it’s created. It’s a different ballgame.” 
Lee Livesay
How has prolific existence of vegetation changed the lake? “It’s had an obvious benefit on recruitment. There are a lot more fish in the lake, or being caught, than last time (2023),” Livesay said. 
“You get lots of bites, but they are smaller in size.”
Given that can you put together a solid grass pattern, or must you bounce around? “There are different patterns going on in the grass. Whether or not those can be sustained throughout the tournament is yet to be seen, at least for me. Where I’ve found them so has everyone else, so it will also come down to fishing pressure.”
Chris Zaldain
Given the vegetation and later seasonal timeline for this tournament what can we expect? “The water is so remarkably clearer than ever. It’s practically Lake Murray ‘clear’ in some areas,” Zaldain said. 
“That will open so many more opportunities beyond the traditional application here of using spinnerbaits in the stained water. They hardly won’t touch it. That gives me a shot with a swimbait. 
“Probably 90% of the fish have spawned. They are on the move so that’ll also be a game changer compared to when we were last here in 2023.” 
Bill Lowen
Vegetation. It’s one of your favorite topics. Given the sheer size of these two lakes how do you sift through it all to find the bite? “It’s not easy. I spent three days in The Jungle and part of it is inaccessible because the grass is so matted over,” Lowen said. 
“At this point it’s almost the reverse of what we had the last time. Instead of looking for what little grass there was its more about finding areas without grass. 
“It’s really a different lake probably for the good, and very clear on top of that.”
Seth Feider
What would this tournament be like with forward-facing sonar? “The weights would be insane, well over 100 pounds, because you could target individual fish offshore,” Fieder said. 
“Instead, what we have is a traditional postspawn, summertime derby even though some are still spawning. 
“It’s all about finding how the fish are setting up and where with the vegetation. There are lots of fish, but they are all averaging the same weight, on the low end.” 

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