Creel Limits for the Santee Cooper Lakes System

Game Fish:  A total of 40 game fish may be kept in any one day.  This total shall not exceed more than the limits or exceptions listed below.

Smallmouth Bass: No more than 5 fish combined total per day of smallmouth, largemouth, redeye, spotted bass or their hybrids. 12-inch size limit.Largemouth Bass: 14 inch size limit.No more than 5 fish combined total per day of smallmouth, largemouth, redeye, spotted bass or their hybrids.

Bream: (including bluegill, flier, warmouth, pumpkinseed & redear, green sunfish & spotted sunfish), white bass, chain pickerel or jackfish, redfin pike, yellow perch:  30 fish per person per day.

Crappie: 8 inch size limit, 20 fish per person per day

Arkansas Blue Catfish:  Daily possession limit of not more than 25 fish. Also unlawful to possess more than two fish greater than 32 inches.

Striped Bass: Total 3 fish
Within the boundaries of the Santee River system (including lakes Marion and Moultrie), from October 1st through June 15th, it is “unlawful to take or possess a striped bass less than twenty-three inches or greater than twenty-five inches, provided that one striped bass taken or possessed may be greater than twenty-six inches.
The season is closed June 16 – September 30