I've had the great pleasure to enjoy many fun-filled family fishing trips through the years in South Carolina. First, it was with my kids, now it's with my grandkids. It was fun then and it's still fun now -- in fact, it may be even more fun now. Certainly, we still take some of the same trips we enjoyed many years ago. But it's also fun to experiment and find different places and new adventures each year.

There are multitudes of family fishing possibilities in the Palmetto State, more than I think I can ever take advantage of. But my kids, grandkids and I will continue to try to notch as many trips as we can.

There are several opportunities that I consider very reliable when taking youngsters and family members fishing. When taking the family as a group event, my focus is on fun, enjoyment and fast-paced fishing activity. That equates to finding fish quickly and catching lots of them to ward off boredom. Also, take plenty of water, soft drinks and bags and bags of food.

We'll look at several possibilities and discuss the specifics of how you can enjoy a productive, fun family fishing trip. Some will be fresh water, but we'll certainly look at some saltwater opportunities as well.

One of the places that I rely on heavily and that I frequently recommend to others is the catfish angling on Lake Wateree.

Much has been written about the big blue catfish on this lake, but that's not the fishery for youngsters. The channel catfish are super-abundant in this lake, and along with the small blue catfish that often hang out in the same places, there are many fish available.

A great example of this fishery occurred last summer when my son Brian, granddaughter, Mya, and I went to Lake Wateree in search of a cooler full of catfish.

While I have great confidence in this lake, I did hedge my bet a bit. Mya does not get to fish often and they were down from Tennessee for a week. I wanted this trip to be productive, so I took some redworms and had rigged up a couple of rods specifically for bream or white perch. Both of those species will be found in the same areas I fish for the summertime catfish.

It's not a bad strategy to be ready to catch some "alternate" fish from any body of water when you take kids fishing, as long as the alternate fish has the chance of providing fast action.

We were on the water early and motored to the lower end of the lake. We anchored on a ledge that dropped from 10 feet deep down to 22 feet. A lot of shad were marked on the graph, also a very good sign.

I cast the catfish rigs out, about six of them. Just for insurance, I baited up the two bream/perch rods with redworms and had just got the second one in the water when a catfish rod near Mya bowed over.

I grabbed the rod and handed it to her.

"Wow, Papaw, this is a big fish," was her response as she struggled with the rod. It was a nice fish but not all that big, about 2 1/2 pounds, a good, average size for this lake. I looked to the back of the pontoon at Brian and he was hooked into another catfish. I had just got Mya's rod re-baited when the one beside it took a nosedive. She and Brian were both battling feisty catfish.