When Rev. Bob Matthews from Ladson told me to expect we'd catch 500 to 1,000 pounds of fish on our fishing trip to the Santee River, I thought that was a top-end estimate for the entire weekend. And I would have been thrilled with that total. I have no reservations about his honesty, as Bob is pastor at the Heritage Holiness Church in Ladson, and we met through a mutual friend, Mike Cox, while shrimping in Bulls Bay. Since then, we've developed a good friendship and have been fishing and shrimping together. He also owns a farm that backs up to the Santee River and he's a self-proclaimed "Santee River Rat." So, when I was invited for a fishing trip, along with several of the members from Bob's congregation, I jumped at the chance.

The fishing was so good that we hit and surpassed his total estimate the first night we fished. We were running trotlines, as well as fishing with rod and reel. While the trotlines helped in the big total of fish for sure, the sheer mass of catfish we caught was true testimony to the number of huge fish in this river. There were simply scads of blue and flathead catfish in the 15- to 30-pound range, with a few somewhat larger than that.

The key to the fishing here is to work the deeper holes in the river for the biggest fish. However, some prime areas are to be found on the adjacent sand or gravel bars that drop into the deep water. Cut bait, both bream and shad, are prime baits for both quality and quantity of fish.

Some anglers will work the sandbars with drift rigs while anchored in the deeper water. They will cast the rig upcurrent and allow it to slowly drift back down, along the edge of the bar right where it drops into deep water. This is very effective with cut bait, or with some of commercially prepared stink baits. From June forward into the summer, the stink baits are prime baits to get plenty of bites on this river. The flatheads seldom bite the stinky stuff, but the channel catfish and blue catfish will tear it up.

For big fish, use big hooks (6/0 or larger), heavy rods and big reels. You need enough muscle in your tackle to be able to horse a huge catfish away from logs and cover.

Plus -- and this is key -- use big bait for big fish. A good method is to begin your search by anchoring at the upstream end of a deep hole. Cast multiple rigs downstream and wait about 30 minutes. If you're not getting action, pull anchor, move down toward the tail end of the deep hole and try again. Keep repeating the process until you get into the larger fish.

Fishing is good both day and night; however, on our June trip, the nighttime fishing was absolutely sensational. According to Matthews, the fishing for catfish stays good all summer and well into the fall. But June is his prime month for catfishing the Santee River.

Lake Wylie lies in both South and North Carolina, but there's ample catfishing water in our state on this lake for sure. The lake encompasses 13,433 surface acres of water and is on the Catawba River chain of lakes. It is the oldest lake on the Catawba system and has a great fishery for channel catfish and bullheads. In recent years, the blue catfish have flourished and now a number of blues in the 10- to 20-pound class are being caught.

Rodger Taylor is a professional catfish guide and Lake Wylie is one of his favorite summer hotspots.

"During the summer and certainly in June, I drift-fish the flats near the main river channel of the lake. It's not uncommon to catch 20 to 50 hefty channel catfish weighing 4 to 7 pounds each, with an occasional larger fish caught as well," Taylor said.

"These channel catfish, in that size class, seem to fight harder than any catfish of their size," he added.

He'll fish the flats along the edge of the channel and will use a circle hook on an 18-inch leader. On that leader will be a 2-inch cork float to hold the bait off the bottom and reduce the number of potential snags. Above the swivel, he'll use a sliding sinker.