Santee Cooper Rig Question: I was talking to some guys at the boat ramp the other day and they said they were drift fishing using a Santee Cooper rig. Can you tell me what a Santee Cooper rig is and how it is used?
The Santee Cooper rig is commonly used by many anglers when drift fishing, for many it is top rigging for drift fishing. It can also be used drifting for channels. It also is commonly called a Santee Rig for short.
This gained the name Santee Cooper rig as it allegedly gained popularity from it’s use by catfishermen on the Santee Cooper lakes, and therefore picked up the name of the popular catfishing lakes.
To make one of these you are basically using a slip sinker setup with a longer leader and adding a float. There are a number of different variations but here are the basics.
You can go to the tackle page to find links and information on all the products used to tie one of these.
Items Needed For The Santee Rig
Egg Sinkers
Barrel Swivel
Leader Line
Hooks
Peg Float
Weight – Use an Egg Sinker or if you really want to get fancy try a walking sinker or slinky weight. You can also make a modified slinky weight to use pretty easily but we will cover more on that another time. The amount of weight you use is going to depend on how deep you are fishing, the amount of current, amount of wind etc. If you are not sure what size weight to use start with one ounce and you can work your way up or down in size from there.
Barrel Swivel - Tie a barrel swivel onto your mainline below your slip sinker.
Leader – Offshore Angler Tight Line - Cut a length of 40-50 pound monofilament leader line. The length of leader is going to be something you will have to experiment with on your lake or river and again like many things with catfishing it may vary from day to day. The most common leader lengths are anywhere from 18 to 36 inches. I have used leaders shorter and longer than this it just depends on the application, wind and where the catfish are in the water column.
Peg Float – The peg float is used to hold the bait off the bottom of the lake or river. The longer the leader line the higher the bait will float in the water column. The shorter the leader line the lower it will float in the water column. Slide the peg float onto the leader line.
Hook – Tie your hook on the end after you have slid the peg float on. If you are fishing for smaller “box fish” then use a kahle hook in size 3/0 or 4/0 or a small circle hook like a
Mustad Demon Circle In-Line Hooks – Model 39951BLN 7/0. If you are fishing for trophy catfish then go with a bigger hook like the Mustad Demon Circle In-Line Hooks – Model 39951BLN
in 10/0 or a 7/0 or 8/0 Mustad Demon Circle In-Line Hooks – Model 39951BLN
.
Once you have tied on your hook, go back and slide the peg float anywhere from 3 to 6 inches from the hook and insert the peg back into the peg float.
Now your ready to start drifting. Experiment with different weights, different sizes of hooks and different leader line lengths and determine what works best for you and you can make modifications from there.
Here is a video I made that walks you through everything step by step:
Update February 11, 2011 – The first video I made about the santee rig was one of the first videos I ever made on this website. The quality was HORRIBLE so I have gone back in and updated this video and made a whiteboard video outlining some more information on this topic.
Here is what is covered in this video.
- Basics of rigging and how to tie this
- Applications for using the santee rig
- How long to make the leaders
- Getting the baits into the “strike zone”
- Some tricks to help you catch more catfish using this setup
Be sure to check out the catfish rigs page as well for a full listing of all the rigs.
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Sure do appreciate these articles on different catfishing rigs and when to use them. Delighted to see that your web site is also well indexed and that related articles can be jumped to/from very easily.
Neil
Thanks for such a great website! I literally stumbled across your website while searching for some tips on baiting for catfish. The site is well organized, easy to use, and full of pertinent, useful information. I am a member of the Canadian military stationed in Winnipeg, Manitoba and I became enamoured with catfishing just last year while on attending a course in Winnipeg. The channel catfish the lurk the waters of the Red River in Lockport, Manitoba (about 20 minutes north of Winnipeg) are abundant and HUGE. Catching 20lb’ers is common and there are plenty of fish 30lbs plus! If you ever get the opportunity to make a trip north, I guarantee that you’ll be in for an outstanding time fishing for cats in the Lockport area. Again, thanks for the great information and outstanding website. Keep up the good work!!!
Thanks for the feedback!
Nice video. Two quick questions:
1. In the video you said peg the float towards the hook end of the bobber. What is the thinking behind that?
2. What size weight do you use for this and the other bottom rigs?
You will hear some people say that you need to peg the float the opposite way that the water dragging in the hole of the peg float makes the rig act crazy and gives it too much action. I find that pegging it this way increases may catches considerably. It might be the added action. The other reason is that I find when you rig it with the peg on the other side of the float they have tendency to get knocked out more for some reason.
The weight will depend drifting versus anchored fishing, water depths, wind etc. I would say a good general rule is 1 to 1.5 ounces and sometimes even as heavy as 2 ounces (in deep water and high winds).
…fishing for smaller “box fish” then use a kahle hook in size 3/0 or 4/0 or a small circle hook like a Mustad Demon Circle In-Line Hooks – Model 39951BLN “7/0.”???????
…fishing for trophy catfish then go with a bigger hook like the Mustad Demon Circle In-Line Hooks – Model 39951BLN in 10/0 or a “7/0″??????? or 8/0 Mustad Demon Circle In-Line Hooks – Model 39951BLN
**********************************
7/0 is a small or big circle hook? I only want box fish.
in reguards to which side of the float to incert the peg……the picture shows the oppisite of what your saying in the video. Could you clearify as to which side to put it in.
Thanks
Ha ha. Good catch. I guess I need to fix that. Put it towards the weight.
In the vid you illustrated an example of fish marked on sonar at 6′ above bottom. If I understood you right, you said you would use a leader from 18-36″ in that scenario, depending on variable factors. I get the variables, such as wind/drift speed & wave height, but wouldn’t an 18-36″ leader put the bait somewhere around a foot or two above bottom? Seems like this would put the bait below the suspended fish, which I always thought was not good. Am I misunderstanding something or have I been doing this wrong all along? Could explain why I catch few fish drifting with this rig.
I said 18 to 36 inches was a good general rule but to tailor the leader based on where the fish are suspended. As a general rule 18 to about 30 inches is a good number but you have to experiment. It’s always a good idea to make some longer and some shorter and see what works best.
could you tell me how big of peg bobber i would need for cut shad and how big of sinker the shad i use is about 2 3 ” thanks
Bob,
I cover all of this in the video on this page.
how much wight do i use and what size of peg bobber do i wan t for cut shad 2-4″ long thanks
Read the article sinker options for catfish and watch the video on the santee rig.
did both and never said what size to use for shad but thanks any way
im sorry read and viewed both one says put 1.5-2 ” pig bobber 3″ from hook the other says 5-6″ away just say depens on what bait your fishing with dosent really go in to detail about cut bait so thats why i asked to find out to try this rig thanks
It is going to depend on the size of the bait. 1.5 to 2 inches is a good general rule.
a lot of really good info!!!!!!!!
i plan on using the santee rig my next catfishing trip, i seen in your three way rig article you say that the cats can feel the sinker more often and drop the bait, since ill be ancored in the boat would the same happen with this method like the three way, or is it best when ancored to just use the slip sinker method and keep it on the bottom of the river? thanks for all the videos, keep them coming