A few of us went to fish Wee Tee Lake near Jamestown, South Carolina in the search of some line pulling. Wee Tee is considered an oxbow lake. This is a “U” shaped body of water that forms when a wide meander from the main stem of a river is cut off in this situation the Santee River that creates a free standing body of water. This landform is so named for its distinctive curved shape, resembling the bow pin of an oxbow.

Wee Tee Lake is located on the Santee River floodplain. Fishing is permitted to the public from Wednesdays through Saturdays. Friday is Youth Day and each adult must be accompanied by a young angler. This is a great lake for a kayaker as no gasoline motors are allowed. The lake as bream, crappie, largemouth bass, catfish, spotted gar, and bowfin; there might be other species but these are the ones that I have caught from the lake.

Predominate species sad to say is the bowfin. These fish can provide a great fight and even a sleigh ride for the kayak angler who has not had that experience. If you can manage to net one be prepared for their death roll in the landing net. I promise you that you will be spending some time untwisting the net.

While untangling the fish from the net; don’t be in a hurry the bowfin has the capacity to breathe both water and air. While the Bowfin is native to North America; there are two cousins that are commonly mistaken for them. One is the burbot which is also native here. The other is the invasive species the Northern snakehead.

It does not take much to target Bowfin. The same lures that you will use for bass fishing will work just fine. Unlike bass these fish are well known for the destruction of lures. If you have the desire to target these species Wee Tee Lake is the place to go for these dinosaurs. As this species average length of 20 inches but at Wee Tee the average length would be a small bowfin, at this oxbow lake you are looking at an average of 29 inches. The largest bowfin caught by a member of the Lowcountry Kayak Anglers is nearly 32 inches.