Season restrictions, signed into law last year, for the entire Santee Cooper system (lakes and rivers) for striped bass went into effect June 1. Anglers must not harvest or possess striped bass and must immediately release any stripers caught from June 1 – September 30.

This is considered a first step to combat the population decline of the striped bass fishery in the Santee Cooper system by reducing the amount of fish an angler can harvest, as well as increasing the minimum size limits.

The regulations also include (when applicable):

1. Reduction in creel limits from five to three
2. Points system: increase to 14 points for violation
3. Increase in minimum size limit from 21 inches to 26 inches
4. Striped bass must be landed with head & tail intact so enforcement officers can measure the complete fish

Because striped bass can live in fresh water for long periods of time, they are stocked in many inland reservoirs. However, only two East Coast reservoirs have self-sustaining populations: the Kerr Reservoir in Virginia and North Carolina, and the Santee-Cooper Reservoir in South Carolina.

It is SCDNR’s and our job as sustainable anglers to insure that this hardy species keeps flourishing in our waters, and the only way to do that is to occasionally cut-back on fishing limits as the Striped Bass Stakeholders Group recommended to Gov. Sanford last year.