Introduction: Rigging and Catfishing With the Santee Rig, Santee Cooper Rig

By Catfish Edge
About: I am a Texas based professional catfish guide that operated in North Texas and I also manufacture a popular catfish bait. In addition, I write a popular blog about catfishing called Learn To Catch Catfish whe…

There are many options available when it comes to catfish rigs for fishing for blue, channel and flathead catfish and the santee rig or santee cooper rig is one popular option. The santee rig is especially popular for fishing for blue catfish whether you are anchored or drift fishing.

This is a slight variation of the slip sinker rig where a small foam peg float is added a few inches above the hook. The addition of this float allows the hook and bait to suspend slightly off the bottom of the lake or river helping put the bait in the "strike zone". The length of the leader can also be adjusted to tailor the setup to where the fish are in the water column.

In this video:

Step by step walk through on how to setup
Some of the pros and cons to fishing with this rigging
A key point to pay attention to when adding the foam peg float
How long to make the leader and how you determine this
More great tips and tricks on catfishing