Lake Santeetlah, NC 8/20/23 - 8/23/23 (No camping)

Greg & I were invited, by our SC friends Bob & Debbie, to visit them at their lake house on Lake Santeetlah in Western NC. We decided to leave from GA instead of FL, so it would only be a 6.5 hour drive (vs 9 hours).

We headed to GA on Friday & got the grass mowed. I was tasked with snacks for Cocktail Hour(s) on the boat so I spent most of Saturday prepping items for that purpose.

We left on Sunday, around 8:00a. Traffic through Atlanta wasn't that bad for a Sunday so we arrived a little before 3:00p.

I had been there in August of last year, you can read about that visit here August 2022 Lake Santeetlah Visit.

View of house from the lake.

We went for a short boat ride before an early dinner of ribs, potato salad & devilled eggs. We went to bed fairly early because we had a very early morning of fishing on Monday. 

This lake is surrounded by the beautiful Nantahala NF & has many varieties of fish (most are deep water). 

Bob had charted a 1/2 day fishing trip for us from a young guy named Jarrod who runs a 1st class operation - Smokey Mountain Fishing Guide Service. He met us at the dock at 6:15a! It was obviously still dark & making our way down the many stairs was quite the challenge (turn the D**N lights on Bob!). 

It's a loooong way down.

It was a bit cool, which we relished since we had come from 98 -100 degree days. Daylight came & all was very quiet on the lake. Then we saw a bald eagle catch a fish - made our day! It quickly heated up & the fishing began. We caught seven fish total (a large mouth bass, 4 white stripped bass, a large crappy & a steelhead trout) & a few others that got away. We finished around noon & Jarrod filleted our fish which we had for dinner that night ... delicious! Here are a few pics from the morning.

After fishing (& getting up so early) we decided to just have boat snacks at the house & Bloody Marys & Beers for lunch. And then ..... naps for all, before dinner.

The next morning I went for a walk through the neighborhood & then we just lazed around. Debbie cooked a delicious crab casserole for breakfast & the guys went fishing (on their own) for a couple of hours while Debbie & I packed up our snacks for an afternoon boat ride.

We rode over to the marina & shopped a bit & then while just cruising around the lake I spotted a fawn crossing the inlet to an isolated wooded area of the NF. Bob cut the motor to the boat & we could see Mama deer waiting on shore for the baby. Bob said it had to have been 250+ yards from where they started.

Continued cruising & since the weather had warmed up, we stopped & took a dip & swam in the wonderfully clear, cool lake. Here are a couple pics from the afternoon.

Afterward we took showers & headed out to dinner at Tapoco Lodge. On the way, we stopped at the Maple Springs Overlook to admire the view. Ironically, one of the guys that works at the Lodge was at the observation deck showing some friends the view as well. His wife offered to take our group pic.

It was to great to just get away without any real agenda. We had a wonderful time & hope to be invited back again next year!

Note1: We survived the ride home through Atlanta & avoiding Macon.

Note2: Laugh of the trip ... screwedsomewood to it ... I've never heard of that kind of tree.