Captain Darryl's Guide Service

Know what you are getting into before you book this guide. Captain Darryl is extremely opinionated on all types of topics and he will let you know straight away. We caught a decent amount of fish for not fishing the whole time but none were considered “Santee” caliber fish. We ultimately went in 3 hours early after 1.5 hrs of not catching fish and because we could not handle anymore of his mouth. He will belittle you if you do one thing not to his liking. His boat is old with lawn chairs as your seating, It stalled out in the first 20 min of the ride. Even if we were catching good fish this would’ve been a miserable experience with this guide. If you want to have an enjoyable time fishing at Santee then don’t book this guide.

Worst guide service ever. We booked his service based on online webpage advertising his 100lb guarantee. There is no guarantee. Boat was old and dirty and his bait was frozen small shrimp. Caught a few channel cats that were in the 2lb range and looking at the other reviews here and word of mouth that's the normal. Had less than a gallon ziplock bag of fish cleaned. He also told us that was his worst trip ever and we could schedule another trip for so much off.. I wouldn't spend another day on a boat with him if he paid me.He literally knows everything,every topic known to man and he wants to tell you about it. I'd rate zero stars if that was an option.

My husband and I have been out with Captain Daryl on a few trips. Daryl doesn’t disappoint! He’s the first guide we’ve had that’s knowledgeable about Santee Cooper, fishing locations and where to have your fish cleaned. Daryl doesn’t leave us sitting in one spot waiting, he’ll pick up and move along within a few minutes of not getting bites/fish, although catching fish has never been an issue for us with Daryl, he’s definitely our “go to guide”.

I would suggest you do your research and fact check his “records” I made it very clear from the first conversation that we would only be interested in a trip if he was confident he would put us on quality fish 10-15lb on up. He assured me that this would be no problem - 50 fish is a bad day 70+ fish is a good day. I can assure you that do to my own irresponsibility and excitement, I bought in….. did not happen. We had good laughs but it became tremendously frustrating do to his strict rules on fishing techniques. Expect: You will not 1 Bait your hook 2 Cast your pole 3 Adjust the drag EVER sat way too loose 2#=a lot of missed fish 4 Play the fish He calls it “pumping.” You should expect to reel it straight in like a 4 year old 5 Take your fish off the hook. Quite belittling after awhile. I can assure you, Darryl will be the smartest guy on the boat and if it can be done…… He’s done it professionally. Sad truth- after the trips- 3 locals verified that this is very common and they don’t know how he stays in business. I forgot to add: he will sit you on top of big schools of small channels and use shrimp. This means a fair amount of bites but is not worth a long trip for the famed “Santee Blues.” With him that is His 100# guarantee is not real either- no guarantee is real unless you back it up- He will not offer to make it right. We caught several tiny channels and a hand full of 5 lb blues. People with other guides were filling coolers with 15-30lb+ Blues. Darryl had an excuse for that too…….. Man has caught some big fish but focuses on puttin clients on schools of tiny fish and if you know much about fishing, you realize this pretty fast.

My husband and his best friend and his family booked a trip with Mr Darryl. We showed up that morning and had to hunt him down. He advised us of the possible bad weather for that day and asked if we still wanted to go out?! We came 4 hours away for this trip so of course we wanted to go. The trip started and he instantly started talking about how he hated bass fisherman, people on disability that still have to do some side work to make ends meet, he discussed his views about politics. He was rude to my best friend and his wife and daughter. His 100lb GUARANTEED is a bold face lie! We only caught three fish in 8 hours! He had us on the fish and just up’d and moved us somewhere else. We didn’t catch another fish the rest of the trip! We DO NOT recommend Mr Darryl Smith as a guide period!! To be a so called “professional guide” he was anything but professional! He offered us a 50% discount off another trip bcz he said that was his worse trip ever, but didn’t offer it to us on this trip. We did not get a 100lb of fish and had to listen to his bigoted mouth for 8 hours. I do not recommend that you waste your money on this guide.

As far as Captain Smith is concerned don’t waste your money. Worst fishing experience ever. We drove 6 hours then he jacked the price. Had to pay it before we could go on the water. Was not impressed the boat was old and dirty. The gear was old and wore out worst guided trip ever. Would not recommend him to catch bait for anyone. Anyone except Captain Daryl Smith would be better. Don’t waste your money.

I am always hesitant to post anything but a four or five star review as I know it can be detrimental for a small business. So you can see how negatively impactful this trip was. I’m giving two stars because the service that is advertised was what was offered. Captain Darryl was on time to pick us up, had all equipment, and was ready to go. He also took extra measures to ensure we practiced social distancing. We caught an xl cooler full of catfish. What they don’t telL you on the website is how knowledgeable captain Darryl is. He knew a little about a lot and you couldn’t tell him differently. Actually it was hard to get a word in edgewise. While being very knowledgeable about the fishing industry, he also knew everything about everything else. He was not afraid to share his feelings about politics Democrat’s, communists, and “colored people” as he called them. He boasted he had never drank a sip of alcohol in his whole life, Which was evident in his lack of knowledge on alcoholic beveragesnote: be careful about bringing anything other than beer aboard as he will pour it out. He poured out a lime-a-Rita’s and white claws claiming it was liquor. Our group was ready to go back a few hours early as there was no filter to strongly opinionated conversations. Upon our arrival back to the dock, everyone unloaded and captain Darryl proceeded to load up his boat on the trailer. We had intended to pay the fee to have the fish cleaned but suddenly his hand started hurting and he could not clean them. He didn’t offer to give us any fish at first until we asked to fill up our cooler. This review is just skimming the surface. Hope this helps those looking to book a charter with Captain Darryl!

The 100 pound guarentee catch is a lie. We paid $550 to catch 5 fish which weighed a total of 30 lbs. I figured he would give a refund since he claims guarentee of 100 lbs but no. We was out of town only came for one day and wanted to give a discount on another trip. Still charged the $550 for 5 fish. He rude and conceded I would never recommend him to nobody.

Captain Darryl knows Santee Cooper lakes and he knows catfishing. He works hard so you have a great experience of catching fish. This man clearly has put in the time. Will go back out with him soon.

I would rate the experience at zero stars if that were an option. Captain was constantly complaining, commenting about anything and everything not related to fishing, and was downright rude. Caught a few fish but missed several bites due to his fishing technique. Don’t spend your hard earned money to book this charter.