Freshwater Fishing Trends
Mountains Area
Lake Jocassee: Largemouth Bass: Good, best and late evening
casting Carolina-rigged worms, Gary Yamamoto purple watermelon plastic worms and
jerkbaits with slow retrieve in topwater (recent 8.5 pounder caught) Trout:
Good, at 60 to 80 feet with Bad Creek spoons, Sutton, Doctor and Apex spoons.
Try drifting large minnows from surface to 80 to 110 feet and trolling minnows.
Night fishing producing good catches, fish at 40 to 60 feet with nightcrawlers
sprayed with garlic spray. Smallmouth Bass: Fair. Casting Yozuri plugs deep and
drifting minnows around rocky points. Crappie: Poor. Try small minnows and jigs
around brush piles. Catfish: Good. Try nightcrawlers or cut bait on bottom.
Bream: Excellent, fishing with redworms, popping bugs and crickets around banks
and brush.
Lake Keowee: Largemouth and Spotted Bass: Good, doodling with
drop-shot rigs in 30 to 40 feet of water. Bass are hitting topwater plugs in
schools. Schooling early morning. Crappie: Fair, under bridges with lights early
in the day and night as days are too hot, minnows at night and jigs in 10 to 15
feet of water around brush piles and bridge pilings. Catfish: Good, using
minnows, nightcrawlers and cut bait on the bottom. Basket fishing for catfish
still productive. Bream: Good, using redworms and crickets around brush piles,
stumps and bridge pilings.
Lake Hartwell: Largemouth Bass: Fair, casting spinnerbaits
and crankbaits off points and jigs around structure. Fair catches with live
large minnows, white flukes and topwater flukes in morning and evenings and
using 8 to 10 inch worms at night. Striped and Hybrid Bass: Slow, trolling
umbrella rigs, free-lining live herring and large minnows and jigging in about
38 feet of water. Fair catches around the dam with live herring at 40 to 60
feet. Good at daybreak on cut bait on points or breaks. Use blue umbrella lures
when trolling. Schooling early morning and evening Crappie: Fair, some catches
at 25-30 feet with small to medium minnows. Also, try using umbrella rigs.
Catfish: Fair, using cut herring, large shiners, nightcrawlers, shrimp and
chicken livers on the bottom. Bream: Fair. Try using redworms and crickets under
boat docks and bridges and brush piles.
Piedmont Area
Lake Russell: Largemouth Bass: Good, plastic worms and
lizards around flats and points. Better late in evening. Yellow Perch: Slow,
fishing deep with medium minnows, worms and jigging spoons. Striped and Hybrid
Bass: Very Good, using bucktails, cut and live herring and jigs below the dam
when water is running. White Bass: Good, using bucktails, spinners and live bait
below the dam when water is running. Crappie: Good, using minnows and jigs
around brush piles and bridge pilings at 5 to 7 feet. Catfish: Good, using cut
bait and nightcrawlers on the bottom and around the riprap at bridges. Bream:
Good. Try using crickets and earthworms around bridge pilings and structure.
Lake Thurmond: Largemouth Bass: Slow, casting plastic worms,
Rattletraps, CountDown lures, deep-running Rebels, ShadRaps, Yozuri plugs and
Challenger plugs. Striped and Hybrid Bass: Slow, using medium and large minnows,
Sidewinder spoons, and 1/3 and 2/5 ounce Cleos. Also, Berry spoons, KastMasters
and Hopkins spoons. Best early in the morning, late afternoon and night.
Crappie: Slow, mostly using small minnows and greenish mini-jigs and Wobbly-eye
jigs around deep brush tops. Catfish: Slow, using cut bait and nightcrawlers
fishing on the bottom, particularly around structures like riprap and bridge
pilings. Bream and Shellcrackers: Slow, using earthworms and crickets around
banks and brush.
Lake Wylie: Largemouth Bass: Good, casting spinnerbaits and
medium-running crankbaits along points close to the bottom. Also topwater baits
good in morning and late afternoon Striped Bass: Good, using spoons and
bucktails behind Lake Wylie dam. White Bass: Good, below the dam casting smaller
bucktails and spoons. Crappie: Good, using small minnows and jigs around docks,
piers and brush tops in 15 to 20 feet of water. Catfish: Good, fishing on the
bottom with a variety of baits. Shellcrackers: Good, using redworms and crickets
on the bottom. Bream: Good, using earthworms and crickets around the banks.
Midlands Area
Lake Greenwood: Largemouth Bass: Fair, using Zoom worms and
Texas and Carolina Rigs in 6 to 23 feet of water around structure. Good catches
reported on floating worms around docks and sea walls early in the morning. Some
largemouth caught at night with large plastic worms. Stripers: Good, behind the
dam using Bombers, Charlie plugs, and flukes. Also good catches in lower lake
with bucktails and Berry spoons. White Bass and White Perch: Good, schooling
activity reported over the lake. Try casting and Beetle Spins and Panther
Martins in school areas. Crappie: Fair, best catches at night. Use small to
medium minnows, mini jigs and slider jigs around brush in 15-20 feet of water.
Catfish: Good. Try using redworms in 6 to 8 feet of water. Bream: Good, with
redworms and crickets along shoreline structure and docks in 4 to 6 feet of
water.
Lake Wateree: Largemouth Bass: Good, casting spinnerbaits
early and late and deep-running crankbaits and Carolina Rigs deep. Striped Bass:
Good, lower part of lake fish deep live shad. White Bass: Slow. White Perch:
Good, casting and jigging Twister-tail grubs and live minnows. Crappie: Good,
along edge old river channel and trolling Wow grubs, Sliders, live bait. Also
jigging around brush piles. Catfish: Good, using earthworms, nightcrawlers,
shrimp, small pieces of cut bait and live shad Bream and Shellcrackers: Good,
using crickets, worms and artificial lures fished around piers, structure and
brush.
Lake Murray: Largemouth Bass: Fair, using green pumpkin
plastic worms and lizards, trick worms and Carolina rigs, Texas rigs around
shrubs and brush in 15 to 20 feet of water. Points and secondary points in 10 to
15 feet of water. Best fishing early in shallow water and late in deep water.
Striped Bass: Excellent, early fishing is best with free lines and down fishing
to 30 feet. Fishing with freelining live bait, Sammy's, Striper Delight and
Pencil Poppers. Also, trolling and down rods with live herring 60 feet. Trolling
is fair with bucktails and hard lures. Also use lead core line with 6 to 9
colors. Crappie: Slow, using minnows and jigs around brush piles in 8 to 15 feet
of water and casting jigs. Good catches around edge of grass up to 20 feet.
White Perch: Good, jigging with small spoons in 8 to 20 feet of water jigs and
using worms. Catfish: Good, using cut herring and nightcrawlers on the bottom 8
to 20 feet deep. Bream and Shellcrackers: Excellent, using redworms, baby
nightcrawlers, crickets, Beetlespins around green grass in 20- feet of water and
around docks.
Santee Cooper System
Lake Marion: Largemouth Bass: Good, using artificial
worms, Carolina rigs and live shiners, fishing along drops and creek banks,
especially in morning. Striped Bass: Slow. Improvement expected in the next two
to three weeks. Fairly well with live bait in riverbed off dam or drifting along
the dam with shiners or blueback herring. Little to no schooling on upper lake.
White Perch: Slow. Try jigging off bottom with Hopkins spoons and with smaller
nightcrawlers on sand points. Use nightcrawlers at sunrise and sunset. Crappie:
Fair, using small and medium minnows over deep brush piles, bridge pilings and
piers. Best fishing in the morning and evening. Catfish: Good, using cut shad,
herring and live shiners off bottom in drifting deep water and at night in
shallow water. Flatheads good using live bream or perch straight down on
structures. Bream and Shellcrackers: Excellent, using redworms, crickets and
waxworms in 4 to 6 feet of water and fishing shallow and on the borrow pit.
Lake Moultrie: Largemouth Bass: Slow, casting spinnerbaits,
plastic worms and lizards along docks and structure. Also, casting Rattletraps
and Rapala lures around Pinopolis Point and Old Hatchery. Striped Bass: Slow,
casting and trolling Stretch-25s early morning. Crappie: Slow, using crickets
and small to medium minnows around fish attraction areas and brush piles. Some
crappie being caught on the bed with minnows and jigs. Catfish: Slow, 9-15 feet
deep using cut herring, stink bait, chicken livers and shiners 9 to 20 feet deep
near the bottom along dike edges and around the dam. Bream: Slow, using crickets
and redworms, nightcrawlers around fish attraction areas and banks.
Shellcrackers: Poor. Try using crickets and redworms along the banks in river
runs and along points, possibly in canals.
Reporters: The S.C. Department of Natural Resources
appreciates the cooperation of fishing trend reporters for South Carolina's
major lakes: Jocassee - Jocassee Outdoor Center; Keowee - Fishing Hole; Hartwell
- Lake Hartwell Fishing and Marine; Russell - Tony's Bait and Tackle; Thurmond -
Bladon's; Wylie - Catawba Tackle; Greenwood - Sportsman's Friend; Wateree -
Wateree Marina; Murray - Dooley's Sport Shop, Lake World; Marion - Randolph's
Landing; and Moultrie - Atkins Boat Landing.
- Written by Brett Witt -
For South Carolina freshwater fish regulations: http://www.dnr.sc.gov/etc/rulesregs/pdf/freshfishing.pdf