** Archived Article - please check for current information. **

October 31, 2005

Freshwater Fishing Trends

Mountains Area
Lake Jocassee: Largemouth Bass: Very Good, morning and late evening casting Carolina-rigged worms, Gary Yamamoto sinkos. Trout: Fair, at 100 to 115 feet with Bad Creek spoons, Sutton, Doctor and Apex spoons. Try drifting large minnows from surface to 100 to 115 feet and trolling with minnows. Night fishing producing fair with minnows, nightcrawlers, fish at 80 to 115 feet with nightcrawlers sprayed with garlic spray. Smallmouth Bass: Good. Casting 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, schooling increased. Try using jigging spoons, doodling with drop-shot rigs in 30 to 40 feet of water. Bass are hitting topwater plugs in schools. Crappie: Fair, under bridges with lights early in the day and night as days are still warm, 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 blue worms at night. Striped and Hybrid Bass: Fair, 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. Fair 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 to 30 feet with small to medium minnows. Also, try using mini-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, shallow running crankbaits. Yellow Perch: Fair, try fishing deep with medium minnows, worms and jigging spoons. Striped and Hybrid Bass: Fair, using bucktails, cut and live herring and jigs below the dam when water is running. White Bass: Fair, using bucktails, spinners and live bait below the dam when water is running. Crappie: Excellent, using minnows and jigs around brush piles and bridge pilings at 5 to 7 feet. Better at night. Catfish: Good, using cut bait and nightcrawlers on the bottom and around the riprap at bridges. Bream: Good, using crickets and earthworms around bridge pilings and structure.
Lake Thurmond: Largemouth Bass: Fair, casting plastic worms, Rattletraps, CountDown lures, deep-running Rebels, ShadRaps, Yozuri plugs and Challenger plugs. Striped and Hybrid Bass: Fair, 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: Fair, mostly using small minnows and greenish mini-jigs and Wobbly-eye jigs around deep brush tops. Catfish: Fair, using cut bait and nightcrawlers fishing on the bottom, particularly around structures like riprap and bridge pilings. Bream and Shellcrackers: Fair, using earthworms and crickets around banks and brush along the bottom as well.
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: Excellent, using spoons and bucktails behind Lake Wylie dam (25 pounder caught). 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 10 to 15 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: Good, try crankbaits and worms off points in 6 to 10 feet water. 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: Good, best catches at night. Use small to medium minnows, mini jigs and Slider jigs around brush in 12 to 15 feet of water. Catfish: Good, try using redworms in 6 to 8 feet of water. Bream: Fair, with redworms and crickets along shoreline structure and docks in 4 to 6 feet of water.
Lake Wateree: Largemouth Bass: Good, best caught with shad on points. Some schooling activity reported. Striped Bass: Good, lower part of lake fish deep live shad. Schooling activity early morning and late afternoon. White Bass: Slow. White Perch: Good, casting and jigging Twister-tail grubs and live minnows. Crappie: Excellent, shallow water in the creeks, along edge old river channel and trolling Wow grubs, Sliders and live bait. Best fishing with 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 and some topwater schooling. Striped Bass: Good, 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. Schooling underway with best fishing all over the lake. Try dragging free lines along banks Crappie: Good, using minnows and jigs around brush piles in 8 to 20 feet of water and casting jigs. White Perch: Good, jigging with small spoons in 8 to 20 feet and using worms. Catfish: Good, using cut herring and nightcrawlers on the bottom 6 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: Fair, using artificial worms, Carolina rigs and live shiners, fishing along drops and creek banks, especially in morning. Striped Bass: Good. Schooling started. Fairly well with live bait in riverbed off dam or drifting along the dam with shiners or blueback herring. White Perch: Slow. Try jigging off bottom with Hopkins spoons and with smaller nightcrawlers on sand points. Use nightcrawlers at sunrise and sunset. Crappie: Good, using small and medium minnows over deep brush piles, bridge pilings and piers. Best fishing in the morning and evening. Catfish: Good, once wind slows. Use cut shad, herring and live shiners off bottom in drifting deep water and at night in shallow water. Flatheads good with live bream or perch straight down on structures. Bream and Shellcrackers: Fair, 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: Poor, casting and trolling Stretch-25s early morning. Crappie: Excellent, try 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: Good, 9 to 15 feet deep using cut herring, stink bait, chicken livers and shiners 9 to 20 feet deep near the bottom dike edges and around the dam. Bream: Excellent, try 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/regs/pdf/freshfishing.pdf