Columbia - Brett Witt (803) 667-0696
Clemson - Greg Lucas (864) 654-1671, ext.22
Charleston - (803) 667-0696
Spokesman - Mike Willis (803) 734-4133
After Hours Radio Room - (803) 955-4000
SC Dept. of Natural Resources
P 0 Box 167
Columbia, SC 29202
** Archived Article - please check for current information. **
February 27, 2006
Freshwater Fishing Trends
Mountains Area
Lake Jocassee:Largemouth Bass: Slow, casting Carolina-rigged worms and Hopkins, Berry or flexing spoons. Also try vertical jigging 20-40 deep. Trout: Good, trolling from 60 feet to surface with Doctor, Sutton, Bad Creek, Lucky Jak’s spoons or drift fishing 30 to 40 feet deep with large minnows. Smallmouth Bass: Fair, drifting live bait on rocky points and rocky banks. Crappie: Slow. Try using small minnows. Catfish: Fair, using night crawlers or cut bait on bottom. Bream: Slow. Try earthworms around banks and brush.
Lake Keowee: Largemouth Bass: Fair, try using jigging spoons and pork-rinds in 20 to 65 feet of water. Crappie: Fair. Try small minnows and jigs in 10 to 15 feet of water around brush piles and bridge pilings. Catfish: Fair, using nightcrawlers and cut bait on bottom. Bream: Slow. Try using red worms around brush piles.
Lake Hartwell: Largemouth Bass: Fair, slow retrieves with plastic worms and casting Carolina-rigs and jigging spoons. Striped and Hybrid Bass: Fair, with live herring on down line, drifting and anchored. Crappie: Fair, using medium minnows in about 10 feet of water. Catfish: Good, with nightcrawlers or cut bait on bottom at night. Bream: Good, using red worms around brush piles.
Piedmont Area
Lake Russell: Largemouth Bass: Slow. Try worms, lizards and deep crank baits. Yellow Perch: Fair. Try fishing minnows deep. Striped and Hybrid Bass: Fair. Try jigging bucktails. White Bass: Poor. Try bucktails, spinners and live bait below dam. Crappie: Fair. Try using minnows and jigs around brush piles and bridges. Catfish: Fair, using cut bait on the bottom. Bream: Slow. Try fishing deep with crickets or live worms.
Lake Thurmond: Largemouth Bass: Good. Try casting plastic worms, Cleos and spinnerbaits. Also try deep-running plugs. Striped and Hybrid Bass: Good, using Cleos, Berry Spoons and KastMasters. Crappie: Good, around docks using jigs and minnows. Fair, using worms on the bottom. Bream: Fair, using earthworms around the banks.
Lake Wylie: Largemouth Bass: Good, casting Carolina-rigged worms and plastic crawfish jigs. White Bass: Fair, casting small spinners and jigs behind the dam. Crappie: Excellent, jigs and minnows 15-20 feet over brush. Catfish: Good, using nightcrawlers on the bottom. Shellcrackers: Try using redworms and crickets on the bottom. Bream: Slow. Try red-worms and nightcrawlers from the bank.
Midlands Area
Lake Greenwood: Largemouth Bass: Good, casting crankbaits and plastic worms on the bottom and jigging around structure in 2 to 3 feet of water. Stripers: Fair, using live bait, herring or shad 20 to 25 feet deep. White Perch: Fair. Try fishing deep with minnows, spoons and earthworms. Crappie: Good, using small minnows in 12 feet of water over brush. Catfish: Fair, using cut bait and worms on the bottom. Bream: Poor. Try using crickets and red worms.
Lake Wateree: Largemouth Bass: Fair. Try using artificial worms and crankbaits. Striped bass: Good. Try fishing with down-rods 14 feet deep with small shiners in 25-35 feet of water. White Bass: Slow. Try trolling shad-like baits. Crappie: Fair, using live bait 13 to 15 feet deep right off the bottom along the river channel and slow trolling Wow jigs deep at edge of old river bed. Catfish: Good, live shad, minnows or worms in the creeks. Bream: Slow. Try crickets and worms deep.
Lake Murray: Largemouth Bass: Good, using crankbaits, number 5 or 7 Shad-Raps or Carolina-rigged worms around rocks points and grass. Striped Bass: Good, try dragging free lines along banks also using topwater plugs and drifting shiners. Crappie: Good, using jigs and small tuffies around bridge pilings and brush piles. White Perch: Good, using live minnows near the bottom. Catfish: Slow. Try cut herring near the bottom. Slow. Try fishing worms deep.
Santee Cooper System
Lake Marion: Largemouth Bass: Slow. Try topwater lures. Striped Bass: Fair casting bucktails to schooling fish or fishing live small blueback herring, shad or shiners. White Perch: Slow. Try jigging off the bottom with Hopkins spoons. Crappie: Fair, Try using small and medium minnows over deep brush piles, bridge pilings and piers. Catfish: Good, using cut shad off the bottom in deep water. Bream and Shellcrackers: Slow. Try red-worms, wigglers and nightcrawlers.
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