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

November 6 , 2006

Freshwater Fishing Trends

Mountains Area - Piedmont Area - Midlands Area - Santee Cooper System

Mountains Area
Lake Jocassee:

• Largemouth Bass: Fair to Good, casting Carolina-rigged worms, and topwater plugs and jerk baits with slow retrieve. Also in early morning drifting minnows off shallow points.
• Trout: Slow, trolling early in the day in 70 to 90 feet water with Sutton, Doctor and Apex spoons. Also try drifting large minnows and nightcrawlers early in the morning in 75 to 100 feet of water.
• Smallmouth Bass: Fair. Try drifting large minnows and brown hair jigs around rocky points and rocky banks.
• Crappie: Slow. Try small minnows and jigs around brush piles.
• Catfish: Fair, using nightcrawlers or cut bait on bottom. Bream: Good, using crickets and redworms around banks and brush.

Lake Keowee:

• Largemouth Bass: Good, casting Carolina-rigged worms, crankbaits and jerk baits to the banks around brush and using top-water plugs. Good catches in deep water using drop-shot rigs. Most productive time to catch fish is early morning and throughout daylight hours.
• Crappie: Fair, using small minnows and jigs in 10 to 15 feet of water around brush piles and bridge pilings.
• Catfish: Excellent, using jumbo minnows, nightcrawlers and cut bait on the bottom.
• Bream: Good, using redworms and crickets around brush piles and around stumps. Also, try fishing around bridge pilings.

Lake Hartwell:

• Largemouth Bass: Good, crankbaits, topwater lures and flukes fishing off points. Best catches reported at dawn and dusk.
• Striped and Hybrid Bass: Good, using live herring with down-rods in deep water around river channels 25 to 30 feet deep. Good catches with top water plugs, spoons and Little Cleos when in schools. Also trolling RoadRunners with bucktail jigs.
• Crappie: Fair, using small and medium minnows along with small crappie jigs. Fish are being caught in 10 to 15 of water over brush and structure.
• Catfish: Good, using cut herring, large shiners, nightcrawlers, shrimp and chicken livers on the bottom.
• Bream: Good, using redworms and crickets under boat docks and bridges.

Piedmont Area
Lake Russell:

• Largemouth Bass: Good, try shallow creeks, flats, and rocky points with medium-running crankbaits and plastic worms along grass banks. Better at night.
• Yellow Perch: Fair, fishing medium minnows deep and jigging spoons.
• Striped and Hybrid Bass: Good, early morning with bucktails, cut and live herring and jigs especially when water is running below dam. Night fishing has been the most productive.
• White Bass: Good, using bucktails, spinners and live bait below dam.
• Crappie: Good, using minnows around brush piles and bridge pilings in 14 to 15 feet of water. Also try fishing jigs along banks with cover.
• Catfish: Good, using cut bait and nightcrawlers on the bottom.
• Bream: Excellent, using red wigglers, pinks, crickets and nightcrawlers around bridge pilings.

Lake Thurmond:

• Largemouth Bass: Good, casting plastic worms. Also, try Little Cleos, spinnerbaits and top water plugs. Good catches with deep-running Rebels and ShadRaps. Yozuri plugs and Challenger plugs.
• Striped and Hybrid Bass: Good, using Little Cleos, Berry Spoons, 1/2 ounce yellow and white RoadRunners with bucktails and KastMasters. Good catches around the dam in 30 to 50 feet of water. Also, try large minnows and live herring.
• Crappie: Good, using small minnows and jigs around deep brush tops.
• Catfish: Good, using cut bait and nightcrawlers fishing on the bottom.
• Bream and Shellcrackers: Excellent, using Louisiana pink worms and jumbo redworms in 5 to 10 feet of water around brush tops.

Lake Wylie:

• Largemouth Bass: Good, casting bass jigs and medium-running crankbaits along points close to the bottom.
• Striped Bass: Good, using spoons and bucktails behind Lake Wylie dam.
• White Bass: Good, below the dam casting small bucktails and spoons.
• Crappie: Good, using small minnows and jigs around brush tops in 12 to 20 feet of water. Best time to catch crappie is at night.
• Catfish: Good, using various baits on the bottom.
• Shellcracker: Good, using redworms and crickets on the bottom.
• Bream: Good, using earthworms and crickets around the banks.

Midlands Area
Lake Greenwood:

• Largemouth Bass: Good, using spinner bait top-water and jigs plastic worms and lizards around points and in brush piles in 8 to 12 feet of water. Floating worms and topwater lures early in the morning are producing some fish along banks.
• Stripers: Good, behind the dam using Bombers, Charlie plugs, and Flukes.
• White Bass and White Perch: Good, Schools are scattered. Good results with minnows and Berry Spoons in 10 to 12 feet of water.
• Crappie: Good, using small to medium minnows and mini jigs over brush in 12 to 15 feet of water. Good catches of crappie along brush and bushes on the Reedy River. Night fishing for crappie is the best.
• Catfish: Fair, using redworms with a standard hook, line, sinker and cork in 6 to 8 feet of water.
• Bream: Good, using redworms and crickets along shore and docks.

Lake Wateree:

• Largemouth Bass: Good, casting to deep banks with deep-running crankbaits and plastic worms.
• Striped Bass: Fair, using cut bait in the lower end of the lake, 40 to 50 feet of water, near the dam. Stripers schooling in the lower half of the lake early and late, mostly smaller fish. Some fish being caught below Wateree Dam with topwater lures.
• White Bass: Slow. Some being caught in striper schools.
• White Perch: Fair using various baits including Sassy Shad, jigs, grubs and live minnows.
• Crappie: Fair, try trolling with Wow grubs or Slider grubs. Fish are at the mouths of major feeder creeks suspended in the water column 12 feet deep.
• Catfish: Good, live redworms, nightcrawlers, using live shad, small pieces of shrimp and cut bait close to bottom in major feeder creeks.
• Bream: Excellent, try worms and crickets fished around bedding bream and around mayfly hatches.

Lake Murray:

• Largemouth Bass:  Good, fishing Flukes off of points and using top-water lures early in the morning and floating worms and jerk baits along banks. Try Texas rigging Finesse Worms with a shaky jig head and Pig and Jig in 8 to 15 feet of water, around structure.
• Striped Bass: Good, using live bait on down-rods and free-lining at depths of 40 to 70 feet. Fish are schooling very early and periodically throughout the day. Lots of schooling activity from Shull island to the Lake Murray Dam. Good catches in schools with top-water plugs, like pencil poppers and striper delights.
• Crappie: Good, using jigs and small tuffies trolling the creek runs and in the upper part of the lake around the confluence of the little and big Saluda rivers. Try medium minnows around brush piles, docks and around bridge pilings, at 12 to 18 feet depths.
• White Perch: Good, using redworms and small tuffies, jigging Flex-it spoons down 20 to 30 feet and casting little cleos.
• Catfish: Fair, using cut herring and nightcrawlers on bottom.
• Bream: Good. Fish with redworms, baby nightcrawlers and crickets in 6 to 15 feet of water.
• Shellcrackers: Good, using redworms and baby nightcrawlers in 6 to 20 feet of water around rocks, stumps and other structure.

Santee Cooper System            
Lake Marion:

• Largemouth Bass: Fair, using artificial worms, and topwater Rebels fishing along the banks and point early in the morning.
• Striped Bass: Fair, using shad and live herring with down rods in 25 feet of water.
• 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: Excellent, fishing with live herring and cut shad off the bottom in deep water.
• Bream and Shellcrackers: Excellent, using redworms and crickets in 4 to 8 feet of water.

Lake Moultrie:

• Largemouth Bass: Good, casting, spinnerbaits, plastic worms and lizards along docks and structure.
• Striped Bass: Good, Jigging and with down-rods in 30 feet of water with live herring near the powerhouse and also trolling stretch 25's when live bait does not produce fish in 30 feet of water. Night fishing has been the most productive.
• Crappie: Fair, using small to medium minnows and Beetlespins around fish attraction areas and brush piles.
• Catfish: Excellent, using cut shad, herring, menhaden, mullet, live large shiners and nightcrawlers 35 to 40 feet deep.
• Bream: Excellent, using crickets, redworms, and small minnows, around manmade fish attractors, crappie beds and around the dam.
• Shellcrackers: Fair, try redworms and green worms along the banks along river runs and points.

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.

For South Carolina freshwater fish regulations: http://www.dnr.sc.gov/regs/pdf/freshfishing.pdf