FRESHWATER FISHING TRENDS

MOUNTAINS AREA

LAKE JOCASSEE: Largemouth Bass: Fair, casting Carolina-rigged plastic worms and jerk baits with slow retrieve. Also try deep jigging. Trout: Good, trolling from near the surface to 40 feet with Bad Creek spoons, Sutton, Doctor and Apex spoons. Also try drifting large minnows from surface to 40 feet of water. Catching 3 to 5 pound brown trout. Smallmouth Bass: Fair. Casting Yozuri plugs deep around rocky points and drifting minnows around rocky points. Crappie: Slow. Try small minnows and jigs around brush piles. Catfish: Poor. Try nightcrawlers or cut bait on bottom. Bream: Poor. Try redworms deep around banks and brush. Bream fishing is expected to improve with warmer spring weather.

LAKE KEOWEE: Largemouth and Spotted Bass: Good, fishing with medium to jumbo minnows on bottom and free lining 50 to 60 feet deep. Also doodling with drop-shot rigs in 30 to 70 feet of water. Good catches in the mid-lake area, 8 to 12 feet deep with crankbaits. Fish averaging one to 3 plus pounds. Crappie: Fair, using small minnows and jigs in 20-25 feet of water around brush piles and bridge pilings. Catfish: Good, using minnows, nightcrawlers and cut bait on the bottom. Catfish still being caught in baskets. Bream: Slow. Try using redworms and crickets deep around brush piles, stumps and bridge pilings.

LAKE HARTWELL: Largemouth Bass: Good. Try casting spinnerbaits and crankbaits off points and jigs around structure. Good catches with live large minnows. Striped and Hybrid Bass: Good, trolling umbrella rigs at 30 to 35 feet, also free-lining live herring and large minnows and jigging in about 38 feet of water. Crappie: Good. Try umbrella crappie rigs, also using small minnows and small crappie jigs over brush and structure. Catfish: Good, using cut herring, large shiners, nightcrawlers, shrimp and chicken livers on the bottom. Bream: Slow. Try using redworms and crickets around boat docks and bridges.

PIEDMONT AREA

LAKE RUSSELL: Largemouth Bass: Good, jigging spoons and deep-running crankbaits in river and creek channels. Yellow Perch: Good, fishing deep with medium minnows and jigging spoons. Striped and Hybrid Bass: Good, using with bucktails, cut and live herring and jigs below the dam when water is running. White Bass: Very Good, 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. Catches better in cold weather. Catfish: Fair, using cut bait and nightcrawlers on the bottom. Bream: Slow. Try using crickets and earthworms around bridge pilings.

LAKE THURMOND: Largemouth Bass: Good. Try casting plastic worms, deep-running Rebels, ShadRaps, Yozuri plugs and Challenger plugs. Striped and Hybrid Bass: Very Good, using Little Cleos, Berry Spoons, glass-shad plastic lures, 3/4 ounce yellow and white RoadRunners with bucktails, KastMasters and Hopkin spoons. Also, try large minnows. Crappie: Good, using small minnows and jigs around deep brush tops. Larger fish being caught. Catfish: Good, using cut bait and nightcrawlers fishing on the bottom. Bream and Shellcrackers: Slow. Try using earthworms deep 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 smaller bucktails and spoons. Crappie: Excellent, using small minnows and jigs around docks, piers and brush tops in 20 to 30 feet of water. Catfish: Good, fishing on the bottom with a variety of baits. Shellcrackers: Slow. Try using redworms and crickets on the bottom. Bream: Slow. Try using earthworms and crickets around the banks.

MIDLANDS AREA

LAKE GREENWOOD: Largemouth Bass: Fair to Good, casting pig-n-jigs and crankbaits to structure in shallow water, fished slowly. Stripers: Good, behind the dam using Bombers, Charlie plugs, and Flukes. Good catches in lower lake with bucktails and Berry spoons. Good catches around bird activity over the water. White Bass and White Perch: Good, Try casting and jigging Berry Spoons. Fish are schooling well. Crappie: Good, using small to medium minnows and mini jigs over brush in the lake. Good catches below the dam using minnows. Catfish: Slow. Try using redworms in 6 to 8 feet of water. Bream: Slow. Try using redworms along shoreline and docks.

LAKE WATEREE: Largemouth Bass: Fair, casting pig-n-jigs around piers, fished slowly. Striped Bass: Good, using live shad in 10 to 15 feet around river channel. Schooling activity is slow. White Bass: Slow. Trolling with shad like lure and jigging spoons. White Perch: Good, casting and jigging Twister-tail crappie, grubs and live minnows. Crappie: Good, fishing minnows 15 to 18 feet deep or using Wow grubs or Slider grubs trolled slowly and deep around mouths of creeks and in the river channel. Fish appear to be suspended in the water column around 15 - 18 feet deep. Catfish: Good, using earthworms, nightcrawlers, shrimp, small pieces of cut bait and live shad near bottom in river channel. Bream: Slow. Try worms fished around piers with brush.

LAKE MURRAY: Largemouth Bass: Good, fishing in shallow water with Carolina rigs and shallow-running crankbaits and spinnerbaits. Striped Bass: Good, from the Big Gap upriver toward the Saluda, free-lining herring and using bucktails with Iceflies and jigging with spoons. Watch for birds because baitfish and stripers are underneath. Crappie: Good, around brush piles using minnows and jigs, with some being caught around new flooded grass in 12 to 20 feet of water, fishing 6 to 12 feet deep. Also try "dragging" or trolling with spider rigs using multiple jigs. White Perch: Good, jigging with small spoons in 8 to 20 feet of water, also using tuffies and redworms. Catfish: Fair, using cut herring and nightcrawlers on the bottom 5 to 15 feet deep. Bream: Fair, using redworms and crickets around new flooded grass.

SANTEE COOPER SYSTEM

LAKE MARION: Largemouth Bass: Fair, using artificial worms, Carolina rigs and bucktails fishing along the banks and points. Striped Bass: Fair, using live shiners with down rods in 25 feet of water. Some schooling reported and catches with top water plugs. White Perch: Slow. Try jigging off the bottom with Hopkins spoons. Crappie: Good. Try using small and medium minnows over deep brush piles, bridge pilings and piers. Catfish: Excellent, using cut shad and herring off the bottom in deep water. Bream and Shellcrackers: Fair. Try using redworms and crickets in 4 to 8 feet of water.

LAKE MOULTRIE: Largemouth Bass: Poor. Try casting spinnerbaits, plastic worms and lizards along docks and structure. Striped Bass: Fair, trolling with Stretch-25s. Good catches fishing with live menhaden 40 ft. deep around the power plant and the Pinopolis Dam. Stripers are schooling. Crappie: Fair to Good, using small to medium minnows and Beetlespins around fish attraction areas and brush piles. Catfish: Good, using cut herring, menhaden (which are schooling), chicken livers and shiners 40 feet deep near the bottom along dike edges and around the dam. Bream: Good, using crickets around fish attraction areas and crappie beds. Crickets can be kept alive in boat inside a thermos-type container. Shellcrackers: Slow. 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 - Hoyett's Tackle; 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; Marion - Lanes; and Moultrie - Atkins Boat Landing.

- Written by G. Michael Willis -

For South Carolina freshwater fishing regulations: http://www.dnr.state.sc.us/etc/rulesregs/img/freshfishing.pdf

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