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3/26/2007 DNR News (803) 734-3815
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 | Largemouth Bass: Fair, casting Carolina-rigged worms, and jerk baits with slow retrieve. |
| Trout: Good, trolling from near 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 and trolling minnows. |
| Smallmouth Bass: Fair. Casting Yozuri plugs deep around rocky points and drifting minnows around rocky points. |
| Crappie: Poor. Try small minnows and jigs around brush piles. |
| Catfish: Poor. Try nightcrawlers or cut bait on bottom. |
| Bream: Poor. Try redworms deep |
Lake Keowee:
| Largemouth Bass: Good, fishing with medium to jumbo minnows on bottom and free lining 15 to 30 feet deep. Also doodling with drop-shot rigs in 15 to 30 feet of water. Good catches in the mid-lake area, 8 to 12 feet with crankbaits. |
| 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. Some catfish being caught in baskets. |
| Bream: Slow. Try using redworms and crickets 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 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 under boat docks and bridges. |
Piedmont Area
Lake Russell:
| Largemouth Bass: Fair, jigging spoons and deep-running crankbaits in river and creek channels. |
| Yellow Perch: Good, fishing deep with medium minnows and jigging spoons. |
| Striped Bass: Good, with 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. |
| Catfish: Fair, using cut bait and nightcrawlers on the bottom. |
| Bream: Slow. Try using crickets and earthworms around bridge pilings.
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Lake Thurmond:
| Largemouth Bass: Good. Try casting plastic worms, deep-running Rebels, ShadRaps, Yozuri plugs and Challenger plugs. |
| Striped Bass: Good, using Little Cleos, Berry spoons, Glass-shad plastic lures, 3/4 ounce yellow and white RoadRunners with bucktails, KastMasters and Hopkins spoons. Also, good with large minnows. |
| 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: |
| 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: Good, 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: Good, casting pig-n-jigs and crankbaits to structure in shallow water, fished slowly. Also, good using spinnerbaits around deep structure and suspending crankbaits. |
| Stripers: Good, behind the dam using Bombers, Charlie plugs, and flukes. Also 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. |
| Crappie: Excellent, using small to medium minnows and mini jigs over brush in the lake up to 10 feet. 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: Good, casting spinnerbaits and shallow running crankbaits in warmer coves. |
| Striped Bass: Good, using live shad in 10 to 15 feet deep around the river channel. Good catches with cut shad bait at the Cedar Creek Dam. |
| White Bass: Slow. 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. Fish appear to be suspended in the water column around 15 to 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. Bass are hitting spinner baits in the shallows and shaky head artificial worms around brush and shallows. Fish are about to bed. |
| Striped Bass: Good. Fish river and creek runs. In schools, cast double rigged buck tails, Ice Flies and striper delights. |
| Crappie: Good, using jigs, small tuffies and red minnows trolling the creek runs, at 8 to 20 feet, and in the upper part of the lake around the confluence of the little and big Saluda rivers and up to Camp Barstow. Crappie moving into shallows and active around structure in as little as 2-feet of water. |
| White Perch: Good, jigging Flex-it spoons down 15 to 30 feet and using small tuffies. |
| Catfish: Good, using cut herring and nightcrawlers on bottom. |
| Bream: Good. Fish with redworms, small nightcrawlers and crickets in 5 to 12 feet of water. |
| Shellcrackers: Fair, using redworms and small nightcrawlers in 4 to 15
feet around a flooded grass edge, rocks, stumps and other structure. |
Santee Cooper System
Lake Marion:
| Largemouth Bass: Good, 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 and with red headed rebels. |
| 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, using cut shad, herring and shiners off the bottom in deep water. |
| Bream and Shellcrackers: Fair. Try using redworms and crickets in 4 to 8 feet of water. |
| - Both Lake Moultrie and Marion are extremely muddy. |
Lake Moultrie:
| Largemouth Bass: Fair, Try casting spinnerbaits, plastic worms and lizards along docks and structure. Try casting Rattletraps and Rapala lures around the Pinopolis point and the old hatchery. |
| Striped Bass: Fair, trolling with Stretch-25s. Good catches fishing with live menhaden 40 feet deep around the power plant and the Pinopolis Dam. Stripers are schooling. |
| Crappie: Poor, can still be caught by going slightly deeper with minnows. |
| Catfish: Good, caught by anchoring on 6 foot ledge and fishing in 2 feet of water. Fish are being caught on cut herring and averaging 25 to 30 pounds. 5 pound channel cat caught in 4 feet of water using a worm. One report of a 50 pound Blue Cat caught in 17 feet of water using cut shad, also anchored. A 43 pound flat head catfish reported caught in the dead forest using live bait, the flat heads have been turning on with the warm weather so "pick a tree to catch" them. |
| Bream and Shellcracker: Poor, worms in 6 feet of water. |
| White perch: Good, using worms in 8 feet of water fishing off the bottom. |
| - Both Lake Moultrie and Marion are extremely muddy. |
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 - Mr. David Sweat.
For South Carolina freshwater fish regulations:
http://www.dnr.sc.gov/regs/pdf/freshfishing.pdf
