News Release
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 | Largemouth Bass: Fair, casting Carolina-rigged worms, and topwater plugs with slow retrieve. Also in early morning drifting minnows off shallow points. |
| Trout: Good, drifting with Sutton spoons and large minnows from surface to 45 feet deep. |
| Smallmouth Bass: Slow, 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: Fair, using popping bugs and red worms around banks and brush. |
Lake Keowee:
| Largemouth Bass: Good, casting Carolina-rigged worms, crankbaits and jerk baits to the banks around brush. Fish bedding in center of pockets and around stumps. |
| Crappie: Good, using small minnows and jigs in 10 to 15 feet of water around brush piles and bridge pilings. |
| Catfish: Good, using jumbo minnows, nightcrawlers and cut bait on the bottom. |
| Bream: Fair, using redworms around brush piles and around stumps. Also, try fishing around bridge pilings. |
Lake Hartwell:
| Largemouth Bass: Good, using 5 to 6-inch lizards, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, topwater lures, and Trick worms fishing off points. Best catches reported at dawn and dusk. Also try fishing in coves. |
| Striped and Hybrid Bass: Good, using jigging spoons, umbrella rigs and live herring with down-rods in deep water around river channels 15 to 30 feet deep. |
| Crappie: Good, using small and medium minnows along with small crappie jigs. Fish are being caught in water 10 to 25 feet of water over structure. |
| Catfish: Good, using cut herring, large shiners nightcrawlers, shrimp and chicken livers on the bottom. Bream: Fair, using redworms and crickets around brush piles and in covers. |
Piedmont Area
Lake Russell:
| Largemouth Bass: Slow, try shallow creeks with medium running crankbaits and plastic worms. Fish are bedding. |
| Striped and Hybrid Bass: Good, early morning with bucktails, cut and live herring and jigs especially when water is running below dam. |
| White Bass: Good, using bucktails, spinners and live bait below dam. |
| Crappie: Excellent, using minnows around brush piles and bridge pilings. Also try fishing jigs along banks with cover. |
| Catfish: Fair, using cut bait and nightcrawlers on the bottom. |
| Bream: Good, using red wigglers, pinks, crickets and nightcrawlers. |
Lake Thurmond:
| Largemouth Bass: Good, casting plastic worms. Also, try Little Cleos and spinnerbaits. Good catches with deep running rebels and shad raps. |
| Striped and Hybrid Bass: Good, using Cleos, Berry Spoons 1/2 ounce yellow and white Road Runners with bucktails and KastMasters. 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: Good, using Louisiana pink worms and jumbo redworms around the banks. |
Lake Wylie:
| Largemouth Bass: Good, casting bass jigs and medium running crankbaits around docks and shallow cover. For bedding fish use plastic lizards. |
| Striped Bass: Good, using spoons and bucktails behind Lake Wylie dam. |
| White Bass: Fair, casting small bucktails and spoons. Crappie: Good, using small minnows and jigs around riprap, docks and brush tops in 5 to 10 feet of water. |
| Catfish: Excellent, 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, casting shallow-running crankbaits and spinnerbaits in 2 to 4 feet of water or using plastic worms worked off points in 6 to 10 feet of water. |
| Stripers: Good catches behind the dam using flukes with water corks and shallow-running crankbaits and bucktails. |
| White Perch: Good, behind the dam in the river using minnows and live worms. |
| Crappie: Good, using small to medium minnows and mini jigs over brush in 4 to 10 feet of water. Good catches reported behind the dam. |
| Catfish: Good, using cut bait and worms on the bottom. |
| Bream: Good, using redworms and crickets along shore and docks. |
Lake Wateree:
| Largemouth Bass: Good, using spinnerbaits in 3 to 4 feet of water in the back of coves. |
| Striped Bass: Good, using live bait in river channel 12-15 feet deep. |
| White Bass: Fair. Try trolling shad-like baits in the back of creeks |
| Crappie: Good, using Wow grubs black with chartreuse tails in Beaver Creek and warmer water creeks in 3 to 5 feet of water and trolling Wow grubs in 6 to 10 feet of water. |
| Catfish: Excellent, using live bait close to bottom 12 to 15 feet and deeper. |
| Bream: Fair. Try trolling with orange colored slider. |
Lake Murray:
| Largemouth Bass: Good. Bass are bedding and hitting spinner baits in the shallows and shaky head artificial worms around brush and shallows. |
| Striped Bass: Good catches freelining herring in river and creek runs. In schools, cast double rigged buck tails, Ice Flies and striper delights. |
| Crappie: Good. Use 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 Saluda rivers and up to Camp Barstow. Crappie moving into shallows and active around structure in as little as 2-feet of water. Cast jigs and minnows to the bank. |
| White Perch: Good, jigging Flex-it spoons down 15 to 30 feet and using small tuffies and medium minnows. |
| Catfish: Good. In the shallows use cut herring and nightcrawlers on bottom. |
| Bream: Good. Fish with redworms, small nightcrawlers and crickets in 3 to 6 feet of water. |
| Shellcrackers: Fair, using redworms and small nightcrawlers. Drop
baits around flooded grass edge, rocks, stumps and other structure at
depths of 4 to 15 feet. |
Santee Cooper System
Lake Marion:
| Largemouth Bass: Good, using artificial worms deep. Crankbaits and white spinnerbaits are being fished along the banks. |
| Striped Bass: Good, using shad and live or cut herring. Free-lining live shiners have also been productive. Some trolling activity has been producing some stripers. |
| White Perch: Slow. Try jigging off the bottom with Hopkins spoons. |
| Crappie: Excellent, using medium minnows around deep brush piles and piers. Try fishing at night |
| Catfish: Excellent, fishing with live herring and cut shad off the bottom. |
| Bream and Shellcrackers: Good, using crickets, red worms, wigglers and nightcrawlers. |
Lake Moultrie:
| Largemouth Bass: Slow, as the water warms try fishing shallow edges with spinners, or Carolina rigged worms. |
| Striped Bass: Fair, trolling Stretch 25 lures or fishing live herring if available. |
| Crappie: Excellent, crappie bite has been excellent this week fishing 6 to 8 foot channels with minnows 4 to 5 feet down. Reports of limit catches have been made by fishing on the "West" end of the lake. 1.5 and 2lb crappie are still being caught with an occasional 3lb. |
| Catfish: Good, starting to arrive in the shallow waters at night. Channel catfish are being caught on chicken livers, shrimp, night crawlers and minnows in 8 foot of water on the bottom. The best idea is to anchor at night on ledge or drop off and fish the edge of the drop off and the shallow waters. They are doing good. |
| Bream and Shellcracker: Slow, with the cold front this past week the bream bite has slowed. Try fishing deep brush piles with worms. As the water begins to warm back up the bream should arrive back into the shallow water coves. |
| White perch: Good, caught off of worms during the daytime in shallow water. |
The Stren Series is this week - 4/11 to 4/14 - watch out on the lakes for our bass fisherman, many are trying to catch fish and it is recommended that a safe distance is kept from them, please observe the DNR rules regarding "No Wake Zones" when around other boats and around "No Wake Zone" areas. The classic is being held out of John C. Land III Landing.
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
