News Release
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 | Good, casting Carolina-rigged worms, and jerk baits with slow retrieve. |
| Trout: Fair, 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 around banks and brush. Bream expected to pick up with warmer spring weather. |
Lake Keowee:
| Largemouth Bass: Good, fishing with medium to jumbo minnows on bottom and free lining near surface to 20 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 jerkbaits and crankbaits. Bass are starting to bed. |
| Crappie: Fair, using small minnows and jigs in 10 to 15 feet of water around brush piles and bridge pilings. |
| Catfish: Good, using minnows, nightcrawlers and cut bait on the bottom. Many 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 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 under boat docks and bridges. |
Piedmont Area
Lake Russell:
| Largemouth Bass: Good, castings spinnerbaits, plastic worms and lizards around flats and points. |
| Yellow Perch: Fair, fishing deep with medium minnows and jigging spoons. |
| Striped and Hybrid 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. Fish are moving to shallow water with catches at 5 to 7 feet. |
| 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, Rattletraps, Count-Down lures, deep running Rebels, ShadRaps, Yozuri plugs and Challenger plugs. |
| Striped Bass: Good, using medium and large minnows, sidewinder spoons, and 1/3 and 2/5 ounce Cleos. Also, Berry spoons, KastMasters and Hopkins spoons. |
| Crappie: Good, using small minnows and black and chartreuse with pepper colored and chartreuse and green colored mini-jigs around deep brush tops mini-jigs black, wobbly eyed jigs, and road runners. |
| Catfish: Good, using cut bait and nightcrawlers fishing on the bottom. |
| Bream and Shellcrackers: Good. Try using earthworms around banks and brush. |
Lake Wylie:
| Largemouth Bass: Good, casting spinner baits 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 5 to 10 of water. |
| Catfish: Good, fishing on the bottom with a variety of baits. |
| Shellcrackers: Good. Try using redworms and crickets on the bottom. |
| Bream: Good. Try using earthworms and crickets around the banks. |
Midlands Area
Lake Greenwood:
| Largemouth Bass: Good, casting pig-n-jigs and crankbaits to structure 4 to 10 feet of water, fished slowly. Also, good using spinnerbaits around 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. Also, good catches up the Saluda River. |
| Crappie: Good, using small to medium minnows, mini jigs and slider jigs around brush in up to 10 feet of water. Good catches below the dam using minnows. |
| Catfish: Good. Try using redworms in 6 to 8 feet of water. |
| Bream: Good. Try using redworms along shoreline structure and docks in 4 to 6 feet of water. |
Lake Wateree:
| Largemouth Bass: Good, casting spinnerbaits and shallow running crankbaits in warmer coves. |
| Striped Bass: Good, using live shad 10 to 15 feet deep around the river channel. Good catches with cut shad bait at the Cedar Creek Dam. |
| 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 12 to 14 feet deep. |
| Catfish: Good, using earthworms, nightcrawlers, shrimp, small pieces of cut bait and live shad, grubs and jigs near the bottom in the river channel. |
| Bream: Slow. Try worms fished around piers with brush. |
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 mid-river. In schools, cast double rigged buck tails, Ice Flies and striper delights. |
| Crappie: Fair. Use jigs, small tuffies and red minnows trolling the creek runs, at 8 to 20 feet. 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. |
| Catfish: Good. In the shallows use cut herring. |
| Bream: Good. Fish with redworms, 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, Carolina rigs and bucktails fishing along the banks and points, especially in the morning. |
| Striped Bass: Fair, using live shiners with down rods in 25 feet of water and trolling with red headed rebels. 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 bait, cut shad, herring and shiners off the bottom in deep water. Good catches in shallow water at night. |
| Bream and Shellcrackers: Fair. Try using redworms and crickets in 4 to 6 feet of water and moving shallow. |
Lake Moultrie:
| Largemouth Bass: Good. Try casting spinnerbaits, plastic worms and lizards along docks and structure. Also, casting Rattletraps and Rapala lures around the Pinopolis point and the old hatchery. |
| Striped Bass: Good. Good catches fishing with live herring 40 feet deep around the power plant and the Pinopolis Dam. Also some catches trolling with Stretch-25s. |
| Crappie: Poor, 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 25 to 30 feet deep near the bottom along dike edges and around the dam. |
| Bream: Good, using crickets and red worms around fish attraction areas and crappie beds. |
| Shellcrackers: Good. Try crickets and red 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 - Mr. David Sweat.
