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December 27, 2004 DNR News (803) 734-3950

FRESHWATER FISHING TRENDS

MOUNTAINS AREA

LAKE JOCASSEE: Largemouth Bass: Fair. Try casting Carolina-rigged worms, topwater plugs and jerk baits with slow retrieve. Trout: Good to excellent, big ones biting better, trolling surface to 50 feet with Sutton, Doctor and Apex spoons. Also try drifting large minnows surface to 50 feet of water. Stocked trout being caught from banks using nightcrawlers. Smallmouth Bass: Good. Try drifting large minnows and brown hair jigs around rocky points and banks. 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.

LAKE KEOWEE: Largemouth Bass: Pretty Good, fishing with medium to jumbo minnows on bottom and free lining 50 to 60 feet deep. Also doodling with drop-shot rigs in 30-70 feet of water. 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. Many being caught in baskets. Bream: Slow. Try using redworms and crickets around brush piles, stumps and bridge pilings.

LAKE HARTWELL: Largemouth Bass: Good, casting crankbaits off points, and jigs around structure. Striped and Hybrid Bass: Good, using live herring or large shiners with down-rods in deep water around river channels. Also free-lining with live bait. Crappie: Fair, using small and medium minnows along with small crappie jigs in 15 to 20 feet of water 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. Selling a lot of herring and large minnows

 

PIEDMONT AREA

LAKE RUSSELL: Largemouth Bass: Good for a few cold-hardy anglers, using jigging spoons and deep-running crankbaits in river and creek channels... Yellow Perch: Very Good, fishing deep with medium minnows and jigging spoons. Striped and Hybrid Bass: Good, using with bucktails, cut and live herring and jigs. White Bass: Good, using bucktails, spinners and live bait below the dam. 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.

LAKE THURMOND: Few people fishing due to cold weather. Largemouth Bass: Slow. Try casting plastic worms, deep-running Rebels, ShadRaps. Yozuri plugs and Challenger plugs. Striped and Hybrid Bass: Pretty Good, using Little Cleos, Berry Spoons, 1/2 ounce yellow and white RoadRunners with bucktails and KastMasters around the dam. Also, try large minnows. Crappie: Fair to Good, larger fish being caught, 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: Few people fishing due to cold weather. 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, improved. Crappie: Good, using small minnows and jigs around brush tops in 12 to 20 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. Using pig-n-jigs fish slow.. Stripers: Good, behind the dam using Bombers, Charlie plugs, and Flukes. White Bass and White Perch: Good, fish schooling well. casting and jigging Berry Spoons. Crappie: Good, using small to medium minnows and mini jigs over brush. Catfish: Good, using redworms with a standard hook, line, sinker and cork in 6 to 8 feet of water. Bream: Slow. Try using redworms along shoreline and docks. Striped Bass: Good, using live shad 10 to 15 feet around river channel, schooling activity slow. White Bass: Fair. A few caught in striper schools. White Perch: Good, using Twister-tail crappie, grubs and live minnows. Crappie: Good, minnows fished 15 to 18 feet deep using Wow grubs or Slider grubs trolled slow and deep around mouths of creeks and in the river channel suspended in the water column 12 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: Fair, fishing in shallow water with Carolina rigs and shallow running crankbaits. Striped Bass: Fair up the lake from Ramp No. 3 and further, using bucktails with Iceflies and jigging with spoons 8 to 25 feet deep. Keep eyes open for birds because baitfish and stripers are underneath. Crappie: Fair to Good, around brush piles using minnows and jigs, with some being caught around new flooded grass. White Perch: Good, small jigging spoons, tuffy minnows and earthworms in 8 to 20 feet of water. Catfish: Fair 5- to 15 feet deep using cut herring and nightcrawlers on the bottom. Bream: Fair and improved in 8 feet of water using redworms around new flooded grass.

 

SANTEE COOPER SYSTEM

LAKE MARION: No new reports. Largemouth Bass: Good, using artificial worms, and bucktails fishing along the banks and point early in the morning. Striped Bass: Excellent, using live shiner with down rods in 25 feet of water. 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, fishing with live herring and cut shad off the bottom in deep water. Bream and Shellcrackers: Slow. 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, no live bait fishing at present, some schooling. Crappie: Fair to Good, using small to medium minnows and Beetlespins around fish attraction areas and brush piles. Catfish: Excellent, using cut herring, menhaden (which are schooling), 25 to 50 feet deep near the bottom along dike edges. Bream: Very good, using crickets and worms around fish attraction areas and crappie beds. Shellcrackers: Slow. Try redworms and green worms along the banks along river runs and points. Lake is clear and falling

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 Mike Creel -

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

 

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