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Mountains Area
Lake Jocassee
Trout: Fair. Captain Steve Pietrykowski
reports the trout are eating a little of
everything. Live Shiners always seems to
work, but small spoons and rapalas are
working well. Fishing the surface down to 50
feet seems to be the best. There has been a
good concentration of bait up the rivers,
but fish have been caught spread out through
the lake.
Lake Keowee
Largemouth and Spotted Bass: Fair. Fishing
is best in the lower part of the lake and
some good action is coming drop shotting
soft plastics (speckled minnow color) around
boat docks in 15 to 35 feet of water.
Another productive pattern is to look for
baitfish, including dying shad, and toss a
black/silver lipless crankbait.
Lake Hartwell
Largemouth Bass: Fair. Fish jigging spoons,
crankbaits, or drop shot rigs in 10 to 30
feet around secondary points, at the mouths
of major creeks, and on main channel points.
Crappie: Slow. Look for fish around deep
brush in 20 to 25 feet.
Piedmont Area
Lake Russell
Crappie: Fair. Fish small to medium minnows
or slider jigs in 6 to 12 feet of water
around tree tops. Largemouth Bass: Slow. Try
live herring or jigging spoons in deep water
by the Lake Russell dam in 30 to 50 feet.
Striped Bass: Slow. Very few fish are being
caught right now.
Lake Thurmond
Striped and Hybrid Bass: Fair. Fishing down
lines with live bait is most popular
although some fish continue to feed on the
surface all day long. Use live bait or throw
Little Cleos and look for birds working the
top. Largemouth: Fair. Largemouth bass
continue to be caught off of points; pearl
colored flukes are working best.
Lake Wylie
White perch: Very good. Look for large
schools in 18 to 24 feet, and fish live
minnows vertically or small spoons. Crappie:
Fair. Look in 18 to 20 feet over brush. Fish
with small minnows or jigs. Largemouth Bass:
Fair. Fishing with reaction type baits like
crankbaits and jerkbaits is slow, but shaky
head worms or other soft plastics fished
slowly against boat docks are producing.
Catfish: Fair, Best fishing is coming work
deep water along river channels and ledges.
Use cut bait, including shad, perch, and
herring.
Midlands area
Lake Wateree
Catfish: Good. Look for schools of bait
before anchoring or beginning a drift.
Crappie: Fair. Best fishing is coming
drifting or trolling in 14 to 15 feet. The
most popular colors have been John Deere
(yellow and green), black and blue, and big
minnows fished on gold, but not red, hooks.
Striped Bass: Fair. Striped bass fishing has
slowed considerably in the last couple of
weeks although live shiners or herring in
the lower part of the lake will still
produce. Look for schools of bait in the
Colonel's Creek area. Largemouth Bass: Slow.
Try finesse fishing very slowly with soft
plastics, or slow roll spinnerbaits along
the bottom.
Lake Greenwood
Catfish: Fair to good. Small cut threadfin
shad will put numbers of fish in the boat,
but bigger chunks of gizzard shad will catch
larger fish. Largemouth Bass: Fair. Best
fishing for largemouth is coming jigging ¼
ounce spoons off the main channel and over
brush piles in 25 feet of water. Striped
Bass: Fair. Best striper action is being
reported jigging spoons in 25 feet of water.
Lake Monticello
Catfish: Fair. Anchoring on main lake humps
and points with steep ledges is most
effective for putting big blue catfish in
the boat; being patient and staying in one
spot for a while can really pay off. Cut
gizzard shad, big threadfin shad, and white
perch seem to be the best baits.
Lake Murray
Crappie: Fair. Use tight lines and drift or
troll slowly with jigs and minnows; no
particular color jig is working best.
Striped Bass: Fair. Fish are shallow and
free lining and side planers will work,
especially across points. Early in the day
is most productive; throw bucktails and ice
flies and look for the birds. Largemouth
Bass: Slow. Try Carolina rigging with green
worms or fishing Tennessee shad or shad
colored crankbaits.
Santee Cooper System
Blue catfish: Improving. Captain Jim Glenn
reports the catches in terms of numbers have
been improving recently. Blue cats have been
caught in various depths fairly
consistently. Depths from a few feet to 55
feet have produced fish. Targeting blue cats
in and around big schools of bait fish in
deep water remains a fairly consistent
strategy for winter. Lake Marion and Lake
Moultrie are very similar right now with
approaches to fishing for blue cats. Striped
Bass: Fair. Captain Jim Glenn reports that
both lakes continue to produce lots of sub
legal stripers. Stripers can still be seen
schooling in both lakes, but not as often as
in past weeks. Shad may not be as likely to
come to the surface as often as they would
in warmer water when being chased by
stripers. Fishing in and around dense
schools of bait with live bait or spoons and
jigs and trolling are all effective right
now. Some folks will use large shiners
drifted either under a float or simply
suspended under the boat with a sinker and
swiveled leader. Stripers will be scattered
in various depths depending on where they
can find bait. Some striper fishermen have
caught numbers of stripers in a few feet of
water if bait is present in the area.
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