2/1/07

Fishing action dampened by wet weather
By Terry Madewell

There have been several good fishing reports received from both lakes Marion and Moultrie during the past couple of weeks, but the action has also been curtailed by the wet then bone-chilling weather we experienced. The very warm temperature on last Saturday was good fishing weather, but then the rain, the wind and the cold came through.

The fishing action has still been good during the bitter cold mornings, but few anglers have been out there to find out. Some good crappie action has been reported on Lake Marion as well as at Lake Murray and Lake Wateree and it seems the weather is not holding back the spring migration of crappie to the spawning areas.

The crappie fishing is not red hot by any means yet, but on all area lakes there has been an increase in reports of good fishing action. In addition, there are some good reports of largemouth bass being caught throughout lakes Marion and Moultrie. The largemouth are being taken in respectable numbers, but not wide-open spring fishing. The action is decent if the weather is even a bit cooperative and the opportunity to catch a really big fish is excellent. With changing water conditions, however, you need to be mobile and stay on the move to find the fish.

While the crappie fishing action is still confined to mostly deep water in all the lakes, the fish are beginning to congregate in good numbers and when you find one you can sometimes take a limit from the same general area. Most of the crappie action seems to be around the mouths of the major creeks. The best results on crappie have been by drifting the mouths of the larger creeks, along the ledges and drops, with live minnows or small jigs. A second productive method has been to troll the drops and ledges with small jigs or minnows and when a school of fish is located, work that area repeatedly. Most of the fish in these patterns have been taken in the 16- 22 foot depth range.

The striper news is still quite slow with no reports being received, however the action should begin to perk up in the upper end of the lake within a few weeks. Some reports of action from Lake Murray have been received, but that’s not red hot either.

The catfish action is fair, with some anglers making good catches in or near deep water from both lakes Marion and Moultrie. Some of the fish are beginning to move to the flats adjacent to the deep water as well as being caught along the drops and ledges. More fish in the 10-20 pound class are being taken now and some really big fish should be caught in the next two months, so now’s the time to start prospecting for that big catfish you’ve dreamed about all winter. Both blue and flathead catfish are being caught and some reports of channel catfish have been received as well. Things are beginning to look spring like in the catfish department.

Fishing along the inshore coastal regions has been good with some good catches of redfish and speckled trout having been made using mud minnows as bait. Some reds have also been taken on gold spoons in the flats. Very good reports of bottom fishing action on black sea bass, snapper and grouper have been received.