6/7/07

Fishing good for several fish species
By Terry Madewell

The rain last weekend may have chased fishermen from the lakes, but in the long run, some fresh water coming into lakes Marion and Moultrie is probably a good thing for fishing. The anglers that stayed out and fished in the cloudy weather and braved the winds still managed to catch plenty of hefty fish.

The fishing conditions remain very good and a variety of fish species are being taken in really good numbers and sizes. The catfish action is really heating up; the striper fishing on live bait is good; largemouth continue to be taken in good numbers and the bream action is great.

The striper action seems to be really good in the lower part of Lake Marion and in Lake Moultrie as well, based on reports recently. There are still some good reports from the up lake portion of Lake Marion as well. In the lower end of Lake Marion and in Moultrie, live bait seems to be the best bet. Some big catfish are also being taken in this manner as well.

The overall action on catfish is excellent too. A lot of big blue catfish and flatheads are being caught by anglers. Either drifting cut bait along the ledges or fishing flat lines in the shallows near the drops is taking the blues. The flatheads are generally being taken by anchoring and fishing on or near the bottom with live herring or other forms of live bait.

I’ve talked to several anglers using stink bait and they’re making big catches of good-sized blue catfish and assorted sizes of channel catfish. Big numbers of fish are being caught with some big fish caught as well.

The bream action is still very good although the fish are a bit scattered. It’s a few here, a few there type of fishing. Crickets and worms are top live baits and fly rod and popping bugs and small beetle spins are the most productive artificial lures, based on numerous reports.

The largemouth bass fishing continues to be productive with a number of different lures producing good results. Top water lures, such as buzz baits and the Devil Horse are producing some excellent catches. In addition, plastic worms, crank baits and spinner baits have all taken good catches of bass. The largemouth are being taken in a variety of depths of water from shallow down to fifteen feet deep. Many anglers have done extremely well with plastic worms in shallow water, especially around woody cover.

The crappie fishing is still fair but the fish have made a move back to deeper water where they should be caught in good numbers for the next several weeks. Anglers using either jigs or minnows are making good catches.

Fishing along the South Carolina coast is excellent with numerous reports of redfish and flounder being taken on both live and artificial baits. The flounder fishing has been best by trolling in the Charleston and Myrtle Beach areas, based on recent reports Offshore the dolphin, tuna and Wahoo continue to be taken in good numbers.