9/6/07
Fishing fair for catfish and largemouth bass
By Terry Madewell

Hopefully the slightly cooler weather is a good sign for fall fishing. There certainly seems to be more fishermen out recently. Maybe the fishing got better with cooler temperatures or maybe there’s finally just a lot more fishermen out.

The catfish news is very good. The largemouth bass action seems to have perked up and the bream are biting very well. There are some scattered reports of striper schooling action as well.

There are still some largemouth bass and bream being taken from shallow water cover, especially around the areas near deeper water and productive areas including weeds, logs, stumps and grass. However, the deep holes of water seem to be the places where the biggest and most varieties of fish species are lurking.

Several largemouth bass anglers have done well in upper Lake Marion, some on the drops in deep, open water areas in the lower end of the lake and some report good results from Lake Moultrie, primarily in deep water.

Many anglers continue to report good catches on Texas-rigged plastic worms in about 6-8 feet of water using red shad pattern worms. Some fish are being taken in shallow water, but they are very tight around heavy cover. Plastic worms, heavy spinner baits and deep diving crank baits have produced the best results recently. Some anglers have drifted the Carolina worm rig along the edge lines with good results as well.

In the catfish department, the blues are still biting and most of the fish are being taken from the deep holes along the river channel in Lake Marion and from the deep ledges throughout Lake Moultrie. The blues are being taken on cut bait and whole perch or shad drifted over humps and ledges near deep water. Some reports have been received in the past week regarding night fishing for blue catfish and the action has been good, plus you can beat the heat. News on the flathead catfish continues to be fair with most of these fish being caught in deep water as well using live bait such as perch or bream.

The bream action is still decent using crickets and worms by anglers working deep water or near deep water. Many of the better catches are being made in the upper end of Lake Marion, either near the creek or river channel drops or in the heavy cover and around the Diversion Canal areas. Most of the fishing seems to be very early and late in the day.

Striper schooling action is sporadic, but some mornings a few fish are schooling and are being caught on bucktails and other swimming baits. Top water lures like the Torpedo have produced good results as well.

Coastal fishing news is still extremely good for a variety of fish species. Good surf fishing continues for a variety of fish, plus good catches of redfish are occurring on live bait by fishing the flats during low tide.

Sheepshead are being taken from the jetties in Charleston Harbor and near Georgetown.

The speckled trout are being taken using small green and chartreuse grubs along the weed lines near mouths of small creeks. Spadefish continues to be caught in good numbers from the offshore reefs using shrimp as bait and some good action has been noted on flounder trolling mud minnows.