An Overview of our Seasonal Fishing on Upstate SC Lakes
Mid November to New Years
I thought I would start with my favorite time of year by a wide margin. As the water temps cools into the 50’s on our Upstate SC Lakes, the threadfin shad cannot handle the cold temperatures and become stunned. This creates a massive feeding opportunity for just about every species of predator fish in our lakes. This is the time of year when our stripers add the most weight. Seagulls return to our lakes and are very important to pointing out feeding fish. I rarely need to take live bait this time of year, I can do way better on artificial. Small threadfin imitating lures like bucktails, jigging spoons, and Alabama Rigs produce way more fish for me than having to fish slow with live bait. This is a time of year where we usually catch a wide variety of species in the same day. Stripers/hybrids are the main focus but along the way we catch Largemouth, Spotted Bass, Crappie and giant Flathead Catfish. This is also a time of year where we can usually fill a cooler with tasty white perch. There are no limits on perch and if your goal is to take fish home to eat this time of year, I encourage my clients to take perch and spotted bass which are both invasive species and delicious. If possible, I encourage stripers/hybrids to be released in the cooler months. They survive the fights great in the cool water and can be released to continue to grow to trophy size.
Here is a note about fishing around birds that every angler needs to read and adhere too: The absolute key to fishing around circling or diving birds is to not run your motor through them. Too many boats will try to blast right up to the edge of the birds on plane and take a quick cast, which breaks up the school. If everyone would stop 150 yards away and come in with your trolling motor, every boat could be hooked up. The other mistake I see people make is trying to idle through the schools with the big motor and mark fish on the depth finder before stopping. That moves or breaks up the schools of bait and fish as well.
New Years to Mid February
The fishing is similar to the late fall fishing where the fish are still feeding on threadfin shad primarily instead of the faster herring. But the fishing can be tougher because water temps are often dipping into the mid 40’s and we also start to get a lot of muddy water by this time of year. We still have great days but large cold fronts can make the bite tougher for a couple days after they pass. I will be very open about what I predict our chances to be and if we need to move or cancel our trip this time of year, I have no issue doing so. It’s supposed to be fun for my customers, not a grind.
While the stripers can range from on fire to poor this time of year, the perch are still pretty steady and will usually hit minnows pretty well. For the crappie, they have typically left the brush by this time and moved to open water. Many suspend as singles or in big schools. Some of the biggest crappie of the year are caught livescoping during this time.
One very nice thing during this period is the fishing pressure is generally lower and if we do find diving birds there are many days we have them to ourselves and can really work on the fish.
Late February and March
Most years in February in Upstate SC we start to get warming days that feel more like spring than winter. There will be a thin layer of warmer water right on the surface that’s in the 50’s with water below it often still in the 40’s. Some fish come shallow and act more like spring time fish while others stay deep on winter patterns. Often on sunny days, afternoons are much better than mornings. On cloudy days I still prefer mornings. If we get a cold period during this, it will often send fish right back into their winter patterns.
This is a great time of year for crappie. The fish are staging up for the spawn or if it’s warm enough some are even hitting the banks for the spawn. Long line trolling for crappie is a great technique during this time.
On lakes like Hartwell that have big populations of hybrids and spotted bass, I also do a lot of ultralight casting with small hand tied jigs using Livescope/Active Target to spot small schools of fish around balls of shad just under the surface. A lot of the fish will be smaller but we often run into nicer spots and hybrids that are an unreal battle on ultralight tackle.
By Mid March the Largemouth Bass and Spotted Bass start to stage heavily in prespawn areas and we often catch big numbers throwing soft plastics like swimbaits and trick worms.
By mid March our White Perch and White Bass are working their way up our rivers to spawn. As long as rivers are not flooded and blown out, we have fantastic days using ultralight gear on jet boat trips up the river. These are great trips for kids with typically lots of action. By Late march Stripers begin to show up in the mix as well.
April
In April the water temps are climbing into the 60’s early in the moth and 70’s by late in the month. This triggers a lot of fish activity. Early to mid April, Stripers/Hybrids will usually be in the rivers heavily on their spawning runs (false spawn since they can’t reproduce in our lakes except Santee). The first week or so of April the Largemouth and Spots can still be caught in shallow prespawn patterns but that will often shut down as they move up to spawn typically in the second to third weeks of the month. By mid month the Herring Spawn is usually going strong and predators like Stripers/Hybrids and Bass will be crashing them on shallow points very early in the day. As the water gets warmer late in the month the threadfin shad will begin to spawn on rock walls and bridges as well.
This can be a great month for Jet Boat trips in the rivers. Perch and white bass will still be available early in the month but we also begin to target stripers/hybrids in different river sections.
Once the herring spawn starts we begin our live bait trips pulling up onto points early in the day and also pulling live herring on planer boards across the shallows. We also throw herring imitating plugs and soft plastics up onto the points.
Late in the month, the crappie are done with their spawn and we begin catching them on structure like brush and bridges. I offer night trips for crappie during this time as well that are very laid back fun for the family.
May-July
May, June and early July are my favorite months for crappie. They really stack up thick on deep brush which I build and sink a lot of. Sunny days are better because it makes them hold tighter to the brush. Minnows and Jigs are both very effective.
The Striper/Hybrid fishing is usually wide open during this time as well. On Hartwell there is a period after the spawning runs where the fishing can be a little tougher in early May. But Murray tends to be more consistently good. My personal theory (which may be dead wrong) is on Murray, nowhere near as many fish run up the rivers in the spring like they do on Hartwell and Clarks Hill. A large number stay down lake and pound on the spawning herring and shad. In early to Mid-May we are usually still pulling planer boards but you also start to see a lot more activity on topwater plugs during this time. By Late May and into June/July, the down rod bite with live herring starts to take over. This can be very good action. On Murray come June 1 to October 1 the regulations change where there is no size limit on the stripers and you are required to stop targeting stripers once each person has caught 5 fish no matter whether you release them or keep them. You will see this referred to as the 5 and done rule. Since there is no size limit, this is a good time of year to catch a good number of fish to eat. On Hartwell and Clarks Hill, the limit is still 10 per person. Down lining is also very good on those lakes as well from mid May and all of June and most of July.
By Late June and July, I start to run some late afternoon/night fishing trips on Murray for the stripers. It’s a great way to avoid the heat and have good action. We just have to watch the weather for nights that don’t have high thunderstorm chances. Even on the night’s where the chances aren’t as high, we are watching the weather and occasionally have to run back to the dock ahead of the storms and come back out when they pass. It's never a good decision to stay out on the water when a storm is bearing down on you. Get to safety.
By mid July you will usually start to see a distinct thermocline form and the oxygen levels below the thermocline begin to decrease to the point where the fish can’t live in it. The fish will suspend on this thermocline. Live Baiting is still effective but you also start to see good results trolling lures on leadcore line or downriggers.
August-September
Mid August to Mid September are usually my least favorite months to fish. The lakes have gotten hot, the O2 levels are low and the fish are stressed and many are not in an eating mood. I usually switch my trips to fishing Clarks Hill and Hartwell during this time. We are still able to produce good catches there compared to other lakes. Many days we fish afternoons because the fish feed better once current starts moving through the lakes from generating power through the dams. Down lining herring over the tree tops and pulling lures on leadcore can both be effective during this time. Crappie are still on brush during this time but they are lethargic and much harder to catch.
Usually by mid September, we start to get our first cool snaps that begin to drop water temps. This will often start to bring the fish closer to the surface and we will have periods of schooling on top many days. This cooling will also trigger the crappie to begin to feed well again on the deep brush.
October to Mid-November
As the water cools into the fall, the fishing gets better the cooler it gets. Crappie are very good on deep brush during this period, especially on sunny days. The more it cools, spotted bass begin to gang up in large schools on Lake Keowee and we offer some fun trips live baiting for them. On our striper trips we are always on the lookout for schooling fish during this period. The white perch also begin to gang up and feed heavily. Usually we can catch them well with jigging spoons and don’t need to use bait during this period all the way into January. On Murray we will usually target stripers for a while in the morning and then once it slows, switch to perch to close out the trip.
Remember that the regulations on Murray change back on October 1, where a fish must be over 21” to keep and the limit is 5. But you can catch and release all you want. I highly encourage my customers to catch and release the stripers in all of the cooler months. If you want to take a lot of fish home to eat, we can load you up on perch or even crappie.