Hybrids at Lake Thurmond seem best bet for now
Lake Thurmond appears the best option during the next few days for anglers seeking freshwater fishing action in the Carolinas.
The S.C. Department of Natural Resources reported Wednesday that hybrids – the striper/white bass cross – are hitting well at the impoundment formerly known as Clarks Hill Reservoir.
Limits of hybrids in the 2-to-3 pound range are being boated by fishermen using live baits 25-40 feet deep off shoals and in coves. White perch are mixed in with the hybrid schools.
LAKE NORMAN: White perch remain the best bet, taking mainly minnows around flats and humps 20-30 feet deep. They’re also hitting earthworms, small spoons and Sabiki rigs. Catfish are biting 15-30 feet down in the creeks and coves of the mid-lake area, taking live baits such as bream, crawlers and shiners, along with freshly cut baits. The catfish are somewhat shallower at the lower end of the lake. Anglers fishing from dawn until about 9 a.m. are catching a few smallish spotted and largemouth bass on a variety of lures.
LAKE WYLIE: Catfish during early morning 5-15 feet deep in the creeks on cut white perch. Scattered largemouth bass deep around bridges, humps and points on artificial worms, DD-22 lures and spoons. White perch on minnows, small pieces of cut bait.
MOUNTAIN ISLAND LAKE: Continuing fair for bream and catfish on traditional baits – crickets and earthworms for the bream, crawlers and cut baits for the catfish.
UNION COUNTY LAKES: Fair bream and catfish at all four lakes – Cane Creek, Lee, Monroe and Twitty.
YADKIN/PEE DEE RIVER LAKES: Bream and catfish at all reservoirs – High Rock, Tuckertown, Badin, Tillery and Blewett Falls. White perch at Badin and Tillery.
LAKES JAMES, HICKORY, RHODHISS: Bream, catfish.
FONTANA LAKE: Smallmouth bass, lake trout and walleye on Sutton Spoons trolled 55-65 feet deep along the main channel between the dam and Point 4. Scattered largemouth at dawn and dusk on surface lures cast to the shoreline.
LAKE WATEREE: Catfish on the shallow mid-lake flats on cut shad and white perch. Crappie around brush 20 feet deep on minnows.
LAKE MURRAY: Good for striped bass, suspended 40-100 feet deep over 150 feet of water from the dam to Shull Island on free-lined live herring. Fair for catfish off points and around humps. Crappie around brush 20-30 feet down.
LAKE THURMOND: Shellcrackers on crickets, earthworms along the shoreline of the islands.
SANTEE COOPER LAKES: Crappie 10-15 feet down around brush and logs on minnows. Bream along the shoreline in the upper lake, Marion. Scattered largemouth on lures worked around eel grass.
LAKE HARTWELL: Fair for stripers and hybrids suspended 40-60 feet down over timber in 60-100 feet of water along the main channel on live herring. Channel catfish 20-30 feet deep around points and humps, mainly at night on cut baits.
LAKE KEOWEE: Little activity.
LAKE JOCASSEE: Trout on spoons trolled 60-100 feet deep.
OUTER BANKS: Nags Head area: Croaker, spots and whiting in the surf and at piers, along with a few cobia; Oregon Inlet: Good to excellent offshore for billfish, dolphin, wahoo and yellowfin tuna. Blues, Spanish mackerel and speckled trout inshore, along with cobia to 52 pounds; Hatteras Island: Good to excellent offshore for dolphin and wahoo to 70 pounds. Blues, Spanish mackerel and speckled trout in the inlet and Pamlico Sound. Fair blues, Spanish mackerel at Cape Point during high tides. Pompano and whiting at Ramp 44; Ocracoke Island:
Scattered blues, croaker, flounder, gray trout, puppy drum and whiting in the surf; Morehead City area: Dolphin, sailfish and wahoo offshore, along with a few blue and white marlin. Flounder and Spanish mackerel around the near-shore artificial reefs and wrecks. Trophy-sized red drum have started moving into Pamlico Sound to spawn. Fair blues, flounder, pompano, Spanish mackerel and spots in the surf and at piers.
SOUTHEASTERN N.C. COAST: Excellent for limits of large flounder 40-feet deep around wrecks and at the Caudle Artificial Reef. King mackerel at the 30/30 Ledge on live bait and frozen cigar minnows. Fair for dolphin and wahoo further offshore. Blues, Spanish mackerel inshore. Black drum, sheepshead at the ADM Dock, in Snow’s Cut and around the Masonboro Jetties. Scattered croaker, pompano, spots and whiting at piers.
S.C. COAST: Grand Strand area: Spanish mackerel along the beach and at piers on plugs and spoons. Reds, or spottails, on live baits around the jetties and in the creeks. Flounder also are hitting at the Murrells Inlet Jetties. Very good for billfish, dolphin and wahoo offshore; Charleston area: Excellent for trout during early morning on minnows and shrimp around creek mouths and shell rakes during high tide and around hard bottom at low tide. Spottails are tailing in the marshy shallows during the evening tides and are hitting live baits, Gulp! lures and Zman Ultra Crabz lures. Tarpon at the jetties, in Bulls Bay and North Edisto Inlet. Spanish mackerel in the harbor on Clark spoons; Beaufort area: Good to excellent for ladyfish in the sound along the banks in moving water on gold spoons, mud minnows, shrimp and Pop-R lures. Tarpon around the bridges on live menhaden. Fair for trout on minnows and live shrimp.
