Fishing action is good for catfish, bass, bream

Apparently, the heat and humidity doesn’t matter to some of the bass, catfish and bream in lakes Marion and Moultrie. Maybe they don’t know fishing should be slower in this mid-summer heat. Based on several reports these species have been cooperating surprisingly well during the past week or so. Some good reports of bass and bream have also been received from anglers fishing ponds late in the evening.

In addition, several anglers have made good catches on local rivers, with largemouth bass being caught on the Cooper, Congaree and Santee rivers. Good bream fishing has been reported on the Lynches and Black rivers as well. If you enjoy river fishing, the current flow will help you both beat the heat and get into some good fishing action.

There’s been good early and late-in-the-day fishing success in reasonably shallow water in both lakes Marion and Moultrie on largemouth bass. There’s still some very good bream fishing to be enjoyed around the lakes as well. Bass fishermen report target fishing, casting lures to visible cover in water 4-10 feet deep, as the best way to take fish early and late in the day. A wide variety of lures have been productive with plastic worms, crank baits and spinner baits, as well as a variety of top water lures all producing good results.

Catfishing seems to be best in or near deep water, close to deep channels or holes. Some excellent catches of blue catfish have been made in and around the Diversion Canal area and both flatheads and blues are being taken along the drops in the big water area of both lakes. More big blues are coming from Lake Moultrie, with Lake Marion producing more big flatheads. Cut bait, both shad and herring, have produced excellent action on big blue catfish and the live bait has produced some big flatheads. The channel catfish action continues to be very good with big numbers of fish being caught on the stink baits as well as night crawlers and live minnows.

Coastal fishing continues to be excellent for a variety of species, especially in the inshore areas. The entire coastline offers good fishing, but the most reports continue to come from the Charleston and Georgetown areas. Sharks are providing excellent action with Bonnethead shark being taken regularly using crab or shrimp as bait. Flounder fishing remains excellent with several reports received from all along the South Carolina coastline and as usual, trolling with mud minnows has been the top method reported by successful anglers. The redfish are being taken in the shallow flats at low tide with mud minnows or small gold spoons. Some speckled trout are being caught in good numbers throughout the inshore areas. The offshore bottom fishing continues to be good with snapper, grouper and black sea bass being caught.