Fishing action is slow, some catfish caught
Continued variable weather and sometimes plenty of wind have kept the fishing activity slow compared to a few weeks ago. With water temperatures dropping, there’s simply not been a lot of fish activity, nor fisherman activity. The only reports are that some anglers continue to catch a few blue catfish, with some days being pretty good, others very tough. Some largemouth are being taken and a few quality fish at that, but overall the action has slowed for this species as well.
The really cold air temperatures have lowered the water temperature to the point that there’s not a lot of action on stripers. There has been a bit of crappie fishing news, but it has mostly been in very deep water and it hasn’t been all that great.
As noted, about the only positive news heard, and this is scattered, is on the blue catfish. Using shad minnows caught with a cast net, cut herring or just cut perch, some decent catfish action has been reported. But as shad get really bunched up and lethargic, they become easy targets for most species of fish making it tougher on us.
I threw the net one time the other day to catch some shad for bait and literally could hardly lift the net from the water. I had to let about half the shad out just to get the net in the boat. It’s easy to see what catfish, stripers and largemouth can do; just swim through with their mouth open and get a week’s worth of food in one gulp.
When you can get out on the big part of the lake, I recommend patience when looking for the fish. If you can find a big pod of shad with catfish, you can still catch a good mess of fish.
The striper action is slow, with a few fish being caught but not many keeper-sized fish. Drift fishing with live bait has been the best method.
The crappie news is that a few fish are starting to show up at the mouths of the major creeks. Again, some fish may be caught in deep water, but overall the crappie action is slow.
Fishing along the coast is still good for several species of fish including redfish, trout and surprisingly, sheepshead. Some good catches have been made on sheepshead in water less than eight feet deep around the Charleston area. The redfish are being caught on the flats and trout in the big creeks using live bait or casting grubs or gold spoons. Overall, the best bet would still be the redfish in the flats. Weather has been a key factor in this area as well in terms of fishing success with cold air, cold water and wind being negative factors to overcome on some days.
