South Carolina wrote the first chapter of landlocked striper fishing, and Lake Murray still tells it: summer dawn blowups near the dam, winter bird-play in the creeks and a dock-and-brush largemouth fishery that quietly wins national events.
Reports current for Friday, October 23
Every one of the 13 South Carolina waters we cover has a live read this morning. They are all sitting in the middle of the scale today. Water runs 47 F to 78 F. Pressure is holding steady on most of them, so the day comes down to water temperature and wind.
Best right now: Broad River 3/5, Charleston 3/5, Lake Greenwood 3/5
Live verdicts from this morning's reports.
South Carolina's 50,000-acre jewel on the Saluda: stripers with a landlocked pedigree and summer cane-pile crappie.
Sixty miles of Grand Strand surf and piers, with Lowcountry creeks hiding behind the neon.
Santee-Cooper's upper lake: flooded cypress, landlocked striper history and catfish of legend.
Lake Moultrie: the 60,400-acre lower lake of the Santee Cooper system in Berkeley County, owned and managed by Santee Cooper.
The clear Blue Ridge cooling lake: spotted bass depth and year-round comfort water.
The Saluda's small striper lake: big-fish surprises above Murray.
Lowcountry central: spartina marsh to the horizon, schooling winter reds in gin-clear shallows, and a harbor where three rivers argue with the sea.
Lake Wateree: a 13,025-acre Duke Energy reservoir on the Catawba-Wateree chain northeast of Columbia, managed by SCDNR for crappie, striped bass, largemouth and catfish.
Murrells Inlet: a Georgetown County salt-marsh inlet with jetty fishing from Huntington Beach State Park and SCDNR artificial reefs a few miles offshore.
Lake Jocassee: a 7,565-acre Duke Energy reservoir, up to 351 feet deep, that holds five South Carolina state fish records.
The Santee River below the Santee Cooper lakes: striped bass under SCDNR's slot and summer closure, and a 20-shad limit.
The Broad River near Carlisle: the main stem of South Carolina's third-largest river basin, flowing through the Piedmont from North Carolina to Columbia.
A cold tailwater in the capital: the Saluda runs trout below Lake Murray through Columbia.
Species activity across the state's covered waters. Peak of the year: October.
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.
Seasonal surface curve for this state's dominant water type (estimated).
| Water | Type | County | Live gauge | Peak month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Murray fishing report | Reservoir | Lexington | USGS | Mar |
| Myrtle Beach fishing report | Coastal | Horry | modeled | Sep |
| Lake Marion fishing report | Lake | Clarendon | USGS | Mar |
| Lake Moultrie fishing report | Reservoir | Berkeley | USGS | Mar |
| Lake Keowee fishing report | Reservoir | Oconee | modeled | Mar |
| Lake Greenwood fishing report | Reservoir | Laurens | USGS | Mar |
| Charleston fishing report | Coastal | Charleston | modeled | Sep |
| Lake Wateree fishing report | Reservoir | Kershaw | modeled | Mar |
| Murrells Inlet fishing report | Coastal | Georgetown | modeled | Sep |
| Lake Jocassee fishing report | Reservoir | Oconee | modeled | May |
| Santee River fishing report | River | Berkeley | modeled | Apr |
| Broad River fishing report | River | Union | USGS | Feb |
| Saluda River fishing report | River | Richland | USGS | Apr |
South Carolina's fresh side runs through its big Savannah and Santee-Cooper reservoirs: Murray's stripers and cane-pile crappie, Hartwell shared with Georgia, and the legendary Santee-Cooper lakes where landlocked stripers were discovered and catfish grow to legend. The salt side is Lowcountry: flood-tide redfish in the spartina, trout on the drops, and the Grand Strand's pier culture at Myrtle Beach.
Spring: herring spawns on the reservoirs and inshore trout waking up. Summer: dawn schooling stripers, tarpon rumors around the jetties, nighttime catfishing. Fall: bull reds in the inlets, crappie stacking on brush. Winter: clear-water sight fishing for reds in the creeks (the Lowcountry's best-kept secret) and Santee's trophy blues at their peak.
June and July at first light near the dam: striper schools push herring to the surface in open water. Be idling out before sunrise.