February 1
Lake Jocassee is at 98.3% of full pool and the backs of creeks are dirty. Morning surface water temperatures on the main lake are around 52-53 degrees.
January 23
Lake Jocassee is at 98.0% of full pool and morning surface water temperatures are down to about 52 degrees.
January 4
Lake Jocassee is at 97.9% of full pool and morning surface water temperatures are in the mid- to upper 50s.
December 21
Lake Jocassee is at 93.6% of full pool and morning surface water temperatures are in the upper 50s.
December 15
Lake Jocassee is down to 93.4% of full pool and the lake is extremely clear. Morning surface water temperatures are about 59 degrees.
November 30
Lake Jocassee is down to 90.0% of full pool and the lake is extremely clear. Morning surface water temperatures are about 62 degrees.
There are still good numbers of trout in 70-80 feet of water, but Guide Casey Jones of Jocassee Charters (864-280-9056) reports that even those fish are moving up at times and overall fish are moving shallower. Yesterday they caught a nice rainbow on a spoon trolled about 15 feet deep in open water, and more fish are now in 40 or less feet. We are approaching the period where fish can be at any depth. The best concentrations of fish are in the rivers rather than the main lake, and they are also still picking up some big yellow perch.
While he hasn’t been on the water in the last three days, veteran angler Chip Cranford of Boiling Springs reports that with this first polar plunge it would not be unusual for the bass to stop biting for a few days but then they should settle down again. He has still been finding everything in about 18-30 feet of water in the river channels, but depending on what the bait does the fish could go shallower. It would not be unusual for the bass to push up on the flats in 5-10 feet of water off the sides of the river and they should certainly start to school up tighter as temperatures drop.
Finally, Casey notes that with the low water levels they are seeing all sorts of wildlife roaming the shores!
November 17
Lake Jocassee is down to 90.7% of full pool and the lake is extremely clear. Morning surface water temperatures are about 65 degrees.
November 9
Lake Jocassee is at 93.1% of full pool and the lake is extremely clear. Water temperatures are in the middle to upper 60s.
November 3
Lake Jocassee is at 92.2% of full pool and the lake is extremely clear. Morning surface water temperatures have dropped into the upper 60s.
October 27
Lake Jocassee is at 92.3% of full pool and the lake is extremely clear. Morning surface water temperatures are still in the lower 70s.
October 19
Lake Jocassee is way down to 90.9% of full pool and the lake is extremely clear. Morning surface water temperatures are still in the low to mid-70s on the main lake.
October 5
Lake Jocassee is at 96.0% of full pool and the lake is extremely clear. Morning surface water temperatures are about 76 or 77 degrees on the main lake.
September 28
Lake Jocassee is at 95.62% of full pool and the lake is extremely clear. Morning surface water temperatures are about 77 or 78 degrees on the main lake, but around 74 degrees up the rivers.
September 21
Lake Jocassee is at 97.2% of full pool and clarity is normal. Morning surface water temperatures are still about 79 on the main lake.
September 6
Lake Jocassee is at 97.8% of full pool and clarity is normal. Morning surface water temperatures have dropped to about 79 on the main lake and 72 or 73 degrees up the rivers.
August 24
Lake Jocassee is at 98.8% of full pool and clarity is normal. Morning surface water temperatures are around 80 degrees on the main lake.
August 18
Lake Jocassee is at 98.2% of full pool and the water is gin clear. Last night they found about 84 degrees up the rivers.
August 3
Lake Jocassee is at 97.2% of full pool and clarity is very high. Morning surface water temperatures are 78 or more at the dam, although the weather today will temporarily cool the surface temps.
July 27
Lake Jocassee is at 98.6% of full pool and clarity is very high. Morning surface water temperatures are 78 or more at the dam.
July 14
Lake Jocassee is at 98.3% of full pool and clarity is very high. Morning surface water temperatures have moved up to 75-76 degrees.
June 29
Lake Jocassee is at 98.1% of full pool and, while there is lots of debris including pine needles and limbs floating after last week’s rain, the main lake is still clear although the rivers are a bit dirty. Morning surface water temperatures range from about 71-72 degrees on the big water.
June 22
Lake Jocassee is at 98.4% of full pool and there is lots of debris after the storms but the main lake is still clear while the rivers are dingy. Morning surface water temperatures range from about 70-73 degrees.
June 16
Lake Jocassee is at 98.8% of full pool and the main lake and major rivers are clear. Morning surface water temperatures range from about 71-73 degrees.
June 8
Lake Jocassee is at 98.4% of full pool and the main lake and major rivers are clear. Morning surface water temperatures on the main lake are about 71-72 degrees.