Lake Greenwood is located near the towns of Greenwood and Ninety Six, about an hour to the northwest of Columbia and around forty-five minutes to the southeast of Greenville. The waters of the Saluda and Reedy Rivers come fromthe northwest and feed into Lake Greenwood, which was created between 1935 and 1940 with the construction of Buzzard’s Roost Dam.
Lake Greenwood has 212 miles of shoreline and 11,400 surface acres of water, and today it is owned by Greenwood County. A relatively shallow lake, Lake Greenwood averages 18 feet deep and is 60 feet deep at its deepest point. The Greenwood County Lake Management Department controls permitting, camping, upkeep and maintenance on the lake, and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources helps to manage the fishery resource.
Fishermen target Lake Greenwood’s healthy populations of largemouth and now spotted bass, black and white crappie, bream and catfish, and channel and flathead catfish. DNR also stocks striped bass in the lake, although not in the quantities which they put into Lake Murray, Clarks Hill and other major striper fisheries. White bass are also present in Greenwood, although they are increasingly being displaced by the white perch population. The most significant forage fish on Lake Greenwood are threadfin and gizzard shad.Read More
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Clarks Hill water levels are down to 329.77 (full pool is 330.00) and water temperatures are about 72-74 degrees.While it was not obvious when it was apparently happening it appears that the lake has turned over.
No one would pretend that the bass fishing on Clarks Hill is easy right now, but Tyler Matthews of Evans, GA reports
Lake Russell water levels are at 474.74 (full pool is 475.00) and water temperatures range from about 70-74.The water has been dingy from turning over but it just beginning to clear.
It was an uncharacteristically tough few weeks on Lake Russell and Guide Jerry Kotal (706-988-0860) reports
Surface water temperatures are about 73 degrees in Murrells Inlet.Shrimp and finger mullet are prolific, and 7-8 inch mullet as well as huge 2-3 pound fish are migrating down the beaches.
Baisch Boys Bait and Tackle (843-651-1915) has regular and jumbo mud minnows, live finger mullet, live shrimp, live fiddler crabs, blood worms, fresh shrimp, salt clam, and a full range of frozen baits.
The strong fall fishing expected to arrive soon by the last report has gotten to the south end of the Grand Strand, and Captain J Baisch (843-902-0356) reports
Surface water temperatures on the north end of the Grand Strand are about 72 degrees.While mullet are abundant, shrimp are small and hard to catch right now.
The strong fishing that started this summer is extending into the fall, and Captain Patrick “Smiley” Kelly (843-361-7445) reports
Lake Hartwell water levels are back down to 659.90 (full pool is 660.00) and water temperatures have dropped to about 73 degrees.For the first time in a long time the lake has gone a week without rain, and so the water is very clear.Overall the regions’s annual rainfall is 26 inches above normal!
Fresh off a second place performance in a major multi-day team tournament, Guide Brad Fowler knows
Lake Jocassee is at 95.4% of full pool and water temperatures have dropped to about 73-74 degrees on the main lake.With no recent rains water clarity is very high.
It’s questionable to call it a seasonal improvement since the water temperatures haven’t changed much down where the trout live, but Guide Sam Jones (864-280-9056) reports
Surface water temperatures around Charleston are down to 72-73 degrees.The creeks are full of shrimp and finger mullet and the big mullet are running the beaches.Shrimp boats report an excellent white shrimp season and the baiters are also netting good catches.
All year inshore fishermen wait for October, but now that it has arrived Captain Rob Bennett (843-367-3777) reports
Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.32 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 74.33 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5).Water temperatures have dropped all the way to 73 or 74 degrees.There is a ton of water being pulled through the lakes creating some swift current.
We got the seasonal cooling that anglers knew was needed to move the bass out of a deep suspended pattern, but Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) reports
Lake Murray water levels are down to 356.06 (full pool is 360.00) and water temperatures have dropped into the mid-70s.Up the lake is pretty muddy and there is a lot of current.
A week ago it looked like the offshore suspended/ cane pile bass bite was about to peak, but after the recent rains and lots of moving water veteran tournament angler Stan Gunter of Saluda reports
Lake Russell rose after the storms but water levels now dipped back below full to 474.40 (full pool is 475.00), while water temperatures have dropped more than 10 degrees in the past two weeks to the lower 70s.In addition to being muddy in certain areas (including some that don’t usually get muddy), much of the water is coffee-colored and the lake appears to be turning over.
It’s still an uncharacteristically tough bass bite on Lake Russell, and Guide Jerry Kotal (706-988-0860) reports
Lake Wateree is back up to 96.6% of full pool while temperatures have dropped to the upper 70s or low 80s.The upper end is already muddy and the water is coming down.
They dropped the lake in anticipation of extremely large amounts of rain, and while there was not as much water as feared tournament angler Dearal Rodgers of Camden reports
Lake Wylie is back up to 96.7% of full pool and surface water temperatures are around 76 degrees on the south end of the lake.The water is a chalky color almost like it is starting to turn over (which it probably is not.)
As temperatures drop the bass on Lake Wylie are starting to get more and more into fall patterns, and tournament angler Reid McGinn of Fort Mill reports
Inshore surface water temperatures have dropped to about 76 in the main rivers around Beaufort and the water is very dirty.Shrimp, mullet and menhaden are all abundant.
Really big high tides have made for an outstanding flood tide bite in Beaufort, and Bay Street Outfitters (843-524-5250) reports
Inshore surface water temperatures around Edisto Island are about 77 or 78 degrees in the main rivers, while a couple of miles out temperatures are still over 80. The South Edisto is very dark with recent rain events.High winds and tides have also generally dirtied the water.Bait is at its peak for the year with the mullet run in full swing and big shrimp coming out of the creeks.
With so much bait around the fish have gotten into the period where they are putting on the weight that will get them through the winter, and Captain Ron Davis, Jr. (843-513-0143) reports
Lake Keowee has dropped a few feet to 96.5% of full pool, and at the same time water temperatures are down into the upper 70s over most of the lake.Water clarity is normal.
Clarks Hill water levels are way above full pool at 331.37 (full pool is 330.00) while water temperatures have dropped all the way to 72-76 degrees.Up the lake is muddy.
For the second straight week one of our regular Insider reports correspondents won big on Clarks Hill, and this weekend it was tournament angler Josh Rockefeller of Augusta who took first place in the 63-boat, 2-day BFL event on Clarks Hill.
Lake Hartwell water levels have risen to 660.82 (full pool is 660.00) while water temperatures have dropped substantially to about 76 degrees.The water is still very clear.
It’s a zoo on Lake Hartwell right now, and Guide Brad Fowler (himself a competitor) reports
Santee Cooper water levels are at 75.68 in Lake Marion (full pool is 76.8) and 74.70 in Lake Moultrie (full pool is 75.5).Water temperatures have dropped to 80 or 81.It’s been extremely windy and there is a lot of rainwater coming into the system, but the lakes are starting out pretty clear and so the lower lake will probably stay relatively clean while the upper end of Marion may get dirty.
It was a brutal Carolinas Bass Challenge event last Saturday, and although it did appear that the patterns were not too far off from what was expected (offshore) weights were even lower than predicted. Gary Michaud and Dustin Compton took the win with 21.89 pounds, but Captain Brett Mitchell (803-379-7029) points
Lake Murray water levels are down to 356.19 (full pool is 360.00) and water temperatures have dropped to around 80 in the big water.Clarity dropped with yesterday’s rain.
It’s hard to know how long this pattern will last, but right now Captain Brad Taylor (803-331-1354) reports
Surface water temperatures are around 83 degrees around Hilton Head and the wind and rain today have likely dirtied the water up some.Even before today some areas that are customarily clear were dirty as well as vice versa, and so right now it’s all about the wind direction.
No one is saying that the tarpon have left Hilton Head, and in fact Captain Kai Williams (843-816-7475) has
Surface water temperatures around Charleston have dropped to about 82 degrees, and wind and rain have dirtied up the water.The creeks are full of shrimp and finger mullet.
While the fall bite hasn’t arrived to the whole South Carolina coast, Captain Rob Bennett (843-367-3777) reports
