By Captain Joe Dennis, Father and Son Outdoors
Striper season is open. You can find plenty of stripers in 30 – 45 ft this time of year. Creek channels are a great place to start. Look for bait and fish, then set your baits right above your markers. Live herring and shad will work the best. This time of year is also a good time to fish with spoons. Jigging vertical is the best presentation. Some schooling activity is being reported on the lakes early morning and later in the evening. Cast plastic swim baits into the schools. Look for the BIRDS.
Bream – This time of year you can target both big bream and crappie on brush in 20 – 35 ft. Crickets are the best bait for bream, and jigs and minnows will be the best baits for the crappie. Lots of bream and crappie have made their way back to the brush piles. For the bream, you will catch all sizes on the beds but the cooler the water gets, the bigger the bream will get.
Crappie – With the weather and water starting to slowly cool down, lots of crappie will be headed to deeper brush, preparing for fall. Look for crappie on brush in 12 – 25 ft. on Lake Marion and 20 – 35 ft on Lake Moultrie. Casting small jigs and tight lining minnows will work the best. For the nighttime crappie fisherman, set up your light around bridge pilings or deep docks in 20-30 ft. Draw the bait in and the crappie and bass won’t be far away.
Bass – Lots of schooling activity on the Cooper River in the mouths of the old Richfield cuts. Top water and swim baits will work too.
Catfish – Still a lot of fish being caught at night. Fish in 2 – 10 ft of water. Stump fields and groups of cypress will also hold plenty of fish. Cut herring and shad work the best. The daytime drift bite should get better and better, as the water cools. Drift the creek channels in 30 -45 ft with Santee Cooper Rigs. Herring shad and white perch are working well. Lots of 2 – 10 pound fish are being caught.
Salt Water Bushy Park – Lots of speckled trout and slot size reds are being caught mainly on live mullet/mud minnow and shrimp under a slip or popping cork. Fish the edges of the creeks. Falling tide seems to be the best tide to fish. Lots of flounder are also being caught, but most are under size, so make sure you know your regulations.