Among the best spots to find an abundance of crappie this year, in addition to Lake Murray, are lakes Wylie, Wateree, Hartwell, and for trophy crappie, lakes Marion and Moultrie. As a bonus, there's a stretch of the Santee River below the Wilson Dam impounding Lake Marion that offers good crappie fishing if you're looking for a different environment.

LAKE WYLIE
The entire Catawba River chain of lakes is known for excellent crappie fishing and Lake Wylie certainly ranks at or near the top. This lake is known for good fishing for a variety of species. Despite heavy crappie fishing pressure, the lake is teeming with crappie and is another year-round productive crappie fishery.

The shallow-water fishing is certainly a favored tactic during the spawn, but the underwater configuration of the lake is ideal for crappie fishing with all the creek channels, drops, creek channel bends and abundant underwater cover.

One factor to keep in mind here is that the state line between North Carolina and South Carolina in the lower portion of the lake is the river channel, with some of the eastern portion of the lake being in North Carolina, while the western portion is in South Carolina, except for the very southernmost portion of the lake, which is all South Carolina.

Most of the creeks on the South Carolina portion of the lake are big enough to harbor good crappie populations throughout the year; however, in midsummer, some of the best fishing will be found in the lower portion of the creeks, near where the creek mouth empties into the Catawba River.

Both Big Allison and Little Allison creeks are very productive, as are Beaver Dam and Crowder creeks. There are numerous offshoots and minor creeks which junction with these major creeks that also provide excellent action.

During the spring, the best advice is to stay on the move, working minnows or small jigs around the abundant shallow water cover. There is plenty of shallow water cover in this lake that the crappie will use during the late pre-spawn and spawn. When conditions are right, a long pole and minnow combination, or some prefer a fly rod and small jig, will produce limits of fish in short order.

During the cooler weather in February and once the water temperatures get warm by June, you need to focus efforts along the creek channel edges and drops. Look for cover such as old stumprows or sunken brushpiles along these well-defined bottom sections.

A number of anglers make some of their best catches after the spawn when the fish begin to congregate back in the big creek channels. Fishermen work along the creek channel edge lines, looking for stumps, brush or other woody cover. Trolling or tight-lining minnows are both good methods. Some of the more productive fishermen will put in their own brushpiles, and by fishing from 8 to over 20 feet deep, depending on water conditions, plenty of crappie can be caught throughout late spring and summer.

WATEREE LAKE
Wateree Lake is a highly productive crappie-fishing lake that provides anglers a variety of options for getting into the crappie throughout the seasons. Nash notes that this lake has been very consistent through recent years and expects another good crop of crappie in 2006. During the spring months, particularly late March and April, the shallow-water fishing is excellent on this lake.

The crappie population seems to be in very good condition: Plenty of quality limits of crappie are caught here throughout the year. One of the real keys to success on this lake, especially in shallow-water fishing, is the stability of the water level. The lake tends to fluctuate in the spring and these fluctuations can create havoc with the shallow-water fishing.