Photo by Tom Berg

Crappie fishing is a major sport on all of the major lakes and rivers in the Palmetto State. However, not all the major crappie fishing takes place on the larger bodies of water. Granted, the big-name, large-size waters with great crappie fishing deserve all the credit they get. However, let’s take a look at the outstanding crappie fisheries at some smaller lakes and rivers as well.

There are numerous smaller lakes that typically produce outstanding crappie fishing in South Carolina. Crappie anglers often overlook these lakes in favor of the other obvious choices.

We’re going to take a look at a few of the smaller lakes with major crappie fishing action.

The first two that come to mind consist of a small lake and an even smaller lake, both on the Catawba River system. Fishing Creek Lake and Rocky Creek Lake are found between the crappie-producing meccas of Wylie and Wateree lakes. But few know about the superb spring crappie fishing at Fishing Creek Lake. Even fewer anglers have even heard of Rocky Creek, also known locally as Stumpy Pond. And yes, it’s named Stumpy Pond for a reason.

Both of these are very old Duke Power lakes. Fishing Creek was created in 1916 and is just slightly over 3,000 acres in size with 61 miles of shoreline. Clearly, this is not a huge lake, but still is plenty big enough for big rigs and large outboards. Information from Duke Power indicated the water depth at the dam is about 60 feet deep. It is fed by several small creeks, as well as the main Catawba River channel. The water here is typically slightly cooler than the water in downstream Lake Wateree and local anglers make great use of this by extending the shallow-water fishing well into May in Fishing Creek.

I’ve fished this lake numerous times and there’s actually a little bit of about everything a crappie angler would want in any lake.

First, it is teeming with crappie and many of the fish are in the 1- to 2-pound class. There are some huge slab crappie in this lake as well, but it is a numbers lake with an excellent average size of fish.

The shallow water is littered with stumps and woody cover in many areas. There are creek and river ledge drops, points, deep pockets, and the shoreline is well stocked with woody cover. If this sounds like a good crappie lake, that’s because it is.

Almost any technique that works on a large lake will work here. With the abundance of underwater contour changes and plenty of cover, you can troll jigs or minnows in deep or shallow water successfully. Tightlining live bait along the drops is very productive as well. When the fish move to the shallows, which will usually begin in April and often lingers into May, just about any shallow-water technique will produce.