By Terry Madewell

Good crappie fishing in South Carolina is generally considered a right in our Palmetto State heritage. We simply expect good crappie fishing, especially during the spring when the crappie move to the shallows.

And, basically, good crappie fishing is exactly what we have at lakes throughout the state. In almost any sizable lake you can find a good population of these great-tasting fish. Plus, you can generally expect to catch plenty of them, especially during the spring when the spawning "run" is underway.

In fact, although crappie provide a great year-round fishery for anglers devoted to the species, it is during this time of the year, when the crappie are both shallow and feeding heavily, that these fish traditionally get the most attention from anglers.

The key to maximizing your success is not simply finding a lake that has crappie in it; the key is to locate the places that are best in any given year.

Crappie populations are prone to up-and-down cycles. These cycles are driven by previous strong or weak reproductive year-classes. In most lakes, two or three years after a successful spawn, those fish from a strong year-class will begin to show up in the angler's creel and dominate the catch.

The reason for this cyclic nature is not fully understood, but South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) fisheries biologist Wade Bailes' belief is that when a strong year-class occurs, the abundance of crappie is great enough that the growth rate is slightly slowed, creating a longer time until another heavy spawn occurs. Once anglers begin to reduce the number of fish, the conditions are ripe for another heavy year-class. But Bailes is quick to point out that natural influences also play a major role in successful spawns.

Photo by Ron Sinfelt

Bailes notes that the relative success of a year-class is also dependent on water conditions; for example, the high water experienced in 2003 should have produced a bumper crop of crappie, not only in the lakes Bailes manages, but throughout the state. In fact, several of South Carolina's regional fisheries biologists around the state believe that the 2003 season will produce an excellent year-class of fish.

Of course, last year's newly hatched fry won't begin to show up in anglers' coolers until the 2005 season.

In the meantime, the 2004 season may not be as uniformly bright: Adult populations now available to anglers have lived most of their lives under drought conditions, and some habitats fared better during the drought years than the others.

Lake Thurmond (a.k.a. Clarks Hill), one of the lakes that Bailes manages, provided good habitat throughout the drought. Bailes notes that the 2004 season should be simply outstanding at this lake based on a huge year-class of crappie from 2001.

"We conducted a population survey in the fall of 2002 and apparently there was one heck of a spawn in 2001. The number of crappie from that year-class was so huge we were shocked. We had been concerned that the extended drought might play a negative role in the crappie population. However, there's a huge population of crappie that will be of sufficient size in 2004 to be added to the creel, and crappie fishermen should have plenty of fish available in this lake in 2004 and beyond. Plus, the carry-over from before, which will be the larger fish, is still pretty good as well," he says.

Bailes does not know why the crappie population here did so well, but suspects that the answer lies in the cyclical pattern of good year-classes: The crappie at this lake were due to have a great spawn in 2001, and that's what they had.

Another good crappie fishery in the region is Lake Succession. While good crappie angling is something Succession has in common with Clarks Hill, in another regard, they are very different types of water. Bailes notes that this 1,400-acre lake is primarily known for crappie fishing and that it is a very consistent producer and should be strong again in 2004.

"This lake is very fertile and crappie grow very fast there. This is more of a river-run type of lake than the wide-open waters of Lake Thurmond, but it offers fishermen an alternative that should produce good fishing as well," Bailes says.

The fish at Lake Succession are likely to average a larger size than most of the fish caught at Lake Thurmond this spring; however, Lake Thurmond will likely offer more opportunities for anglers to catch large numbers of fish.

An area that has long been considered a benchmark for outstanding crappie fishing is the Santee-Cooper lakes Marion and Moultrie. There's actually a mixed review of the fishery in these lakes right now; however, the hope among biologists is that the high water of 2003 ensured a strong spawn which will help the number of fish recover in future years. Based on current data and trends, it seems the overall numbers of fish have declined from the super-high numbers a few years ago.

Even if the lakes are slightly off their peak, they are still the best bet for crappie fishing in this portion of the state, according to Scott Lamprecht, fisheries biologist with the SCDNR based out of Moncks Corner.

"Since these lakes are the primary large bodies of water in this part of the state and crappie populations are simply traditionally not as high in the rivers, lakes Marion and Moultrie are still the best places to catch crappie in our area. However, the incredible fishing that we experienced for several years back in the late 1980s and through much of the 1990s has slowed a bit," Lamprecht said.

The drought has certainly been one issue, primarily because it seems to have lowered spawning success for a few years. Also, a decreasing amount of vegetation has probably influenced this as well.

"But data we're getting on the lakes right now indicate that they are producing some huge crappie consistently. While catching limits of crappie has become more difficult than fishermen experienced a few years back, a lot of 2-pound-plus crappie are being taken, some much larger," Lamprecht said. "Data also showed that knowledgeable anglers were still able to catch limits in the fall of 2003, which is a good sign for the upcoming spring season."

Lamprecht says that if you haven't fished the lakes in a few years, you'll probably notice two things: It's harder to catch a limit, but the fish are bigger.

Lamprecht also notes that because of the drought, the lake had been low and a lot of annual growth had occurred along the edge of these shallow lakes. The high-water conditions during 2003 covered these shallow flats once again and based on what they've seen so far, biologists expect that a very strong year-class of crappie resulted. With the rapid growth of the fish in these lakes, fishermen should expect to see more fish in the lake in the next few years.

Lake Wylie is another consistently productive crappie fishing lake that should produce good results in 2004. This lake has everything crappie need in terms of underwater structure and cover to serve as prime crappie habitat - and the fertile water allows the fish to grow quickly.

There is plenty of shallow-water cover in this lake. During the spawn on mild days, a long pole and minnow rig, or a fly rod and small jig, will produce limits of fish in short order.

Some anglers actually make some of their best catches after the spawn, when the fish begin to congregate back in the big creek channels, such as in Allison Creek. Fishermen work along the creek channel edge lines, looking for stumps, brush or other woody cover. Some of the more productive fishermen will put in their own brushpiles and fish from 8 to over 20 feet deep, depending on water conditions, throughout the later spring and summer months.

According to Robert Stroud, the fisheries biologist with SCDNR over Lake Wylie, the fishing has been consistent over the past few years and the population seems to be holding up well. There's certainly no reason to expect anything other than a typical spring at Lake Wylie, which is generally very good fishing indeed.

Stroud also notes that one "sleeper" lake for crappie fishing may be Fishing Creek Lake. Fishing Creek, like Wylie, is on the Catawba River chain of lakes, a chain that includes Cedar Creek and Lake Wateree.

Compared to the other lakes in this drainage, Fishing Creek receives less pressure for its size, which is about 3,112 surface acres of water. For comparison of the size of this lake, lakes Wylie and Lake Wateree are in excess of 13,000 surface acres of water each.

Cedar Creek Lake encompasses only 800 surface acres of water and while the crappie fishing there is good, it receives the heaviest fishing pressure of all of these lakes on a number of fishing hours per acre basis.

"The No. 1 species of fish that anglers pursue in Fishing Creek Lake is crappie, according to our creel data," Stroud said. "Also, the No. 1 fish caught in terms of numbers at this lake is crappie and the most pounds of fish caught from this lake is also crappie. It's obvious that the lake is a good crappie producer, and some of the anglers who fish there regularly and know the lake well, make very good and very consistent catches throughout the spring, summer and fall."

Local anglers generally troll on Fishing Creek, at least until they pinpoint the location of the crappie. There's a tremendous amount of woody cover in this lake, with lots of offshore stumps, humps and channels, all of which add real variety to the potential hotspots where the crappie may congregate.

The bad news is that because of all this cover, you can fish a lot of really great-looking crappie water without catching a lot of fish. Unless you're fishing this lake consistently and staying on top of the fishing situation, you can work hard and still not score. By trolling, you can cover a lot more territory and once you get into some fish, you can then fish with a long pole and bobber or tightline small jigs around the cover . . . whatever your pleasure. Traditional methods work just fine here; you just need to make sure the crappie are in the area.

Stroud also added that the small lake has a lot of underwater hazards that boaters need to avoid. If you're not familiar with the lake and want to give it a try, be extremely careful while running up and down the lake. Based on the data that was available, the average crappie from the creel data he had available was about three-fourths of a pound, which is a good average size. There are some very big fish in the lake as well.

Another Catawba lake that is normally included in the list of top crappie lakes is Lake Wateree. However, based on the information that Stroud had from creel data, the drought has seemed to affect this lake more than some of the others. The creel data on Wateree indicates that in the 2000-2001 reporting year there were 337,844 crappie caught on Lake Wateree. However, that figure dipped to 194,609 in the 2001-2002 reporting time period. The creel data from 2003 had not been completed at the time we talked with Stroud.

As Stroud noted, this data doesn't mean that the fishing is poor at Wateree; some anglers may see no drop at all in the number of fish they catch. But it does appear that the total number of fish is down, based on the creel data and that the drought is the likely culprit.

The good news is that like most of the other lakes in the state, Wylie experienced high-water conditions this spring. Stroud says that based on what they've seen in the fall of 2003, there was a very good year-class produced in the spring of 2003. The forage base and all other requirements for good crappie fishing are in place at Wateree, Stroud notes; it's just likely to not be this lake's best year.

Greenwood Lake is another traditional South Carolina crappie hotspot that should be having a bumper year in 2004, which says a lot. On a normal year, this lake is red hot, but based on data from Gene Hayes, the SCDNR biologist working this lake, 2004 should be a very, very good year for both quantity and quality of crappie.

"Crappie are what Lake Greenwood is best known for and the 2004 season shouldn't do anything to hurt that image," Hayes said.

"In fact, we had a phenomenal season during 2003 and we've got strong age-classes of several reproductive years. The big crop of fish which we saw caught in 2003 averaged about 10 inches in length, which is a pretty good crappie, maybe in the 3/4-pound class or slightly larger. I think by the spring of 2004, we're looking at a lot of 12- and 13-inch fish, as well as strong year-classes behind that group. Simply put, if the spring weather lets fishermen do their thing, I believe Greenwood will have a great crappie season," Hayes predicted.

Hayes is quick to point out that a major reason for the strong year-classes is the agreement with the operation of the Buzzard Roost dam, licensed to Greenwood County and operated by Duke Power Company.

"The agreement sets out a schedule of filling the lake from the lower water level of the winter drawdown in such a manner that conditions are usually very good for the crappie to have good spawning years. In fact, I can't remember how long it's been since we had what I'd call a poor year reproduction wise. Some years are certainly better than others, but overall, Greenwood does very well in the spawning category practically every year. This stability also serves the largemouth and bream populations well," Hayes noted.

The major tributaries and larger creeks and coves are perhaps the best spots to find pre-spawn and spawning crappie. Hayes notes that the Reedy and Saluda rivers are the primary tributaries into the lake, and both are excellent places to begin any search for spring crappie.

According to Hayes, it's difficult to predict when the spawning run will begin or end. He notes that the spawn is dependent on water temperature, as well as water and weather conditions in general. It can begin as early as late February, but may not occur until March or April. But you can bet that March and April will be prime time to find plenty of crappie in this lake. The best bet to be successful at Greenwood Lake is to go whenever you can and as often as you can.

One final note to consider is the crappie fishing on Lake Murray. With the huge drawdown at this lake, the fishing is not now what it has been in the past. However, Mac Watson, a fisheries biologist in the Columbia office, noted that the last time this lake was drawn down for an extended time period, the shoreline vegetation grew up as it is now, and the next several years produced phenomenal crappie fishing.

This time, Watson notes that the drawdown is lasting much longer. When the lake is brought to full pool, tremendous amounts of new cover will be flooded. Watson says about two years after the lake is filled, fishermen should begin to experience some of the best crappie fishing anywhere in the state.

When this happens, the impact on the crappie fishery may be even more dramatic than what occurred in the 1990s - and according to Watson, that was exceptional. We all may be going back to Lake Murray in a few short years for some serious crappie fishing.

It's time to get in the bushes, weeds and treetops with minnows, jigs or a combination of both. It's crappie time in South Carolina and based on the data provided here, there's great fishing all around us. Use this information to pick a spot and go now.