Anyone fishing for trophies in Upstate South Carolina

[Gene Jameson]

Hello All,

I just joined up and have enjoyed reading all the posts and showing my son photos of the monster bluegill he and I are not catching.

We usually fish the Saluda River here and have decent luck and I have one honey hole that gives up pretty decent fish, however, we catch 10 small ones for every keeper we get.  I know the local lakes here should yield large bluegill but i cant find them.  I have tried to find deeper structure and drop crickets down near the bottom in hopes of getting lucky.  But, inevitably, we keep moving shallower and shallower just to get a bite and then it is just the little ones.  One thing I have read it to find submerged weedbeds and fish there.  How do I find these weedbeds.  I can't pick them out on the sonar.

 

I do not consider myself a novice fisherman but these large bluegill are harder for me than smoky mountain trout.  I primarily fish Lake Russell on the SC/GA line.  This lake has plenty of predators and has an unbelievable amount of submerged trees.  

They are in there and I want them.  I am enjoying the site and I want my son to experience catching these monsters.

Gene

 

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Well you are way up on me - you have a boat AND sonar. Im in Aiken and can only dream about the bigguns.

But Im sure something will turn up; just stick around. These guys know their stuff.

[jody call]

go knock doors! plenty of ponds in the upstate with big shellcrackers and bluegill! try ware shoals  area of saluda river,good spot to catch white bass as well as some striper in the spring!

[JC]

I have been thru this situation myself. I have found that nothing beats time on the water. Just keep fishing and trying new areas and techniques.

 

Where I live, sometimes the big ones are back in the most unlikely areas, especially under overhanging limbs or around other structure.

 

I am also having a lot of success on big fish this season by simply leaving a rod in a rod holder, with a jig suspended as the boat drifts along. This technique works unbelievably well at times and produces nothing at other times.

 

Techniques can vary widely by region and what works for some of us may not produce in your area. I am an avid reader of this site and have tried a lot of techniques that have been presented here. Some work in my area and some don't. Overall, my catching has increased a lot since I began checking in here from time to time.