Features from March 2020
Bass are on the move this month in reservoirs across the Carolinas, and you'll catch your share with these tips.- It’s time to fake out a Carolina gobbler with a decoy setup.
- Warming water and available baitfish signal the start of speckled trout fishing in the Carolinas this month.
- Six tips for March slabs in the Carolinas
- Crappie in rivers across the Carolinas can be exciting targets this month.
- Pond fishing heats up quickly in the spring, and observant anglers can take what works in ponds and make it work on larger bodies of water.
Columns - March 2020
- I have always loved bass fishing in March in the Carolinas, and I’ve got an extra reason to like it this year: a new lure that fits perfectly in the conditions.
- This crockpot venison backstrap recipe is a nice bridge between our winter hunting harvest and the spring fishing season.
- Wildlife need a combination of food, water and cover to fulfill their life needs and to thrive in the natural world. In an ideal setting, Mother Nature provides the essential components to provide adequate food, cover, and water.
- It’s no secret that flounder numbers are down, at least according to the Atlantic States Fisheries Management Council and every state fisheries agency along the Southeast coast.
- March is known for blustery weather, but it also ushers in big-fish season for several species. The heralded prespawn striper run is under way, and these fish are on a mission to spawn, packing many of the heaviest stripers into the upper end of Lake Marion.
- Persistence is one of the most overlooked keys among an angler's tricks when it comes to landing trophy speckled trout.
- Kayak anglers looking for an early spring bite will find it from a variety of panfish in waterways across the Carolinas.
- Nantahala Lake in the far-western North Carolina counties of Clay and Macon contains the usual assortment of gamefish — bass, walleye, trout and bream — but one exception makes it unique. Nantahala is the only lake in the Southeast with Kokanee salmon, a species more identified with far western and northern states.
Outdoor Update - March 2020
- Dixie Deer Classic, Palmetto Sportsmen Classic highlight March show calendar. You don't want to miss these shows.
- The limit on bluefish for recreational anglers in North Carolina is being reduced beginning on Feb. 1.
- March 2 is the deadline for wild turkey lottery hunt applications in South Carolina.
- Bobwhite quail numbers have diminished greatly in the past several decades, but numerous agencies are working together throughout South Carolina to bring their numbers back up.
- Preston Scott of Spartanburg, S.C. killed a big Upstate buck on Oct. 11, which led to him winning the Carolina Sportsman Bag-A-Buck grand prize for the 2019-20 season.
Hot Spots - March 2020
- While the Cape Fear River is best known for the variety of excellent saltwater fishing, but during the spring, it's all about the shad run.
- Joel Munday of Outdoors Expeditions Guide Service said Falls of the Neuse Lake north of Raleigh and Durham is one of the best lakes in North Carolina for tangling with huge, prespawn staging bass.
- Offshore anglers fishing out of South Carolina's Grand Strand will find plenty of fish active in March, including blackfin tuna.
- March fishing for North Carolina’s B. Everett Jordan Lake bass will be strongly weather-dependent.
- If your goal is to catch a trophy striper, March is probably the best month to go after a big one on South Carolina’s Lake Murray, according to guide Brad Taylor. It’s also a good month to fill a daily limit, he added.
- Guide Gus Gustafson of Lake Norman Ventures said March is the best or second-best month for crappie at North Carolina’s Lake Norman.
- You have to be ready for Lake Monticello’s blue catfish when they go on the move in March, according to William Attaway, who guides on the South Carolina reservoir.
- Plenty of sheepshead, including some of the biggest anglers will see all year, are flocking to the Murrells Inlet jetties.
- It's that time of year to tussle with Neuse River shad, and anglers should note that a little scouting goes a long way.
- Capt. Joel Campbell of Charleston Gigging has caught untold numbers of saltwater giants, but this month, he loves catching Santee River shad.