Freshwater Fishing Archives - Page 110 of 293

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August 26, 2026

Striper fishermen on the Santee Cooper lakes catch plenty of nice fish in May using live shad or herring, but drifting cut baits can also put some nice blue catfish in your cooler at the end of the day.

Everything is biting at Santee right now

May is one of my favorite months to fish the Santee Cooper reservoirs, and while it’s mostly because of the great fishing, it’s also because of the typically great weather. […]

Yak Attack Hawg Trough Mounting Kit

Phillip Gentry

One of the biggest differences between a powerboat and a kayak when it comes to entering fish in a tournament is the use of a livewell. Since paddlers use cameras to capture photos of caught fish, having a handy measuring tool at your fingertips is a must. […]

The red tag in the cheek of this trout identifies it as a fish stocked in Apalachia Lake in 2012 at 14 inches long.

Trout tagging 101

Mike Marsh

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission implants elastomer tags into cheeks of all rainbow and brown trout stocked into Apalachia Lake. […]

Scotty fly-rod holder with side/deck mount

Phillip Gentry

When it comes to bream fishing from a paddlecraft, especially with fly tackle, having a secure place to store your rod is critical. The problem is that while most fishing kayaks come with rod holders, they typically only fit spinning or baitcasting rods. Fortunately, you can buy aftermarket rod holders designed specifically for fly rods. […]

Fishing on Apalachia Lake in extreme western North Carolina is often directed by water flow through Hiwassee Dam and then a pumpback feature that returns it to the larger, upstream lake.

Apalachia Lake flow changes often

Mike Marsh

The flow regime in Apalachia Lake is starkly different from what anglers expect with other mountain lakes. Water entering the lake through Hiwassee Dam is very cold, so the lake can support big trout, and it’s oxygenated by the Tennessee Valley Authority as it passes through the dam. […]

The flier

Phillip Gentry

The first thing most anglers who catch their first flier think is that they’ve caught a hybrid bream/crappie. The flier, Centrarchus macropterus, is a sunfish native to muddy-bottomed swamps, ponds, weedy lakes and backwaters, mostly in the coastal planes in both Carolinas. The biggest fliers, which can live up to five years, get to about 12 inches and a pound. […]

Crappie/Bream

May’s best bream bets

Phillip Gentry

May’s best bream bets […]

South Carolina angler Matt Outlaw said not all crappie go deep in the summer; if there’s grass around, crappie will be shallow.

Santee’s grass slabs

Brian Cope

Matt Outlaw of St. Matthews, S.C., doesn’t agree with one thing that many crappie fishermen believe — that crappie scatter and disappear in deep water during the summer. […]

Bedding bream are so aggressive they often strike baits that are too big to swallow.

Kayak fishing for bream

Phillip Gentry

Walk into a restaurant across most of the Carolinas, ask for a Coke, and you might be asked “What kind of Coke?” […]

Anglers may be surprised how shallow decent sized catfish will be during the middle of the day in the summer.

Join the night (crawler) patrol for summer catfish

Phillip Gentry

Trolling on the bottom for catfish has netted a lot of good fish through the years. Big cats can’t resist a piece of cut bait that’s tumbling just off the bottom. Veteran fisherman Hank Lyles said the opposite is also true, trolling baits that never touch the bottom. […]