This SC lake offers sensational striper fishing year-round
Lake Wateree has become known for excellent fall and early winter striper fishing, and rightly so. But Lake Wateree hasn’t just arrived lately as a quality striper fishery in South Carolina. The lake has been a solid striper fishery for years, and not just during the fall, but year-round.
The spring striper fishing is outstanding, and fish are available via multiple tactics.
The spring months are productive in terms of producing limits of fish, and often produce even chunkier stripers according to Lake Wateree striper guides Jason Wolfe and Justin Whiteside.
Wolfe has fished Lake Wateree his entire life and has been guiding on this lake for many years. He guides on the Catawba River system including lakes Wateree, Wylie, and Fishing Creek. Wolfe guides for catfish on all these lakes, but on Lake Wateree, he targets the robust striper fishery during much of the year. The results have been overwhelmingly outstanding.
“We can target stripers most of the year, but we do have a couple of peak times, with the fall fishing being one. And March through May is another prime time,” Wolfe said. “The spring is perfect for catching lots of stripers, and some of the largest of the year. And the good news is that during the spring, several tactics will produce good results.”
Spawn, or no spawn?
Jason Marsik, South Carolina DNR Region 2 Fisheries Biologist, oversees the striper fishery at Lake Wateree. He said while Lake Wateree doesn’t have the water conditions to enable stripers to naturally reproduce, they still react to the spawning urge and move upstream during the spring.
Whiteside said this time of year, most of the stripers are caught in the upper third of the lake, where the current is typically the strongest.
“The majority of the stripers make an up-lake migration, and the striper fishing is excellent because most that are large enough to reproduce travel upstream during the spring.
“The current attracts the stripers up the lake and I’ll focus on that area most of the spring,” Whiteside said. “Several tactics produce good stripers, but the most consistent throughout the spring is using live bait, and live bait can be fished in multiple ways.”
Whiteside (803-417-0070; Whiteside’s Whiskers on Facebook) said anglers have options on live bait. First, gizzard shad, and usually blueback herring are available at Sutton’s Landing in Taylor Creek on Lake Wateree.
“It’s an ideal location because it’s in the upper part of the lake where the majority of spring fishing occurs,” he said. “But the lake is full of threadfin shad. And using a cast net, anglers can catch threadfin, and they’re a favorite target for stripers to eat anyway. When I use threadfin, I’ll try to sort out the larger shad, in the three-inch or larger class. But dollar bill-sized gizzard shad are quality baits too.”
Whiteside uses 17-pound test main line and a 12-pound test monofilament leader with a small circle hook on the 4-foot leader. He places a 2-ounce weight above the leader to get the bait to the desired depth.
“We’ll mark stripers using our electronics, often around a point, hump, or channel ledge and set up on them. We drop the bait to the depth fish are marked, or just above that depth,” he said. “I prefer to find stripers marked at depths less than 20-feet for the most active fish.”
Wolfe (803-487-3690; Wolfe’s Guide Service, LLC on Facebook) said current becomes a key to finding stripers in the upper portion of the lake during the spring.
Wolfe said it’s not unusual to fish all the way to the Cedar Creek Dam at the upper end of Lake Wateree.
Current is crucial
“We usually have ample current flow with spring rains, but having current is crucial to fishing that far up the lake,” he said. “If Duke Energy isn’t generating or spilling water, then I’ll move back down to the Wateree Creek area, maybe down to the state park area to fish.”
With the current flow, Wolfe said another way to fish is to drift fish with the current in the far upper end.
“Stripers are attracted to the current, and some days we can drift fish with suspended live baits and pick up stripers consistently,” he said. “Lake Wateree is full of catfish, so it’s not unusual to catch bonus catfish anytime we’re fishing live bait.”
Wolfe also employs trolling umbrella rigs during the early spring, primarily in March.
“Trolling umbrella rigs is a tactic I use all winter for stripers and it continues to be effective during March,” he said. “I’ll work deeper flats, channel ledges, points, and humps, and I often find stripers grouped up in a specific area. The umbrella rigs are lethal in this situation, and trolling enables me to cover a lot of water searching for fish. I’ll vary the speed so the rig works deeper, and shallower, until I find the pattern for the day.”
Wolfe said as the water temperature warms later in the spring, some schooling activity occurs, and live bait or artificial lures both produce fast-paced action.
Try it on top
“As the water warms in the spring, the more likely schooling is to occur during April and May,” he said. “But the vertical down rig fishing is still highly effective throughout the spring whether fish are surface schooling or not.”
Whiteside often targets specific points or humps late in the afternoon, primarily the last 90 minutes before dark with topwater lures.
“Stripers are low-light feeders, and in the late afternoons, shad begin to pod up on points or over humps in shallower water,” he said. “I’ll anchor far enough away to not spook the fish, and by making long casts, we’ll have excellent topwater action. Stripers don’t have to be actively schooling for this tactic, I’m targeting spots where shad move shallow. They’ll move onto the points and humps to feed. Pop Rs, and other popping baits cast long distances will generate excellent action. If fish are present, we’ll get action quickly. If not, I’ll try another target.”
By May, Whiteside said the stripers begin to migrate throughout the lake, and excellent fishing still occurs. But the entire lake now becomes a target.
“The targets become more specific with fish beginning to congregate in larger schools. But by using electronics, we continue to catch fish. However, we’ll be targeting the entire lake through the summer.”
If you plan to make Lake Wateree a destination this spring, lodging near Lake Wateree includes the Holiday Inn Express, immediately adjacent to I-77 at Exit 65. Lake Wateree State Park offers day-use and camping facilities, an excellent boat ramp, and a small store for supplies. It’s also a prime location for spring fishing on the lake.
For specific information on the Lake Wateree area, contact Olde English Tourism District at 803-830-7286, or email Executive Director Jenny Parrish at Jenny@OldeEnglishDistrict.com.
Put, grow and take
Stripers have been stocked regularly into Lake Wateree for many years, and the striper fishery has flourished, but Lake Wateree is largely an ‘under the radar’ striper fishery.
Jason Marsik, SCDNR Region 2 Fisheries Biologist, said his stocking data shows stripers have been stocked regularly for more than 25 years.
“Our goal recently has been to stock 300,000 fish a year,” Marsik said. “That’s up from many of the earlier years, but seems to be a good number for this lake. But the number of fish stocked fluctuates based on the availability of stripers for stocking.”
Marsik said the 2022 stocking was higher than normal, but it was making up for the lower-than-hoped-for 2021 stocking.
“Lake Wateree is a great example of a successful put, grow, and take striper fishery,” he said. “We monitor the striper fishery annually to ensure we’re keeping the stocking at the best level for what the lake can sustain and providing plenty of fish for anglers to enjoy.”
The recent stocking demonstrates what Marsik said, with 297,437 stocked in 2019; 214,809 in 2020; 141,312 in 2021; 451,538 in 2022; 296,424 in 2023 and 301,913 in 2024.
Justin Whiteside said getting that many stripers stocked regularly has been a boost for the lake in recent years.
“I’ve talked to the SCDNR fisheries biologists, and they say the lake can support a healthy striper population without impacting other species. So it’s an excellent opportunity for fishermen to enjoy striper fishing year-round,” he said. “It’s not just a seasonal fishery for the fall when fish are schooling. The spring fishing is truly outstanding as well.”
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