Scorching stripers at Lake Wateree

This lake’s summertime bite is H-O-T

Throughout the Carolinas, striper fishing varies greatly depending on each body of water’s regulations, as well as availability of these fish.

In certain bodies of water, like the Santee Cooper lakes and the rivers that feed them, striper season is closed during the summer. Hot-weather regulations on other bodies of water, such as Lake Murray, require anglers to keep the first five stripers they catch, then stop targeting them.

And some lakes in the Carolinas simply don’t have a population of stripers. In some regards, striper fishing on Lake Wateree, the southernmost end of the Catawba chain of lakes, is like the wild west.

“Any time I post summertime striper photos on social media from a day at Lake Wateree, I hear it all,” said Capt. Jason Wolfe of Wolfe’s Guide Service (803-487-3690). “People tell me I’m breaking the law, driving stripers extinct, being stingy, and on and on.”

Big limits

But Wolfe’s just allowing his anglers to follow the regulations while catching their share of stripers.

“The daily limit at Lake Wateree is 10 stripers per angler,” he said. “And there’s no minimum or maximum size.”

Stripers can’t naturally reproduce in Lake Wateree. The SCDNR stocks these fish here every year for the sole purpose of bolstering opportunities for anglers. So it’s a put-and-take fishery. These fish can’t be driven extinct through the actions of anglers, because they wouldn’t even be in this lake without the state’s stocking efforts.

“That’s one reason you’ll never catch a 30-pound striper at Lake Wateree. The habitat just isn’t here to allow these fish to grow that large,” said Wolfe. “Plus, even if they could grow that big, allowing anglers to keep 10 per day makes it difficult for many of them to survive long enough to reach that size.”

But Wolfe said that doesn’t mean anglers can’t catch quality-sized stripers here.

“We catch a range of sizes here, from small ones that we throw back to ones that are great for filleting and frying. And it’s not uncommon to catch some 7- and 8-pounders,” he said.

The most consistent way to catch these fish here during the summer is to use down lines baited with live shad, but cut baitfish will also work.

“I like to use the freshest bait possible, so I’ll catch some shad with my cast net while I’m waiting for my fishing party to show up,” he said. “It usually only takes a handful of casts and I’ll have enough for the day. But you want to keep it alive, so you need a good livewell that keeps fresh oxygen circulating, like my Xtreme Bait Tank. Dead bait will work, but the bite slows down noticeably when you don’t have live bait on your hook.

Wolfe fishes Lake Wateree often enough that he has a pretty good idea of where to start the day. But for those who don’t fish here often, he suggests finding schools of bait, mainly using your depthfinder, but also using your eyes.

“If you keep scanning the surface, you’ll see some small surface activity, just very light splashing. That’s usually a school of baitfish. So if you see that, you want to ease over there as quickly, but as stealthily as you can,” he said. “But even if you don’t see that, you’ll find schools of baitfish with your depthfinder. I like to find ones that are on points where smaller coves meet the main lake.”

Drop it down

And when he finds a school of baitfish, Wolfe uses a standard Carolina rig, puts a shad on a circle hook, lowers it to the desired depth, then places the rod in a rod holder.

“I’ll have at least one rod out for all my anglers, and I prefer to just leave the rod in the rod holder until the fish is unmistakeably hooked,” he said.

Many anglers are tempted to grab the rod at the first sign of activity. But Wolfe said that almost always leads to missed fish.

“Sometimes they’ll hit it once and that’s it. But usually, if you let it sit when they first start picking at it, they’ll hook themselves and bury the rod,” he said. “That’s when it’s time to pick it up and start reeling.”

On most days, Wolfe and his anglers can catch a handful of stripers from each school. And when the bite shuts down, he goes on the search again for another school. He said making an early start is always a good idea, and one he strongly suggests.

“It’s not out of the question to have the limit by 10 a.m. as long as you get an early start,” he said.

And by early, Wolfe means before first light.

“I prefer to launch the boat and catch baitfish before any sunlight is visible. And I’d rather be fully loaded with my anglers and at my first fishing spot before daylight really breaks,” he said. “You can certainly catch them if you start later, but it’s usually a little less comfortable for anglers, and a little tougher to get the same number of bites you’ll get if you start as early as possible.”

Hit ‘em on top

Even with live bait being so effective, Wolfe said anglers should always have a dedicated topwater rod on hand.

“It’s not uncommon for stripers to school on the surface during the summer. And when you see them, you don’t have time to change from down lines to topwater lures,” he said. “So I always have at least one rod with me that already has a topwater lure tied on.”

When he catches sight of stripers feeding on top, he will reel in the other rods and head towards the surface fish. Once he gets within casting range of the school, he shuts his outboard down, and has his anglers begin casting.

“Sometimes we’ll catch them one after the other when they’re schooling. And nothing is more exciting than catching them on topwater lures,” he said. “You get to see, hear and feel the bite. For the most part, catching them on live bait is much more consistent than catching them on topwater lures. But when the situation presents itself, you want to be ready, so don’t go on the water without a dedicated topwater rod.”

When it comes to choosing topwater lures, Wolfe said just about anything will do.

“I really like walk-the-dog type lures, like the Zara Spook. But poppers work too, and propeller lures like the MirrOlure MirrOProp or the Rapala Skitter Prop. It’s a good time to experiment because when they are in a feeding frenzy, they’ll hit just about anything,” he said.

How did Lake Wateree get its name?

Lake Wateree, and the Wateree River, are named after a Native American tribe that once dwelled in the region. The earliest mention of the Wateree tribe comes from Juan de la Vandera, a Spanish expeditionist in 1567.

One of the earliest tribes of the Carolinas, the Wateree moved up and down the Wateree and Catawba rivers several times between their meeting with de la Vandera and 1743, when the tribe’s numbers were diminished greatly and all but disappeared.

Not much is known about the Wateree. They are thought to have been a Siouan tribe, and while they once numbered as big as any other tribe in the area, by 1700, they had fewer than 1000 people.

Although they once helped European settlers fight against other Native American tribes, in 1743, the Wateree joined up with several other tribes to fight against South Carolina’s colonists in the Yamasee War. They lost so many warriors during the fighting that the remaining members of the tribe were taken in by the Catawba.

Predictably, fish were an important food for the Wateree tribe. It’s fitting that the waterway they gathered food from now bears their name.