Features from March 2021
SPRING brings anglers and outdoor lovers out of hiding, and when the warm breezes roll in, there’s nothing better than cashing in on great fishing along the Carolina coast.- Homemade flies will catch plenty of fish and leave you with a special sense of accomplishment.
- New sonar is no substitute for crappie-fishing know-how, but it might take yours to the next level.
- Develop a plan for the first 10 days of South Carolina’s spring turkey season; it can set you up for success as the season progresses.
- Habitat changes have made it harder to catch bass from North Carolina’s Shearon Harris Lake -- but they’re still there.
Columns - March 2021
- March is the best month to catch your biggest bass ever in the Carolinas.
- Santee Cooper is a shallow-water fishing paradise, and it’s tough to beat the skinny water action of March. Multiple species of fish are in spawning mode, with stripers, largemouth bass and crappie in their annual reproductive rituals.
- March fish can be finicky; let them see everything in your tackle box.
- New kayak anglers express a lot of different reasons for why they got started in the sport. Some say it’s because a kayak is more economical than a powerboat. Others say there’s just “too much” involved in powerboat fishing and want to get back to the basics.
- Stretch out some leftover wild meat with rise and get a great, warming meal of Must Be Purloo
- It's never too early to plan for duck season. The steps you take right now will make this fall's season your best one yet.
Outdoor Update - March 2021
- The 2021 Palmetto Sportsmen's Classic has been canceled due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Chris Harden killed an 18-point buck in Moore County on Oct. 9 that may become the new N.C. state record crossbow nontypical buck.
- John Stone of Pinehurst, N.C. has officially broken the North Carolina state record channel catfish record with his 23-pound, 5-ounce fish he caught from a private pond in Moore County.
- Gerald Murray of Hopkins, S.C. won the 2020-21 Carolina Sportsman Bag-A-Buck grand prize, which includes a two-day hunt at Cherokee Run Hunting Lodge in Chesterfield County, S.C.
Hot Spots - March 2021
- March is a time many South Carolina anglers have been looking forward to for several months, and the Lowcountry wahoo bite is one reason.
- Fishermen are already taking advantage of all weather windows to head offshore of Cape Fear, and their odds of scoring big increase as March arrives. The fishing isn’t as consistently good as it will be later, but fish are there to be caught, and wahoo lead the list of possible catches.
- As winter begins transitioning to spring, anglers visiting nearshore reefs out of Murrells Inlet can have a field day with sheepshead.
- Fishing in inshore waters begins to awaken along North Carolina’s central coast this month, especially for spotted seatrout.
- Finding clean water opens up bass-fishing possibilities on North Carolina’s Tuckertown Lake.
- Once March arrives and water temperatures back in the creeks reach 50 to 55 degrees, the wait is over for Kerr Lake crappie fishermen.
- Fishing in the Wateree River during March gives new meaning to the fish’s popular nickname: “rockfish.”