Carolinas Fishing Forecast: New Year to start with good to excellent prospects

It appears the New Year will start with good to excellent fishing at some sites in the Carolinas unless a sudden cold snap intervenes.

The best reports this week are from Lake Norman, Hatteras Village and the Charleston area.

Lake Norman: Good to excellent for a mix of largemouth and spotted bass on jigs and shakey-head artificial worms cast to brushy cover around docks and along the shoreline. The best color patterns are blue/black and green pumpkin. White perch in numbers on minnows fished 20 feet deep near the Plant Marshall hot hole and 40 feet down in the major creek arms. Good for crappie 30-50 feet deep in the Mountain Creek arm. Fair to good for catfish in the backs of creeks on cut bait.

Lake Wylie: Good for crappie on minnows worked 30 feet deep around bridge pilings and brushy cover. Good for blue catfish 35-55 feet deep on cut baits at the mouths of major creeks

Mountain Island Lake: Good for crappie on minnows around cover 20-25 feet down. Good for blue catfish on cut baits. Fairly good for largemouth on jigs and artificial worms.

Cane Creek Park: Fair for crappie on minnows and for largemouth bass on shiners and crankbaits.

Yadkin/Pee Dee River lakes: Good for crappie and white perch at Tillery. Fair for crappie at High Rock, Tuckertown and Badin. Low water continues to hamper fishing at Blewett Falls.

Lakes James, Rhodhiss, Hickory, Lookout: Good to very good at James for smallmouth bass on shiners. Little activity at Rhodhiss. Good for striped bass at Lake Hickory on Zara Spook lures in the Oxford Dam tailrace when water is being released. Fair to good for stripers at Lookout on shiners.

Fontana Lake: No report available.

Lake Wateree: Limits of small striped bass on shiners worked at the mouths of creeks or trolled under planer boards. Good for crappie 20-30 feet deep around bridge pilings and brush.

Lake Murray: Catches of blue catfish on cut herring and shad drift-fished 25-55 feet down. Fair to good for stripers from the mid-lake area up to the river mouths on live baits either free-lined or worked on down lines.

Lake Thurmond: Good for crappie in the Little River arm. The fish remain suspended 15-20 feet deep over brush that is 30-35 feet down.

Santee Cooper lakes: Fair for largemouth around the bases of cypress trees and at the edge of grass beds on artificial worms and Rattletrap plugs.

Lake Keowee: Largemouth and spotted bass on drop shot rigs and jigging spoons fished 30-60 feet deep over channels, ledges and points.

Lake Jocassee: No report available.

Lake Hartwell: Stripers and hybrids 15-20 feet deep on trolled umbrella rigs, free-lined live bait and also on cut baits while still fishing.

Outer Banks: Nags Head area: Speckled trout to 3 1/2 pounds in the surf at Duck. Whiting at Jeannette’s Pier. Oregon Inlet area: Good for yellowfin tuna offshore. Stripers in Croatan Sound, mainly on eels. Hatteras Island: King mackerel to 55 pounds offshore, along with good numbers of blackfin tuna. Flounder, reds and speckled trout in Pamlico Sound. Blues, flounder, whiting and small puppy drum in the surf near ramps from Buxton to Hatteras Inlet. Ocracoke Island: No report. Morehead City area: Good for cobia, dolphin, wahoo and bottom species offshore. Fair to good for whiting in Beaufort Inlet and in the surf. Catches of a few false albacore along the beach. Little bluefin activity offshore because of unseasonably warm weather.

Southeastern N.C. Coast: Good for speckled trout in the backwaters on live shrimp, VuDu Shrimp lures and MirroLures. King mackerel near the Lighthouse Rocks.

S.C. Coast: Little River area: Good for speckled trout on live shrimp. Grand Strand area: Fair to good for speckled trout at the Georgetown Jetties, in Bulls Bay, Mud Bay and at Cape Romain. Fair for reds in backwaters at Winyah Bay. Good offshore for bottom species. Charleston area: Excellent for reds in the backwaters around oyster rakes on ZMan Paddletail lures, with good numbers of trout also showing in the catch. Excellent offshore for bottom species. Wahoo while high-speed trolling 20-30 miles offshore. Beaufort area: No report available.

This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 6:41 PM with the headline "Carolinas Fishing Forecast: New Year to start with good to excellent prospects."