How will Hanna affect Carolinas coastal sportfishing?
It's a big worry for fishermen, bait dealers, boat owners, tackle shop operators and others who are avid about angling from Corolla to Beaufort, S.C.
Before the arrival of the storm, forecast for Friday, action generally has been terrific, especially for parties trolling offshore.
The report:
1. Lake Norman: Striped bass concentrated in schools 40-60 feet deep along the old river channel from the mouth of Mountain Creek as far downlake as Marker 3. White perch moving into small coves and bays are hitting earthworms, minnows and small spoons worked 12-18 feet deep. Little activity for crappie and largemouth bass.
2. Lake Wylie: Plenty of white perch around underwater humps 18-20 feet down on live baits. Bream, in a very late spawn, in beds along the banks. Catfish at night on mussels, shrimp, stinkbaits. Scattered largemouth at dawn in surface-feeding schools on topwater lures.
3. Lakes Badin, Tillery and Blewett Falls: Mainly bream on crickets and catfish on crawlers and cut baits.
4. High Rock Lake: Mostly bream and catfish on traditional baits.
5. Lakes Hickory, Rhodhiss: Little fishing activity reported at Hickory; Rhodhiss continues to produce fair catches of crappie from around deep cover on minnows.
6. Lake James: Little activity reported.
7. Fontana Lake: Trout at night on crawlers fished 35-45 feet deep against the dam. Trout and walleye on Hopkins spoons trolled 40 feet down along the main channel from the dam toward Big Island.
8. Lake Wateree: Blue catfish at the creek mouths and on the flats on cut bait and gizzard shad. Bream along the shoreline on crickets, earthworms.
9. Lake Hartwell: Stripers, hybrids from Singing Pines to the dam on live herring fished 70-90 feet deep. Bream along the banks.
10. Lake Jocassee: Trout 80-100 feet deep on large minnows, spoons slow-trolled near the dam. Largemouth at dawn on splashy, noise-making topater lures. Bream just off the banks on crickets. Catfish at creek mouths on crawlers, minnows.
11. Lake Keowee: Largemouth and spotted bass during early morning in the backs of coves on a variety of crankbaits. Crappie at night against the bridge pilings.
12. Lake Murray: Stripers 60-80 feet deep on live baits with the best action occurring at night around the towers. Plenty of bream and shellcrackers around mayfly hatches.
13. Lake Thurmond: Stripers, hybrids in surface-feeding schools on bucktails and Rattle Trap plugs. Also on live herring fished 30-60 feet down around channels.
14. Santee-Cooper Reservoir: Lake Marion: Good to excellent for catfish at night on cut baits in deep water. Plentiful bream along the banks on crickets; Lake Moultrie: Catfish at night on cut baits fished deep. Crappie around cover 20-25 feet down on minnows.
15. Outer Banks: Oregon Inlet: Terrific trolling offshore for billfish, dolphin, and yellowfin tuna to 96 pounds, with many other ciatation-sized catches reported. Labor Day alone produced 35 billfish for the Oregon Inlet fleet, including 27 white marlin, seven sailfish and a blue marlin. Blues, Spanish mackerel and speckled trout inshore.
Hatteras Island: Dolphin and some wahoo off Hatteras Village. Blues, croaker, flounder, puppy drum, Spanish mackerel and whiting in the surf and at piers; Ocracoke Island: A few big red drum, puppy drum, flounder, Spanish mackerel and whiting in the surf.
Morehead City area: Improving for wahoo offshore. King mackerel around the wrecks and in the shipping channel. Scads of Spanish mackerel at Beaufort Inlet and around the Cape Lookout Shoals. Puppy drum in the marshes, the Newport and North Rivers. Big red drum in Pamlico Sound near Cedar Island. Blues, flounder, Spanish mackerel, whiting at piers.
16. Southeastern N.C. Coast: King mackerel around the Yaupon Artificial Reef. Fine catches of blues and Spanish mackerel during early morning at piers, especially in the Carolina Beach and Kure Beach areas. Also, croaker, spadefish, ribbonfish and whiting at the piers.
17. S.C. Coast: Good numbers of sailfish, plus blackfin tuna and dolphin offshore. Flounder and spottails in the creeks from Little River to Beaufort, best on incoming tides, on live baits. Sheepshead, spottails at the Murrells Inlet and Winyah Bay (Georgetown) jetties on fiddler crabs and mud minnows, respectively.
Fair for black drum, blues, pompano, Spanish mackerel and whiting at Grand Strand piers. In the Charleston area, tarpon are being caught at Haddrell's Point, Bulls Bay, Stono Inlet and the north end of Edisto Inlet on blue crabs, menhaden and mullet.
@Nyx.CommentBody@