Fishing Forecast: Bream spawning, easy to find in area lakes, ponds
Going after bream appears the likeliest choice to produce action for anglers planning to fish during the Fourth Of July holiday weekend.
The popular panfish are spawning along the shorelines of lakes and ponds during a full moon period and their beds are easy to find. Crickets and earthworms are the best baits, but small artificial lures such as Beetlespins should entice hits, too.
High winds and the resulting rough seas limited coastal fishing last weekend. However, calmer conditions led to good catches Monday and Tuesday, especially offshore of the Outer Banks ports – Oregon Inlet, Hatteras Village and Morehead City.
North Carolina has a statewide “free fishing day” on Saturday, with no licenses required of anyone.
Lake Norman: Good to excellent for white perch, concentrated 30 feet deep in schools around humps and off points. They are taking minnows best. A few striped bass are taking lures near Marker 13 on the main channel. Blue catfish suspended 35 feet deep in 45-80 feet of water, mainly on strips of white perch.
Lake Wylie: Good for crappie during the wee hours of the morning, starting around 3 a.m. and taking minnows fished 20-30 feet deep. Fair to good for catfish on cut and frozen baits.
Mountain Island Lake: Fair to good for largemouth, hitting best uplake in the riverine stretch. Crappie around deep cover. Catfish, mainly at night.
Union County Lakes: Fair to good at Cane Creek Park, Lee and Twitty for largemouth and catfish. Good for bream at these three plus Lake Monroe.
Yadkin/Pee Dee River Lakes: Good for bream and catfish at Blewett Falls, where the water level is back to normal after being drawn down for work at the dam. Very good at Badin for catfish. Fair for all species at the others: High Rock, Tuckertown and Tillery.
Lakes James, Rhodhiss, Hickory: Continuing fair for walleye at James on crawlers worked along clay shoreline. Fair for crappie and catfish at Hickory and Rhodhiss.
Rankin Lake: Good for bream and catfish at the Gastonia municipal reservoir.
Hampton Lake, Yadkin County: Continuing fair to good for all four main species: largemouth, crappie, bream and catfish, especially the latter two.
Fontana Lake: Continuing fair for trout at night on crawlers and Ice Jigs worked 30-40 feet deep against the concrete of the dam. Also, a few trout are being boated during the day by anglers using downriggers to troll from the dam to Big Island and back. Fair for walleye at night on crawlers fished under floating lights.
Lake Wateree: Fair to good for largemouth during early morning on surface lures.
Lake Murray: Fair for crappie around brushy cover 20 feet deep in the main lake.
Lake Thurmond: Fair for largemouth on mop jigs and artificial worms worked 12-15 feet down near access to deeper water.
Santee Cooper Lakes: Good for bream, but slow for other species.
Lake Hartwell: Fair to good for largemouth and spotted bass at deep points and humps on artificial worms and drop-shot rigs.
Lake Keowee: Largemouth and spotted bass during early morning on drop-shot rigs.
Lake Jocassee: Largemouth and spotted bass from dawn to about 7:30 a.m. on topwater lures, then 30-40 feet down on artificial worms.
Outer Banks: Nags Head area: Blues, spots and whiting in the surf and at piers; Oregon Inlet: Excellent offshore when sea conditions are good for bigeye and yellowfin tuna, along with dolphin and a few billfish; Hatteras Island: Good offshore of Hatteras Village for blue marlin and dolphin as rough seas subside. Good for red drum in Pamlico Sound. Fair in the surf from Rodanthe to Hatteras Inlet for a mix of blues, croaker, pompano, puppy drum, Spanish mackerel, spots and whiting; Ocracoke Island: A continuing fair mix of black drum, blues, flounder, gray trout, red drum, spadefish, sheepshead and Spanish mackerel; Morehead City area: Tarpon at Bogue Inlet Pier along with blues, spots and whiting. Fair to good offshore for dolphin. Continuing red drum and speckled trout in the backwaters of Core Creek, Newport River and North River.
Southeastern N.C. Coast: Excellent offshore bottom fishing for a variety of species. Good 10-20 miles offshore for king mackerel, with dolphin and wahoo also showing in the catch further out. Good for flounder in the Cape Fear River from Wilmington to Southport and around bridges in the Ocean Isle/Sunset Beach area. Black drum, blues and scattered flounder at piers.
S.C. Coast: Little River area: Random blues and Spanish mackerel on Gotcha plugs. About half the Spanish are keeper size. Croaker also being caught; Grand Strand area: Good offshore for dolphin, with occasional billfish also boated. Flounder on mud minnows worked about halfway back in Murrells Inlet and at the Pawleys Island bridges. Speckled trout at the Surfside Ledges and 3-Mile artificial reef. Blues and Spanish mackerel at piers, along with black drum and pompano; Charleston area: Spanish mackerel are showing strong near the jetties, along with red drum. Trout in the backwater creeks on Trout Trick lures and shrimp fished under a float. Reds continue to be caught from under docks in the backwaters on cut mullet; Beaufort/Hilton Head area: Fair to good for reds in the creeks during the three hours before low tide. Sight-casting to reds tailing to feed is producing the best action.
This story was originally published July 1, 2015 at 3:02 PM with the headline "Fishing Forecast: Bream spawning, easy to find in area lakes, ponds."