Nearly Off Limits, Area Offers Best Shot at Thurmond Dam

If you want to stand a chance to catch some nice striped bass and hybrids, try the area around the off-limits cable in front of Thurmond Dam.

Fishermen free-lining live herring, or towing planer boards, were having a grand old time Wednesday afternoon.

I knew it was going to be a good day when I cast a pearl white, lead-headed Zoom Super Fluke about 30 feet behind the boat and started trolling. The first of five strikes, and the only fish I put in the boat, came a few seconds later. It took about 15 minutes to land the 10-pound striper on light tackle.

What happened to the other four fish? Two were LDRs (long- distance releases when they pulled free after a few minutes) and two just pecked at the bait, missing it.

The best part of the day came an hour before dark when big splashes marked the invasion of big fish into the shallows just off West Dam Overlook. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get to the area in time to catch any.

Lots of sea gulls are flying over the area and, when they’re not diving onto feeding loons, they’re going after schooling fish.

I’d suggest carrying three rods – one rigged with a quarter- ounce jig and fluke, one with a weightless pearl white Super Fluke and the other with a Zara Spook or Super Spook. The weightless fluke can be effective when cast into breaking fish.

* The Southeastern Paralyzed Veterans Association’s annual bass tournament will be held on Thurmond on March 28-30. Six non-boaters skilled in driving bass boats are needed, as are 15 able-bodied fishermen with bass boats. Contact Kurt Glass at (706) 796-6301 for more information.

THURMOND LAKE

David Willard, U.S. Coast Guard-licensed full-time professional fishing guide specializing in hybrids and stripers and trophy largemouth bass. Boat phone: (706) 214-0236. (803) 637-6379 (www.crockettrocketstriperfishing.com) – Water temperature was 55 degrees and the lake is muddy to slightly stained all the way to the dam. The lake level is up a couple of feet, thanks to recent rains. The fish bite has been good although the fish are still scattered. Clay Sappenfield has been fishing with me since he was a little boy. He’s all grown up now and brought his friend, David, from Savannah. They caught stripers up to eight pounds, slab hybrids and largemouths up to 41 pounds.

Ralph Barbee Jr., professional guide, (706) 860-7373 – Danny Sheehan and I went to Raysville area on Monday. It was sunny with a bit of wind. Water was stained, but not muddy. Danny caught a 4- pound largemouth on a XPS Ghost. I caught a 3-pounder on a River2Sea spinnerbait. Temperature was 60 degrees. On Wednesday, we put in at Amity. We found the crappies were biting in Big Hart Creek, hitting trolled minnows and doll flies. I caught four bass and Danny caught one bass and a small hybrid. All the fish hit the one-ounce Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap painted yellow.

Billy Murphy, professional guide, (706) 733-0124 (www.doubletroublefishingguides.com) with twins Brad and Jim – Crappies are hitting dark-colored doll flies being trolled over trees in 10-15 feet. I caught one about 1 1/2 pounds and 16 others Thursday.

Dale Gibbs, professional guide specializing in largemouth bass (706) 288-7510 – Last Monday, I put out a bunch of brush for future fishing and went above the Highway 278 bridge. I found pockets along the bank where the water temperature hit 61 or 62 degrees. I fished a spinnerbait with chartreuse and white skirt and caught five bass weighing 21-41 pounds. They’d total 15-51 pounds. On Tuesday, I took out Marshal Steve Smith. We wound up with five bass weighing 133 pounds. One hit Buckeye’s mop jig equipped with a Zoom Super Chunk trailer.

Capt. William Sasser, U.S. Coast Guard-licensed professional guide specializing in crappies, hybrids and striped bass. (706) 589- 5468 – It’s been a great week. Bob Bagshaw of Marco Island, Fla., and Larry Wheeler of London, Ohio – both Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise owners – were at Come Away Plantation for a bit of R&R. They fished with us for two days for crappies and stripers and wound up with 92 fish. The crappies came out of 30 to 35 feet of water, hitting small minnows near creek channels. The stripers came out of the same water on live herring placed on the bottom. Our biggest crappie weighed 2 pounds, our biggest striper 10. My VHF radio handle is Crappie Master and I can be reached on the lake on Channel 68. Check out my Web site at www.williamsasserfishing.com.

Capt. Tommy Dudley, U.S. Coast Guard-licensed professional guide specializing in stripers and hybrids. (706) 833-4807 – Water conditions up my way (above Parksville) are muddy and trashy. I’m seeing more downline fish, which is encouraging. Planer boards are accounting for most of our fish. It’s inconsistent right now. My VHF radio handle is Boat Racer and I can be reached on Channel 68. My Web site is www.fishlakethurmond.com.

Albert Moody, Clark Hill Herring Hut, Clarks Hill, S.C. (864) 333- 2000 – Fish are starting to be caught on downlined live herring by tying up to the off-limits cable, planer boarding live herring along the riprap, free-lining live herring and cut baiting from the banks of West Dam Overlook and below the welcome center. One man caught 30 hybrids and stripers and released all but 10. Lee Alexander has been fishing below the dam, casting Wasp spoons and jig-headed flukes and catching large numbers of 5- to 7-pound hybrids and stripers and a few over the 27-inch legal minimum size.

SAVANNAH RIVER

New Savannah Bluff Lock & Dam

Lock and Dam Bait and Tackle (Bob Baurle), (706) 793-8053 – Quite a few shad are being caught off the dam on the Sabiki Rigs. Lots of bream and catfish are being caught downstream and crappies are being caught in the dead lakes. Chain pickerel (jacks) are hitting Bang-O-Lures and other stick baits around the grass beds up river.

Tim Tierce caught eight big crappies off the bridge over Butler Creek. He used small minnows. Water has started to clear. Fees to get into the park on Saturdays and Sundays are gone as of April 1.

MERRY LAND BRICKYARD PONDS

Harrison Sears, (706) 722-8263 (www.brickyardponds.com) – Patrick Smith and Adam Minyard caught 22.06 pounds of bass in the Expressway Pond on plastic worms. Willard Tompkins and Brian Harris caught 10 crappies totaling 19 pounds and seven bass totaling 18 pounds in the Expressway Pond.

Dennis Sidener caught a 4.3-pound bass in the Pollard Pond on a jig. Henry Thompson caught two crappies in the White Elephant Pond on minnows. We’ll start our bass tournaments today. Entry fee is $20 and tournament hours are 6-10 p.m. A fishing license is not required to fish in our ponds.

SAVANNAH

Miss Judy Charters, Capt. Judy Helmey, (912) 897-4921 (www.missjudycharters.com.) P.O. Box 30771, Savannah, GA 31410-0771 – Now that water temperatures have hit 58 degrees, the fishing is going to get active. Spotted sea trout can be caught just by bouncing – to r-ounce jigs with mud minnows or screwtail grubs off the bottom. Light tackle is the ticket to this ride.

Artificial reefs continue to hold sheepshead, with purple-backed fiddler crabs the key bait. The Savannah Snapper Banks are loaded with all kinds of fish, including red snapper, vermilion, trigger fish, black sea bass, porgy and grouper.

The Gulf Stream is still producing good catches for sport fishermen.

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