Thurmond Lake fishing is shaping up to be wonderful from now through the Thanksgiving holidays.
Catching stripers, hybrids and crappies is fairly easy, but the challenge is to locate and catch keeper largemouth bass, which must measure 12 inches in length to be legal. Reports coming from the lake indicate many tiny largemouth are being caught and released, but I always look at those fish as next year's keepers.
The water is murky around Raysville Marina and up Little River and Hart Creek, but this is the time of the year when hybrids and stripers arrive in great numbers to chase even greater numbers of blueback herring and threadfin shad. This action is usually marked by flocks of diving sea gulls.
Best lures to use are Lil' Fishies, Gotcha Shad and Zoom Baby Flukes and Super Flukes. Dip the tails of those soft plastic baits into a bottle of chartreuse dye. Chartreuse shows up better than white in murky water.
THURMOND LAKE
Raysville Marina (Leon Buffington and Doug Pentecost), (706) 595-5582 -- Schooling fish seem to be everywhere and so are diving gulls, including around our gas dock. We had some bass fishermen up our way complaining that all they could catch were hybrids and stripers!
Capt. 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.crockett rocketstriperfishing.com) -- Fishing is great, with water temperatures around 66 degrees. The upper end of the lake is muddy, but the lower part is only slightly stained. Be wary of floating debris, including some large trees. We've had some great catches, getting limits almost every day. I've had a couple of different groups of Canadians out since more are starting to come south this time of the year. They are great outdoorsmen and love to fish. Richard Keller brought his friend, John, from London, Ontario. They caught a nice mess of fish on a foggy morning. We also had the Trane folks from all over South Carolina out. You know it's hard to stop a Trane and these folks were all over the fish. They usually go to Santee but like our lake so well they plan to return in the spring. Most of our fish are being caught in the 24-to-36-foot range in the Dordon Creek area.
Ralph Barbee Jr., professional guide, (706) 860-7373 -- I fished Tuesday morning, found bank fishing tough because of floating trash. I checked the Grays Creek channel and caught six hybrids by jigging a Berry's Flex-It Spoon 30 feet down. I fished Thursday and caught a couple of 2-pound largemouth bass and four hybrids, all coming on the three-quarter-ounce spoon. The fish were suspended around trees in Cliett Creek out from Mistletoe State Park. I'll be doing a fishing seminar at the new Publix store across from Windmill Plantation from 3 p.m. until dark. I'll have my boat and give out free fishing tackle and autographs to the kids.
Billy Murphy, professional guide, (706) 733-0124 (Web site www.doubletroublefishingguides .com) with twins Brad and Jim -- Larry Freeman, of Evans, fished with me on Wednesday. We were out scouting for fish. We made 10 stops and caught a total of 16 stripers. The fish were hard to come by. We'd mark them on the depthfinder, drop our lines and then the fish would disappear. Ted Boileau, Larry and I scouted for fish on Thursday morning. We found some early, caught just four, then found a bunch of fish around 10:30 and caught 28 stripers and hybrids in the vicinity of Dordon Creek. We ran out of bait about 1 p.m. My VHF radio handle is doubletrouble on Ch. 68.
Capt. William Sasser, U.S. Coast Guard-licensed professional guide specializing in crappies, hybrids and striped bass. (706) 589-5468 -- Johnny Brady, of Walton, Ky.; his wife, Karen; Benny Casalina, of Pensacola, Fla.; and Chris Wheeler, of Seattle, Wash., caught 39 stripers during a morning trip. David Petsch, of Martinez, and his brother, Alton, of Kerrville, Texas, and Tommy Blum of Appling, Ga., had an easy morning, catching a limit. I did a joint trip with David Willard, Billy Murphy and Ted Boileau. On one day, my parties caught 39 fish one day and 28 on the next. I have been featured on Southern Outdoors and Bob Redfern's Outdoor Magazine on Fox Sports South, with shows set for Sunday at 7:45 a.m. and Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. The show will be aired on Dish Channel 14 and DirecTV Channel 681 on Saturday at 11:30 a.m., then the following Friday at 2:30 p.m. 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 -- I have been catching lots of fish. It's been as good as it can possibly get. We're catching some good, chunky hybrids in the 3-to-6-pound range, with most fish coming out of 40 to 50 feet. Jimmy Maness and Gene Herron, both of Augusta, and John D'Ugo, of Chicago, got a late start in thick fog, but smoked the fish in less than an hour, having triple and quadruple hookups. Terry Cato, Gary Biddle and his dad, Johnny, of North Augusta, had a fantastic morning, catching 40 fish on a windblown point. Jay Wilson, Dr. Gerry Gordon and Don Cariner, all of Aiken, battled a soft bite, but managed to put 40 stripers and hybrids in the boat. My VHF radio handle is Boat Racer and I can be reached on Channel 68. My Web site is www.fishlakethurmond.com.
Capt. Mark Crawford, U.S. Coast Guard-licensed guide specializing in stripers and hybrids. (706) 373-8347 -- I took out parties on the upper end of the lake this week, using a combination of downlines and planer boards, using small weights on the line 20 to 30 feet behind the boards in 20 to 30 feet of water. Mike Edinfield, of Bluefield, Va., and Larry Robinson and Billy Richardson, both of Richlands, Va., caught limits of fish weighing between 2 and 4 pounds each.
Albert Moody, Clark Hill Herring Hut, Clarks Hill, S.C. (864) 333-2000 -- Richard and Debra Krall, of Augusta, caught nine stripers while fishing with just one dozen live herring. They are new to the area and striper fishing but seem to be catching on.
SAVANNAH RIVER
NEW SAVANNAH BLUFF LOCK & DAM
Lock and Dam Bait and Tackle (Bob Baurle, Billy Hambrick), (706) 496-1173 -- Bobby Mooney caught four or five nice bass. Bream are biting upriver and catfish are hitting off the wall. The river is still high, but dropping just a little bit.
MERRY LAND
BRICKYARD PONDS
Harrison Sears (706) 722-8263 (www.brickyardponds.com) -- Wallace Burns caught 22 catfish on liver in the Ditch. Carl Smith caught 11 catfish in the Bradford Pond and the Ditch on chicken liver. Rex Stephens and Tommy Dove caught 55 catfish on liver in the Stick Pond. Dana Tyree and Bob Houseman caught 21 crappies, including several slabs, on minnows in the middle Ditch. Jack Kelly caught 11 crappies in the Ditch on minnows. No license is needed for our ponds.
ATLANTIC OCEAN
BEAUFORT, S.C. & VICINITY
Ralph Goodison, Fripp Island, (843) 838-2530 -- The weather has been great and the fishing excellent, with redfish, trout and an occasional flounder the main catches. Trout also are schooling near the shore, while the grouper and trigger fish bite is good. Few black sea bass are showing up. A few yellow fin tuna, dolphin and kingfish are out in the Gulf Stream, but few boats have been out.
SAVANNAH
Miss Judy Charters, Capt. Judy Helmey, (912) 897-4921 (www. missjudycharters.com.) P.O. Box 30771, Savannah, Ga. 31410-0771 -- Inshore waters are holding lots of fish, including redfish, spotted sea trout and flounder. Live shrimp is a sure deal for bait, but artificial lures also work.
Salt Water Assassin makes great soft plastic lures that will catch trout or bass. Included are the Electric Chicken (pink and green), Electric Buzzard Sea Shad (burgundy with glitter) and Chicken on a Chain (chartreuse tail).
Here's a tip: Spray them with WD-40 and see what happens. My father sprayed everything with the stuff. It's hard to argue with a man who lived and worked through the Al Capone era, was married eight times, never stopped dating and caught lots of fish.
Our artificial reefs are holding everything from king mackerel to a stray cobia to all kinds of bottom fish.
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