Stocked with trout, the Saluda River is a terrific fly fishing destination – access it at Saluda Shoals Park or Hope Ferry Landing; smallmouth bass in the 12 to 18-inch range are also common. Smallmouth bass also ply the waters of the Broad and Congaree Rivers.
Table of Contents
What month is best for striper fishing?
Striped Bass will start to move into the Red and Washita Rivers to spawn. April can be the best live-bait fishing month, but swimbaits and underspins will catch Striper too. Striper will school up around these river channels to feed, then run upstream to spawn.
Where can I fish on the Lower Saluda River?
What is the best bait to catch striped bass on?
Bloodworms and Sandworms as Striped Bass Baits Bloodworms and sandworms are highly effective striper baits just about everywhere these fish are found, virtually any time of the year. Stripers love eating them, period.
What time of day do stripers bite?
You will almost always do better during these low-light periods. I prefer dusk. I like to arrive at my spot one or two hours before sunset. Stripers get very active around this time of day and this is your best chance to hook a bigger bass.
What time of day do stripers feed?
Stripers are opportunistic fish, feeding whenever they can, especially at the specific time periods and windows during a tide. Some locations fish best when the current is cranking, other spots are better around slack tide, when there is little or no current movement.
What fish are in the Lower Saluda?
Fish and Mussels Warmwater species occurring in the lower Saluda River include chain pickerel, redbreast sunfish, redear sunfish, bluegill, largemouth bass, carp, channel catfish, spotted sucker, yellow perch, sandbar shiner, and gizzard shad. Striped bass are present in the Lower Saluda during their spawning season.
Why is the Saluda River so cold?
The river water is cold, about 60 degrees F, because it comes from deep within Lake Murray. Swimmers can experience hypothermia, even in the summer. Major rapids, up to Class IV, begin downstream of the I-26 bridge. Many rapids have large hydraulics.
How deep does the Saluda River get?
This is also the deepest point on the Saluda River, with a gauge stage of 4.39 ft. This river is monitored from 6 different streamgauging stations along the Saluda River, the highest being perched at an elevation of 830 ft, the Saluda River Near Greenville.
How do you catch a large smallmouth bass in a river?
Jerkbaits, spinner baits and buzz baits can all be used for smallmouth fishing. The lightest weight plastics like a Texas Rig or jig head need just enough weight to make bottom contact and then walk it down the shoal. You can use a variety of baits to catch smallmouth in small rivers; it’s all about the presentation.
Where are smallmouth bass in SC?
Smallmouth bass aren’t native to the state. The best-known South Carolina fisheries are Broad River and Lake Jocassee, where biologists began introducing smallmouth bass in the 1980s. They also can be found in Lake Oconee and Lake Monticello.
How do you catch smallmouth bass?
Smallmouth bass can be caught in a variety of ways. Popular techniques include casting hard plastic baits, spinners, jigs or plastic worms or plastic crayfish. One of the most popular techniques for catching smallmouth bass in lakes is to cast or troll a hard plastic lure.
What color attracts striped bass?
Yellow and chartreuse are fish-catchers because, simply put, they get seen. A study performed at the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences showed that striped bass see yellow and chartreuse better than other colors as they are smack dab in the middle of the striped bass’s visual range.
What is a striped bass favorite food?
Striped bass eat a variety of foods, including fish such as alewives, flounder, sea herring, menhaden, mummichogs, sand lance, silver hake, tomcod, smelt, silversides, and eels, as well as lobsters, crabs, soft clams, small mussels, sea worms, and squid.
How do you rig for striper fishing?
What depth do striped bass eat?
On many of these fisheries—especially in the South–stripers remain in the creeks throughout the winter and hold at depths of 15 to 20 feet. Catching striped bass doesn’t automatically slow down when the winter hits, these suspended fish will actively eat.
How do you find striped bass in a river?
As striped bass move into rivers they stop at staging points along the way to rest. These locations are ideal for catching bass. Look for tapering points or humps that drop off into river channels. In shallower rivers, look for holes that are 10 to 15 feet deep.
What tide is best for striper fishing?
They look to consume as many calories as possible while burning as few calories as possible, therefore they do their most aggressive feeding when their advantage over the baitfish is greatest—at peak tide.
Do striped bass feed on the bottom?
Fishermen dream of big stripers smashing up the surface to eat a topwater plug, but the biggest bass do the vast majority of feeding on the bottom. There, stripers find large, slow-moving meals like lobsters, crabs, tautog, and flounder.
Do striped bass like high or low tide?
The typical recommendation is to fish about 2-3 hours before high tide to about 2-3 hours outgoing tide. Some anglers also recommend around dusk or dawn, on a cool day, during peak or slack tide. to catch striped bass. This is when they are more likely to be nearer to the surface and more likely to bite.
Is shrimp good bait for striped bass?
Striped bass are very opportunistic feeders. They eat a wide variety of bait fish such as bunker, herring, and mackerel. They also target eels, crabs, shrimp, and squid. Basically stripers eat nearly everything they come across.
What time does Saluda Shoals lights start?
Schedule and Admission The Holidays Lights on the River begins on Friday, December 6 and continues every night until Friday, December 31. Entry begins at 6 p.m. with the last vehicles admitted at 10 p.m. Admission to the Holiday Lights on the River is $25 per vehicle.
Can you fish North Saluda Reservoir?
The North and South Saluda rivers and tributaries on the Greenville Watershed are not open to public fishing.
What fish are in the upper Saluda River?
This area has a high population of both birds and fish; blue herons, ospreys, and bald eagles; largemouth bass, catfish, trout, and bream can be found throughout the watershed.
Is the Saluda River clean?
The coalition says safe levels are between zero and 349 units per 100 mL of water. As of Wednesday’s testing, bacteria levels in the Saluda River near Interstate 20 and near River’s Edge were almost seven times a safe level.