Again, sorry for posting in the stripers section, there needs to be a midlands fishing forum. But has anybody fished in the Monticello Rec lake? I wanted to try to bass fish it but just wondering if anyone has any input. Especially are there shad in the lake? Any input is appreciated. Thanks.
I’ve fished there some, but it’s been 20+ years or so. I have no idea about now, but at the time it was only open on Wed and Sat and only trolling motors could be used. It would get fairly crowded pretty quick as I seem to remember it being a pretty small lake.
I’ve caught a few fish there, but I did much better fishing in Parr Reservoir just on the other side of the Lake Monticello dam. Good for catfish, crappie and bass there. Plenty of cover with lots of trees…more like fishing in Lake Marion than open lakes like Murray and Monticello.
'07 198 DLX Carolina Skiff
FS90 Suzuki
Thanks, I have a jon boat with bow and stern trolling motors and have been fishing a lot of smaller bodies of water lately instead of taking my bigger boat out. I am planning on giving it a go tomorrow. I was just wondering also if they had shad in the rec lake or not, it’d give me an idea if bass were on that now instead of another pattern, thanks for the help though.
There is shad present. There is a TON of catfish in the lake. But also hold some realky nice crappie fishing. There is also good bass fishing. Smallmouth have also started to be caught in there. Think bowhunter has caught some smallies in there. Heard the perch are pretty big in there as well.
Its open 7 days a week as far as i know. But obey all signs. If an area is marked no boats it means NO BOATS…lol…basically all of that is around the nuke plant. But the fishing can be good over by there in the winter because of the warm water discharged into the lake. Good luck. Let us know how u do.
“All fisherman lie. And if they say otherwise, then they’re lying”
“Sea~N~Stripes”
21’ Hewes Craft Custom
115 Evinrude
I checked into it after posting and the rec lake is now open 7 days a week. Still can’t run a gas engine though.
'07 198 DLX Carolina Skiff
FS90 Suzuki
Nevermind my comment. Just realized you were talking about the small adjacent lake. I was talking about lake Monticello. .lol…tims last comment made me reread the thread again; cause there is no way they couldnt allow outboards in such a huge lake. I know there are a ton of guides who catfish on it.
“All fisherman lie. And if they say otherwise, then they’re lying”
“Sea~N~Stripes”
21’ Hewes Craft Custom
115 Evinrude
Thanks for the replies, I will give it a go tomorrow and let yall know how I do
Around noon or so, try a Carolina rig with green pumpkin or june bug trick or finnesse worms for bass. Look across and over from the landing and find the point with a deep drop and rock on it. If it’s like it was a couple of years ago you can catch a bunch there. If that doesn’t work try a black and blue jig tight to cover.
I saw that message too late! I was off the water at noon anyways. I caught one early on a main point on a C rig, missed some more back in a cove, saw some bait fish back there and bass markings on the sonar, but the only thing that was bit was a C rig, absolutely nothing else. It’s probably more user error than the fish though.
The bass in that lake are very finicky. I have fished it a few times with mixed results.
17 Carolina Skiff
60 Johnson