We fish the Congaree every spring for Striper and I believe with the new regs we will be able to fish the rivers below Murray soon. Can anyone let me know if they have had much luck with stripers in the Wateree? I was also wondering if there were any in the Congaree this time of year and in what sections. I am hunting out toward Lugoff along the Wateree River this weekend and have some time to kill during the day - thought I may give it a try.
Thanks for any help!
The Wateree can be quite productive at times, but like the rest of the Santee System, it is closed to striped bass fishing until Oct 1st. You cannot legally fish for stripers from June 1 to September 30th and even then can only keep 26" or larger. I know folks that have a ball fishing the legal season down there…some reporting the best fishing they have had in 20 years…take it for what it is worth. If your enjoyment comes only from putting fish in the box, you might not have a really great time during deer season.
There are stripers in the Congaree in the fall but they can be difficult to target. They are not as scattered as they are in the spring so it is usually either feast or famine. You could try the mouth of Congaree Creek or any outside bend of the river that has some structure(dead trees). You’ll probably catch more cats than stripes, but that ain’t necessarily a bad thing.
how is the striper fishing in the saluda river, from the murray dam to the congaree, this time of year?
The stripers are moving out of the Saluda headed down to the lakes. We actually could see some fish last weekend in the Saluda but they had lockjaw.