AHQ Report - Lake Monticello
Clark's Hill Fishing Reports
Lake Greenwood is located near the towns of Greenwood and Ninety Six, about an hour to the northwest of Columbia and around forty-five minutes to the southeast of Greenville. The waters of the Saluda and Reedy Rivers come from the northwest and feed into Lake Greenwood, which was created between 1935 and 1940 with the construction of Buzzard’s Roost Dam.
Lake Greenwood has 212 miles of shoreline and 11,400 surface acres of water, and today it is owned by Greenwood County. A relatively shallow lake, Lake Greenwood averages 18 feet deep and is 60 feet deep at its deepest point. The Greenwood County Lake Management Department controls permitting, camping, upkeep and maintenance on the lake, and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources helps to manage the fishery resource.
Fishermen target Lake Greenwood’s healthy populations of largemouth and now spotted bass, black and white crappie, bream and catfish, and channel and flathead catfish. DNR also stocks striped bass in the lake, although not in the quantities which they put into Lake Murray, Clarks Hill and other major striper fisheries. White bass are also present in Greenwood, although they are increasingly being displaced by the white perch population. The most significant forage fish on Lake Greenwood are threadfin and gizzard shad. Read More
— With the warm weather predicted for the next couple of weeks in South Carolina, bass around the state should be moving shallower and into the spawning period. But tournament bass fisherman Andy Wicker of Pomaria says that because of the warm water discharge on the lake, this period often comes earlier on Lake Monticello […]
Readers of this site know that during the colder months the Lake World bait shop frequently repeats the mantra that to find striper on Lake Murray fishermen should follow the birds. Tournament bass fisherman Andy Wicker of Pomaria says right now that is also good advice for catching bass on Lake Monticello, and at this […]
Around the Christmas holidays it’s a safe bet that big blue catfish are feeding in South Carolina, and even with unseasonably warm weather this year is no exception. From the North Carolina border to the Midlands to the lower part of the state, South Carolina anglers are putting some big catfish in the boat right […]
On a lot of South Carolina lakes the prolonged warm weather this fall has actually helped the bite – especially for anglers who want to fish shallow. Instead of starting to move deep bass have continued to hang around only a few feet of water, staying in more of a fall pattern than an early […]
In his last Lake Monticello update tournament bass fisherman Andy Wicker reported that the jigging spoon bite was starting to come on. It has now arrived, and in Andy’s opinion the best jigging spoon fishing of the year will be found between now and December. While a lot of people will be fishing spoons in […]
For the last few months Captain Chris Simpson (864-992-2352) has reported an excellent bite for numbers of eating-sized blue catfish on Lake Monticello, and although the bite for big fish has been fair he has promised that once cooler temperatures arrive the big fish bite will turn on. He has also predicted that the deep […]
Lake Monticello is known for being full of catfish, ranging from small to medium eating-sized fish on up to monster blue catfish that would be considered trophies anywhere. And true to expectations Captain Chris Simpson (864-992-2352) reports that right now Lake Monticello continues to live up to its reputation, with an excellent numbers bite as […]
Even though tournament angler Andy Wicker only lives 10-15 minutes from his home body of water Lake Monticello, particularly in the spring he does so much tournament fishing on other lakes that he doesn’t get to fish it as much as he would like to. That changes in the summer, though, and he gets to […]
Catfish: Good to very good. Captain Chris Simpson (864-992-2352) reports that free-line drifting for numbers of fish has been working very well, and anglers are filling coolers with catfish using that method right now. Both cut herring and shrimp will catch fish. The bite for big fish has also been pretty good. Anchoring on humps […]
Catfish: Fair to good. Captain Chris Simpson (864-992-2352) reports that the big fish bite remains very up and down, with slow to fair fishing one day and then the next day can be very good. The most consistent pattern seems to be anchoring on the deep side of points and humps and fan casting baits […]
This 97-pound blue catfish was recently caught on Captain Chris Simpson’s boat on Lake Monticello. The fish was caught drifting in 40+ feet of water on a large section of white perch and it was released unharmed. Chris’ previous big fish out of Monticello was an 82-pounder caught almost a year ago; October through the […]
Check out this monster blue catfish caught Sunday on Captain Chris Simpson’s (864-992-2352) boat! This 82-pound giant came in 55+ feet of water on a chunk of cut white perch, and it was the highlight of a “magical” day that included 16 other fish and 7 others over 20 pounds! As Chris has been reporting the bite […]
Several years ago I had the opportunity to fish for monster blue catfish on Lake Monticello with Captain Chris Simpson, and I gained an appreciation of the nuance of fishing for monster catfish on that lake. The payoff is tremendous if you coax a 30-60 plus pound monster to bite, and Lake Monticello has fish […]
When South Carolina anglers think of our state’s premier blue catfish fisheries Lakes Marion and Moultrie, Lake Monticello, and Lake Wateree probably come to mind. But there is another lake that Captain Rodger Taylor believes should be on the short list, if it is not already. With good tributary rivers and a defined channel, major […]
Lake Greenwood is on Fire: Catfishing on Lake Greenwood with Captain Chris Simpson When I went fishing with Captain Chris Simpson for trophy blue catfish on Lake Monticello, we anchored down and waited patiently for the big bite. It was an exciting waiting game, because nothing and nobody can tell a giant blue catfish what to […]