—

Lake Jocassee is at 98.1% of full pool, and water temperatures this morning were about 68 degrees.  They are rising into the low 70s on sunny days, but this is still far below normal for this time of year on Lake Jocassee.

Trout: Good. Guide Sam Jones (864-280-9056) reports that overall the Lake Jocassee trout bite has been strong, and some of the largest fish of the year have been caught recently.  This past week Sam’s boat caught the 26-inch, 8-pound 10-ounce brown trout pictured below, and there have also been some other nice fish taken recently – to go along with pretty strong numbers.  At the same time the fishing can be a little hit-or-miss, and some days it’s harder to get the fish to eat.

The strongest bite has been found in the 40-50 foot range, and the big fish was caught at 43 feet (on a minnow).  Today all four of the keeper Sam’s boat landed were caught at about 48 feet, but where anglers should fish depends on where they mark bait and fish.  Fish have been caught as shallow as 28 feet and as deep as 78 feet in the past couple of weeks – mild water temperatures have the fish still pretty spread out.

Hot spots such as the dam and other local favorites are starting to turn on, and the fish seem to be making a move towards bigger water as temperatures warm.  The fish are doing “what they should be” for this time of year.  However, there are still some fish being caught in the rivers.

Some days fish will eat pretty much anything, like yesterday when Sam said that Sutton spoons, minnows and other baits caught fish.  Other days they are finicky, and today they would only take Apex spoons.