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About Lake Monticello

Located in Fairfield County, South Carolina near the town of Winnsboro, Lake Monticello was created in 1979 to cool the South Carolina Electric and Gas (now Dominion Energy South Carolina) nuclear reactor which is beside the lake.  The lake is approximately 6 miles long and encompasses 6800 acres of water. There are a few minor creeks that feed it, and there was a small creek that ran through the middle of the valley which is now the lake, but a river that runs parallel to the lake is the main water source.  Water is pumped from the Broad River into Lake Monticello and then back out frequently if not regularly, and the lake levels can fluctuate by several feet in only an hour or two.  The deepest areas in the lake are around 160 feet.

With no stocked striped bass other species have filled the void, and stocked blue catfish have out-competed most native catfish species and are prolific in the lake.  In the summer they are caught at all depths, and in addition to a tremendous number of blue catfish they are also reach 100-plus pound sizes.  While the lake once had an abundant crappie fishery those numbers appear to have dwindled, but the lake is still home to a population of trophy black bass including both largemouth and smallmouth bass.  There are also abundant bream and white perch in the lake, and the main forage species are threadfin shad and gizzard shad.