Striped bass feed hard in Santee Cooper and the Savannah River lakes, crappie stay on brush in Marion and the border lakes, and on the coast the water clears until redfish school on the flats at low tide. Red drum are under the new limit of one a person, gigging closes for the season on December 1, and the Delayed Harvest streams turn catch and release on November 1, with the Lower Saluda stocked from December.
What to fish for in early November
Lakes inland and marsh on the coast. The big reservoirs turn over early in the quarter and their striped bass and crappie gather on the bait and the brush; the marsh clears to its cleanest water of the year once the cold thins the plankton, so redfish can be found by eye on the low tide; and the upstate's cold-release and mountain water gets stocked trout through the cold. Speckled trout winter in the deep creek bends, where a hard freeze can stun them.
Redfish (Red Drum)
Schools tight in the clear winter water and feeds on the low tide, when the falling water pushes it out of the grass onto the mud flats and the edges of the oyster bars.
Where. The mud flats and creek mouths around Charleston, Bulls Bay and Beaufort on the low tide, and the deeper holes of the creeks when the cold sets in.
The redfish (red drum) waters we forecast Water Forecast Myrtle Beach (Springmaid Pier) Today's forecast Charleston Harbor Today's forecast Port Royal Sound Today's forecast Striped Bass
The landlocked fish follow the herring and shad as the lakes cool and feed hard through the cold, chasing bait across the open water.
Where. Santee Cooper's lakes and the Diversion Canal, the coves of Hartwell, Russell and Thurmond, and Lake Murray above Columbia.
The striped bass waters we forecast Water Usual water now Forecast Lake Hartwell about 66F Today's forecast Lake Murray about 66F Best Thu, Nov 5, AToday's forecast Crappie
Packs onto brush and standing timber and keeps feeding, the bite steadiest in the stable spells between fronts.
Where. Brush piles and the flooded cypress at the upper end of Lake Marion, and the brush on Wateree, Wylie and the Savannah River lakes.
The crappie waters we forecast Water Usual water now Forecast Lake Marion about 67F Today's forecast Sheepshead
Crowds onto hard bottom through the cold and gathers on the nearshore reefs toward the end of February, ahead of its spawn.
Where. The jetties at Charleston Harbor, Murrells Inlet and Little River, the bridge and dock pilings along the tidal creeks, and the nearshore reefs.
Rainbow Trout
Stocked into the Lower Saluda from mid-December, where cold water from deep in Lake Murray holds trout far from the mountains, and fished on lures and flies in the upstate's Delayed Harvest water until spring.
Where. The Lower Saluda below Lake Murray at Columbia, the Chattooga, the Chauga and Eastatoe Creek, and deep Lake Jocassee.
The rainbow trout waters we forecast Water Forecast Saluda River below Lake Murray Dam Best Sun, Nov 8, AToday's forecast
Usual water now is that water's normal for this point in the season: a lake's modeled seasonal curve or a river gauge's long-run average, not this year's reading. The forecast link reads this week's.
What changes soon
The next six weeks of this report's calendar for South Carolina.
- Tue December 1South Carolina closes gigging for speckled trout and red drum until the end of February.
In the last two weeks
- Sun November 1Delayed Harvest streams turn catch and release in Georgia, South Carolina and West Virginia, and on Big Soddy Creek in Tennessee; those in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Kentucky have been catch and release since October 1.
This week's fishing reports
This report covers the season. For what was caught this week, read the people who report on this water.
South Carolina is reported once a month, everywhere but the mountains, by SCDNR's own Fishing Trends: a freshwater issue for the border lakes, the Midlands lakes and Santee Cooper, and a saltwater issue from the Grand Strand to Hilton Head, written from Angler's Headquarters' guide reports. They read more as the month's outlook than as a log of catches, and the weekly detail is Angler's Headquarters' paid report. The upstate trout water has only the stocking summary, and Unicoi Outfitters' weekly report from Georgia, which takes in the Chattooga in some weeks.
Where to fish in South Carolina, area by area
Each water links to its live forecast. The engine outlook in these areas was generated November 3, 2026, for the 14 days from that date; good hours are the hours at or above a B+.
The upstate trout water
Chattooga River · Chauga River · Eastatoe Creek · Whitewater River · Lake Jocassee
The Blue Ridge escarpment in Oconee, Pickens and Greenville counties, where the Chattooga, Chauga and Eastatoe drop out of the mountains and deep, cold Lake Jocassee holds trout below them. The Lower Saluda below Lake Murray, at Columbia, is cold-release trout water far from the mountains.
Who reports here. Nobody in South Carolina reports the trout water in winter. Unicoi Outfitters' weekly report from Helen, Georgia, takes in the Chattooga's Delayed Harvest water in some weeks, and SCDNR's weekly stocking summary says where trout went, the Lower Saluda included from mid-December.
Engine outlook
- Best: Sun, Nov 8, A11 good hours62F measured Nov 3 at SALUDA RIVER BELOW LK MURRAY DAM NR COLUMBIA, SCbest run 6h1840 cfsat SALUDA RIVER BELOW LK MURRAY DAM NR COLUMBIA, SCon this water
The Savannah River lakes
Lake Hartwell · Lake Russell · Clarks Hill Lake · Lake Keowee
The Savannah River chain on the Georgia line, Hartwell, Russell and Thurmond (Clarks Hill), big Corps lakes where either state's license is good, with Keowee above Hartwell. Striped and hybrid bass follow the blueback herring, and largemouth and spotted bass share the lakes.
Who reports here. SCDNR's monthly Fishing Trends covers Russell, Clarks Hill and Hartwell in every winter month, guide by guide. The weekly detail is Angler's Headquarters' paid report.
Engine outlook
- Its best day in this outlook has passed.
The Midlands lakes
Lake Murray · Lake Wateree · Lake Wylie · Lake Greenwood · Lake Monticello
The power lakes on the Catawba and the Saluda, Wylie on the North Carolina line and Wateree below it, Lake Murray above Columbia, and Greenwood and Monticello, with striped bass in Murray and crappie and catfish across them.
Who reports here. SCDNR's monthly Fishing Trends covers Murray, Wateree and Wylie in every winter month.
Engine outlook
- Best: Thu, Nov 5, A12 good hours69F modeled from this lake's own seasonal curvebest run 6h
Santee Cooper
Lake Marion · Lake Moultrie · Diversion Canal · Cooper River · Santee River
Lakes Marion and Moultrie, joined by the Diversion Canal, with flooded cypress in the upper end of Marion, and the Santee and Cooper rivers below. Landlocked striped bass, catfish, crappie and bream, moving between the lakes and the rivers through the year.
Who reports here. SCDNR's monthly Fishing Trends has a Santee Cooper section in every winter month.
Engine outlook
- Its best day in this outlook has passed.
The Grand Strand
Myrtle Beach · Cherry Grove Pier · Little River · Murrells Inlet · Garden City
Myrtle Beach and the beaches north to Little River and south to Murrells Inlet, with fishing piers along the strand, the Little River and Murrells Inlet jetties, and the Waccamaw and the Intracoastal Waterway behind.
Who reports here. SCDNR's saltwater Fishing Trends covers the north and south Grand Strand and Cherry Grove Pier every month.
Engine outlook
- Its best day in this outlook has passed.
Charleston and Georgetown
Charleston Harbor · Cooper River mouth · Folly Beach · Kiawah Island · Bulls Bay
Charleston Harbor and the creeks and islands either side, from Bulls Bay south to Kiawah, with Winyah Bay at Georgetown to the north: marsh, oyster banks and tidal rivers. Redfish on the flats and in the creeks, speckled trout, and sheepshead on the jetties and pilings.
Who reports here. SCDNR's saltwater Fishing Trends covers Charleston and Georgetown every month.
Engine outlook
- Its best day in this outlook has passed.
The Lowcountry
Edisto Island · St. Helena Sound · Beaufort · Port Royal Sound · Hilton Head Island
Edisto Island to Hilton Head: St. Helena and Port Royal sounds, the rivers around Beaufort, and the marsh and barrier islands down to Calibogue Sound and the mouth of the Savannah, where the tide runs hard through the sounds.
Who reports here. SCDNR's saltwater Fishing Trends carries this stretch every month, written from Angler's Headquarters' guide reports.
Engine outlook
- Its best day in this outlook has passed.
The rules from November to February
What changed this time
- New since July 1, 2026, under Act No. 231: red drum are one a person and two a boat, from 18 to 25 inches, where the limit was two a person and six a boat from 15 to 23 inches. When fishing for saltwater gamefish, natural bait on a hook of 4/0 or larger must be on a non-offset, non-stainless circle hook.
- SCDNR stocks the Lower Saluda below Lake Murray from the second or third week of December into March, and last winter it stocked Lake Jocassee from December into January.
Read on October 19, 2026, from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (its license, fishing regulation and trout stocking pages) and from the South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 50, and Act No. 231 of 2026.
Licenses, and which state's rules apply
- Fresh water takes a South Carolina freshwater license, unless you fish a privately owned pond, and salt water a saltwater license, unless you fish from a licensed public pier or a licensed charter boat under hire. Anglers under 16 need neither. Residents pay $10 a year in fresh water and $15 in salt, or $5 and $10 for 14 days; visitors pay $35 a year or $11 for 14 days in fresh water, and $75 a year, $35 for seven days or $10 for a day in salt water.
- A South Carolina or Georgia freshwater license is good on every channel of the Savannah River up to where the Tugaloo and Seneca meet, on the Chattooga to the North Carolina line, and on Thurmond, Russell, Hartwell, Yonah, Tugaloo and Stevens Creek lakes and the New Savannah Bluff pool, though not up the streams that feed them.
Bait, gear and fish you cannot keep
- Saltwater gamefish may be taken only with a hand-held hook and line or, in season, a gig, and natural bait on a hook of 4/0 or larger must be fished on a non-offset, non-stainless circle hook. Gigging for speckled trout or red drum is closed from December 1 through the last day of February, and hardhead and gafftopsail catfish may not be kept.
- Snagging trout is illegal, and only artificial lures may be used or carried on the Whitewater River and the other artificial-only trout waters the Code lists.
Lakes, ponds and rivers
- In fresh water the day's limit is 40 game fish in all, of which 5 may be largemouth or smallmouth bass (10 on Hartwell, Keowee, Russell, Thurmond and the other Savannah lakes), 15 spotted or Alabama bass, 10 striped or hybrid bass, 8 walleye or sauger, 20 crappie, 15 redbreast and 5 trout.
- Striped and hybrid bass in the Santee-Cooper system and the coastal rivers are open from October 1 to June 15, 3 a day, and closed from June 16 to September 30. In the Santee system they must be 23 to 25 inches, with one over 26 allowed; in the coastal rivers, the Cooper, Edisto, Pee Dee and Waccamaw among them, at least 26 inches. Lake Murray allows 5 of at least 21 inches from October 1 to May 31, Hartwell and Thurmond 10 with only three over 26 inches, Russell 2 with one over 34, and the lower Savannah 2 of at least 27.
- Trout are 5 a day, and on the Lower Saluda only one of them may be over 16 inches. The delayed harvest waters are catch and release from November 1 through May 14, single-hook artificial lures only, among them the Chattooga from SC 28 up to Reed Creek, the Chauga from Cassidy Bridge Road up to Bone Camp Creek and Eastatoe Creek from Lake Keowee up to Roy Jones Road. Lake Jocassee allows 3 trout, none under 15 inches and only one over 20.
Salt water
- Red drum are 1 a day and 2 per boat, from 18 to 25 inches. Speckled trout are 10 a day of at least 14 inches, flounder 5 a day and 10 per boat of at least 16, black drum 5 a day from 14 to 27, sheepshead 10 a day and 30 per boat of at least 14, weakfish 1 a day, and tarpon 1 a day of at least 77 inches fork length.
- South of Jeremy Inlet on Edisto Island cobia are 1 a day and 3 per boat, at least 36 inches fork length, and closed in May; elsewhere in state waters they are 1 a day and 6 per boat of at least 36 inches. Black sea bass in state waters are 5 a day or the federal limit, whichever is higher, at least 13 inches, with no closed season.
Read on these agency pages: SCDNR: Recreational Fishing and Hunting License requirements, and the Georgia and South Carolina agreement, SCDNR: Resident License Pricing, SCDNR: Nonresident License Pricing, South Carolina General Assembly: 2026 Act No. 231 (S. 961), red drum limits and circle hooks, South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 50, Chapter 5: Marine Resources Act, South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 50, Chapter 13: Protection of Fish.
The season at a glance
What these months usually do
Each lake's own seasonal curve, the one the engine scores the lake on: what these dates usually do, modeled rather than measured, and not a forecast for this year.
| Water | Nov 1 | Dec 1 | Jan 1 | Feb 1 | Feb 28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Hartwell | 67F | 56F | 49F | 48F | 52F |
| Lake Marion | 68F | 58F | 51F | 50F | 56F |
| Lake Murray | 67F | 57F | 50F | 49F | 53F |
The moon from November to February
| Month | New moon | Full moon |
|---|---|---|
| November 2026 | Mon, Nov 9 | Tue, Nov 24 |
| December 2026 | Tue, Dec 8 | Wed, Dec 23 |
| January 2027 | Thu, Jan 7 | Fri, Jan 22 |
| February 2027 | Sat, Feb 6 | Sat, Feb 20 |
The U.S. Naval Observatory's dates, on local time.
Daylight in each area from November to February
Worked out for one place in each area, on its own clock.
| Area | Shortest day | Earliest sunset | Latest sunrise |
|---|---|---|---|
| The upstate trout waterat Saluda River below Lake Murray Dam | 9h 53m, Dec 21 | 5:17pm, around Dec 5 | 7:32am, around Jan 7 |
| The Savannah River lakesat Lake Hartwell | 9h 51m, Dec 21 | 5:23pm, around Dec 5 | 7:40am, around Jan 7 |
| The Midlands lakesat Lake Murray | 9h 53m, Dec 21 | 5:17pm, around Dec 5 | 7:33am, around Jan 7 |
| Santee Cooperat Lake Marion | 9h 55m, Dec 21 | 5:15pm, around Dec 4 | 7:28am, around Jan 8 |
| The Grand Strandat Myrtle Beach (Springmaid Pier) | 9h 55m, Dec 21 | 5:09pm, around Dec 5 | 7:22am, around Jan 8 |
| Charleston and Georgetownat Charleston Harbor | 9h 59m, Dec 21 | 5:15pm, around Dec 4 | 7:24am, around Jan 8 |
| The Lowcountryat Port Royal Sound | 10h 2m, Dec 21 | 5:19pm, around Dec 4 | 7:26am, around Jan 8 |
The lowest tides from November to February
| Station | Lowest, Nov | Lowest, Dec | Lowest, Jan | Lowest, Feb | Biggest range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Springmaid Pier, Myrtle beach | -0.6 ftThu, Nov 26, 1:57am | -1.1 ftFri, Dec 25, 1:44am | -1.4 ftSat, Jan 23, 1:31am | -1.3 ftSun, Feb 21, 1:17am | 7.7 ftJan 23 |
| Charleston (Customhouse Wharf) | -0.6 ftThu, Nov 26, 2:25am | -1.1 ftFri, Dec 25, 2:13am | -1.5 ftSat, Jan 23, 2:01am | -1.3 ftSun, Feb 21, 1:47am | 7.7 ftJan 23 |
| Port Royal Plantation, Hilton Head Island | -0.7 ftThu, Nov 26, 2:38am | -1.3 ftFri, Dec 25, 2:25am | -1.8 ftSat, Jan 23, 2:11am | -1.7 ftSun, Feb 21, 1:56am | 9.1 ftJan 23 |
NOAA's predictions, in feet above the average of each day's lower low tide, so a minus tide falls below it. Wind and air pressure move the water off the prediction.