Fishing Report For Lake Monticello, SC

By Rick Seaman

June 3, 2025

Popular Fish Species Reports
Lake Monticello Fishing Video
Available Fish Species
Today's Weather & Forecast
Boat Launch Ramps
Fishing License
Map
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Fishing Report Lake Monticello, SC

Fishing Reports

Popular Fish Species Lake Monticello, SC

Largemouth Bass

Current Report: Good To Very Good
Outlook: Very Good To Excellent

Following good bass fishing through the Winter, bass are now becoming more active. The water temperatures are into the 70's and the fishing is quite good. This lake stays fairly warm through Winter, due to the power plant, extending the growing season, and turning out a lot of quality bass. Some of the bass have spawned, others are still in the process. Jigs, worms, stick worms, crankbaits and vibrating jigs are all catching fish. As the spawn ends, and Summer arrives, bass move deeper in search of cooler water while looking for baitfish. Start searching in 15 foot depth, and keep going deeper until you locate their comfortable depth. In the heat of Summer and cold of Winter, slow patient fishing is in order to trigger bites.

Black Crappie - White Crappie

Uncle Buck's Panfish Creatures Curly Tail Minnow Rigged

Current Report: Good To Very Good
Outlook: Good

Crappie are pretty shallow as they are going through the spawning stages, and lots of 1 1/2 to 2 pound crappie are being caught. Expect to find crappie in 5 to 10 feet of water. Standing timber, brush and vegetation are good places to cast small crappie jigs or live minnows. Once the spawn is over, and the hot Summer sun warms the shallows, crappie retreat to depths of 20 to 25 feet or deeper. Light tackle with 4 lb to 8 lb line is ideal. Anglers are reporting good success using fish finders and forward facing sonar to locate schools of crappie, which tend to stack vertically around cover.

Channel Catfish

Current Report: Good To Very Good
Outlook: Fair To Good

Last month was the peak season for catfish here, but there are still plenty of channel cats willing to bite for dedicated anglers. Flathead, blue and white catfish all reside here, but many anglers prefer medium size channel catfish for the table. Fishing for channel catfish is often productive around any kind of structure. Fishing late in the day until midnight often produces the best fishing activity as this is prime feeding time for channel cats. Again in Fall, fishing will pick up as water temperatures drop. Road beds, creek channels and rocky points are all good places to begin. Anglers are having success using cut bait nightcrawlers or prepared baits, with slip sinkers, 3-way rigs, or Carolina rigs to keep the bait close to the bottom.

Fishing Video

Fish species to fish for...

Guide to fishing for largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, channel catfish, flathead catfish, blue catfish, white catfish, black crappie, white crappie, bluegill, pumpkinseed sunfish, redbreast sunfish, redear sunfish, white bass, white perch and yellow perch at Lake Monticello in South Carolina.

Lake Monticello is a 7,000-acre lake with nearly 50 miles shoreline. Big catfish (channel, flathead, blue and white), bass (largemouth and smallmouth), crappie (black and white), bream, white bass, sunfish and perch reside here in good quantities and quality, in this fertile fishery.

Primary fish species to catch

Today's Weather & Forecast

Public Boat Launch Ramps & Landings

Click here for boat ramps available at this lake.

Fishing License

Click here for a South Carolina Fishing License.

Map - Fishing & Access

Rick Seaman is a fishing enthusiast with over five decades of fishing experience, a retired tournament fisherman, author of numerous published articles on fishing, and co-author of the book "Bass Fishing - It's not WHAT you throw, It's WHERE you throw it".