Lake Jocassee Trout

When the end downrigger rod popped up and then slammed back down with gusto, Sam Jones of Jocassee Charters was pretty sure the sort of fish we were seeking was at the other end of the line. Several intense minutes later, the flashing silver sides of a big rainbow confirmed what we both hoped, and then Jones slipped the net beneath a 21-inch, 5-pound trout.

South Carolina's Lake Jocassee has been one of my favorite places to fish since the late 1980s. The steep and rugged surrounding landscapes and ultra clear and deep waters defy many folks' images of the South, as do the rainbow and brown trout and smallmouth bass that call Jocassee home.

Despite its small size of only 7,500 acres, Jocassee holds claim to five state record fish (smallmouth, spotted and redeye bass and rainbow and brown trout). Because the terrain surrounding Jocassee is so steep, most tributaries come in as waterfalls - among them Lower Whitewater Falls, which tumbles more than 400 feet before settling in the lake.

Having not fished Jocassee for quite a while (too long), I was so excited upon arriving yesterday, that I had to slip down to the bank behind my villa at Devils Fork State Park to steal 10 minutes of casting from the bank before I got ready for dinner. That was all it took to catch a small but feisty smallmouth on a Road Runner and to get me even more excited about today.

Jones and I actually spent much of this morning "touring" several spots for a story I am writing for South Carolina Sportsman, but we did manage to squeeze in a bit of fishing, and a little time was all he needed to help me catch a few trout, including one very nice fish. Jocassee would be a great place to spend a morning, even if the fish weren't biting. But when a mean smallmouth or a big trout wants to latch on, that's OK, too!