I am based in Greenville, South Carolina. Good fishing here is closer than the boat ramps make it look. Inside 20 minutes of downtown there are public parks and the river that runs through it, all fished from the bank. Go out to 30 minutes and you are wading foothill creeks. The small, clear lakes within 45 minutes of town are where the trophy largemouth tend to live. The rivers of Western North Carolina are about an hour away, and in fall I make that drive for smallmouth.
Don't overlook the Reedy River through downtown Greenville. It is public water, so I can name it. I have fished it on lunch breaks. I expected small bluegill and kept finding big redbreast and largemouth. After a hard rain it runs the color of clay and takes about three days to clear, which is worth knowing before you plan a short trip on it.
The list below names rivers and regions and stops there. The exact spot is the one thing I keep to myself, and I ask the people who fish with me to do the same.
How far is good fishing, really?
- Inside 20 minutes
- Public parks and the urban river, bank access.
- Inside 30 minutes
- Foothill creeks, wade water and the stocked Saluda forks.
- Inside 45 minutes
- The small, clear lakes that hold the biggest bass, fished on foot.
The filter was never distance. It is knowing which water is worth your hour.
The water, by type
I name rivers and regions. I never name the specific spot, and I ask guests not to either. That is what keeps these fish where they are.
- The Reedy River through downtown Greenville (bank, right in the heart of downtown): largemouth, panfish, carp.
- Public parks and small lakes close to town (bank, about 20 minutes): largemouth, panfish, carp.
- The Saluda River (bank and wade, about 30 minutes): largemouth, spotted bass, panfish.
- The hatchery-supported sections of the South, North and Middle Saluda rivers (wade and bank, about 30 minutes): trout.
- The foothill creeks north of Greenville (wade, about 30 minutes): Bartram's bass, smallmouth, spotted bass, largemouth.
- The small, clear lakes within 45 minutes of town (bank, about 45 minutes): largemouth.
- The French Broad River in Western North Carolina (wade and bank, about 60 minutes): smallmouth.
- South Carolina's delayed-harvest trout streams (the Chattooga, Chauga, Eastatoee and Cheohee) (wade, about 60 minutes): trout.
- The rivers of Western North Carolina (wade and bank, about 60 minutes): smallmouth, trout.