“I’ve been fishing mostly on Keowee lately and the bass are pretty much in a feeding frenzy this time of year. They are feeding up for the winter and you can find them from 15 feet out to 80 feet deep, and on top. Pretty much everything is going on this time of year,” he said.

“Last year at this time and this year, too, I am catching fish in the creeks and also out on the main lake. It is almost like you can go anywhere you want and catch fish. I don’t know that any one place is better than the other. It’s kind of equal,” he said.

That is not to say that it is still fishing, not just catching, Fowler noted.

“They are moving a lot and that is one issue this time of year. They are feeding, but they are still on the move. Where the bait goes the bass go. They are mostly chasing shad.”

While there are some blueback herring in Keowee, most of them are concentrated in the warmer water around the nuclear plant and up near Jocassee Dam at the head of the lake, he said.

And, while there is a largemouth bass population in the lake, the dominate species is spotted bass, he added,.

“I sometimes catch a rare largemouth. Even this fall, I don’t think I’ve seen but one largemouth in the last four trips to Keowee. Oddly enough, it was out deep. It was in about 50 feet of water when I caught it.”

The best way to find the feeding spotted bass, he said, is to just get into an area, throw a topwater bait, and see what is going on there.

“If you can find the bait the fish will be right there with them this time of year,” he said. “You can be catching fish on a drop-shot rig and all of a sudden there will be fish schooling out beside you. Most of the schooling is out over the deep water. Most of the fish, when they are up on the surface chasing bait this time of year, are over 30, 40 maybe 50 feet of water.”

The key is to remember the fish are feeding on threadfin shad and this time of year the shad are small, so bait selection should be for smaller lures, Fowler noted.

“When you are throwing a topwater lure it needs to be real small stuff. This time of year when they are feeding on the small baitfish they are usually pretty finicky. If you get into schooling fish and throw a big Zara Spook you are probably not going to get bit,” he said. “Throw really small stuff, like a very small Sammie. I catch a lot of fish on a little Spook and a Fluke Junior. You can use a Scrounger head when fishing down or a Blade Runner, just running it under the surface.”

While the bass school on Keowee all winter long, when the temperatures drop into the low 50s the schooling slows and becomes more sporadic. Thanksgiving usually is the turning point when the spotted bass in Lake Keowee go into their winter pattern and seek refuge in deeper water in the creek channels and depressions, Fowler said.

“Once the water temperature starts dropping into the low 50s the baitfish go deeper and the bass are more likely to run them down to the bottom rather than run them up so there is only occasional schooling on top,” he said.

“When they are deep, you kind of figure that the colder it gets the closer to the bottom the fish will be. That is when the drop-shot, Shakey Head, doodling a little finesse worm and jigging a spoon come into play.”

But, even when the temperature dips down below 40 degrees the fish don’t ever completely shut down, Fowler said.

Fowler operates the Fowler Fishing Guide Service on Lakes Hartwell and Keowee. You can check out his guide service at: www.fowlerfishing.com. To book a fishing trip, call him at (864) 934-5813 or email: [email protected]