Well, that was a bust

I've been having a hard time finding any decent fishing since I moved to the SC Upstate. When I lived in the SC Lowcountry I was spoiled with having thousands of bass filled lagoons to choose from where I could easily bank fish. In the Upstate where I live I have not found any accessible ponds and the lakes have very few bank fishing spots. There are a few lakes where I can rent kayaks, but the fishing there has been lousy. Due to the COVID crisis I'm not in a position to buy a kayak, and even if I did I'd have to come up with a way to carry it on my Genesis Coupe.

Even though the lakes near me are close as the crow flies, with traffic it still takes 30-60 minutes to get there. So with that in mind I scanned Google maps looking for accessible bodies of water off the main highways. I found some town reservoirs down in Clinton, SC that were only 40 minutes away. Two had good bank access and the third was in a wildlife preserve that boasted trails around the water.

So I made the drive down and decided to hit the two bodies of water off of the same road. But when I got within a mile of the first one there was a locked gate across the road and signs saying it was closed and there was no trespassing. I'm not one to break the law or jeopardize my fishing license so I turned around and headed to the third reservoir.

This one was down a rut filled, dirt and gravel road and with my low car clearance it took a while to get down there. Next to a small out building there was a small pond, then up a steep hill was the main reservoir. I bypassed the pond and headed for the main body of water. When I got to the top of the steep hill my heart fell. There was heavy, aquatic algae like weeds all around the basin. But I made my way down the hill anyway and decided to give it a try.

My baitcaster had a spinnerbait already tied on, so I decided to toss it out there and see what kind of hunk I was dealing with. I couldn't even come close to clearing the aquatic vegetation, and when the spinnerbait hit it pancaked on top. It made an audible thud sound. That's not good. Thinking maybe I hit something just below the surface that I could not see I started fan casting. Same result. I tied on a hollow frog and cast out. It bounced.

As far as the eye could see this vegetation ringed the basin. There was a trail near me but it led away from the water so I decided to push through the dense woods. I found a few areas that allowed me to cast, but it was the same result everywhere. Dejected, I made my way back to the small outflow pond and cast around for about 20 minutes. I didn't even see a panfish or a baitfish.

But that wasn't the end of my adventure. I packed up the car and started off home. But first I had to get up a soft gravel hill. With a rear wheel drive sports coupe. With wide, soft summer tires. Oh joy. The car is an 8 speed automatic, but at one point I smelled clutch as I tried to rock the car out of the gravel trap. While I can see vehicles out th back of the car on the road, the way the car sits low and the shape of the back window it's hard to see the road behind me. So I'm trying to manuever the car in a narrow area to find the hard pan and not back down the bank in the woods.

What I forgot to do is turn off the traction control because once one wheel spins it locks down the car. I don't know how many times I've pulled out quickly and one wheel slips on the sand on the road and it locks down one wheel car trying to sync the rotation as I pray I don't get t-boned. Anyway, I found the hard pan and managed to get enough momentum to get through the gravel and up the hill. It took any a few minutes but it felt like 30 minutes.

I really enjoy fishing - specifically bass fishing - but I'm ready to give up fishing in this area. I think I'll head to the Lowcountry for a few days next week to get my fix. But as for fishing up here I think enough is enough. I guess I'll focus on woodworking for a while for my relaxation.