Saluda trout fishery created by cold waters from Lake Murray
The lower Saluda River is unusual in South Carolina because it’s cold enough for trout, but nowhere near the fish’s mountain home.
Known as a “tail-water’’ river, the Saluda is one of only two places outside of the state’s mountains where rainbow and brown trout are stocked by wildlife agencies. The other area is a section of the Savannah River, which borders Georgia.
In both cases, the rivers are fed by upstream lakes that discharge near-frigid water through their dams. The Saluda receives water from Lake Murray near Lexington, while the Savannah gets its cold water from Lake Hartwell near Anderson.
Trout thrive in oxygen-rich water with temperatures below 70 degrees.
While only two tail-water trout fisheries exist in South Carolina, they are relatively common across the country. Some others in the Southeast include a stretch of the Chattahoochee River in Georgia and the White River in Arkansas.
State natural resources agencies stock tail water rivers with trout to give anglers in areas without natural populations a different fishing experience. Fishermen say trout in chilly tail water rivers can get bigger than those that swim wild in mountain creeks.
Last week, Columbia angler Jake Howard landed a 20-inch rainbow beneath a tree branch in the Saluda River near West Columbia.
“You’d be doing back flips’’ to catch a fish that size in a North Carolina mountain creek, said Shawn Kenney, who was with Howard when he landed the trout. “That’s a big fish. We are spoiled here. In Montana, that’s a big fish.’’
Trout stocked in many cold-water, tail-water fisheries are browns and rainbows. In South Carolina, the brook trout, a native to the Palmetto State’s mountains, isn’t typically stocked because it is more sensitive to any conditions it isn’t used to.
This story was originally published September 12, 2015 at 10:36 AM with the headline "Saluda trout fishery created by cold waters from Lake Murray."