Lake Marion, South Carolina
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On The Fly Freshwater
April 2026
Article and photos by Jimmy Jacobs
Like many fly casters in the South, I cut my proverbial teeth in the sport tossing popping bugs in ponds for “bream.” Whether those were bluegills, shellcrackers or other members of the sunfish family, it proved addictive and led to a lifetime of chasing fish with the long rod.
Still, the idea of traveling hundreds of miles just to catch those fish seems a bit excessive. After all, they are found throughout our region. So, what was it that caused the On The Fly South crew to head into South Carolina to the Santee-Cooper area for targeting such panfish?
That answer lies in the twin facts that Lakes Marion and Moultrie are noted for great fishing for redear sunfish, better known as shellcrackers, during the full moon period in April.
The other enticement is the size of those fish. Palmetto State fisheries managers noted that shellies of 3 pounds are caught each year, with an occasional 4-pounder showing up. The Diversion Canal between those two reservoirs also gave up the state record, which also held the world record for a period. That lunker tipped the scales at 5 pounds, 7.5 ounces!
One reason for those mega-sized fish is that shellcrackers can live up to 10 years, compared to the upper limit of 5 years for bluegills. It doesn’t hurt that these lakes also offer great habitat and a solid forage base.
Against that backdrop of information, we headed to Relaxed Retreat at Carolina King on the shores of 110,00-acre Lake Marion. That full-service resort and marina under new management provided a headquarters that is a cut above a simple “fish camp.”
David Ragin and Polly Dean headed out from Relaxed Retreat at Carolina King.
We spent our first day fishing with local angler David Ragin. He has targeted fish on the reservoir since growing up throwing casts on Lake Marion in the 1970s. At one point, he even spent half a decade guiding on the impoundment. In other words, David Ragin knows the lake well. On our second day, we joined Capt. Cefus McRae of Hartwell, the host of the Nuts & Bolts of Fishing cable television series, to explore the lake on our own.
It seemed as though we were set up to experience the shellcracker action at the perfect time and conditions. But, as the old adage goes, “the devil is in the details.” And we did soon encounter Beelzebub!
Our experiences and expectation for finding and fishing the shellcracker beds were based on finding those fish in open water on small ponds or in the backs of coves on reservoirs. We quickly discovered that is a formula that does not work on Lake Marion. The shoreline of this impoundment much more resembles a cypress swamp as shallows along the bank are filled with cypress trees, fronted by and mixed with fields of dollar pads.
Capt. Cefus McRae fly casting in the tight conditions.
Local anglers look for the beds in 3 to 4 feet of water within that cover. They also advise getting off the beaten path and deep into that habitat. Basically, you need a small boat for getting into most of those spots. That is especially true in the mid- to upper end of the lake.
When local anglers reach those locations, they say that pulling two dozen ‘crackers off a single bedding area is possible, while boating up to a dozen is common. Those anglers are using jigging poles to drop bobbers and red worm or cricket baits into likely spots.
Some of the better know areas on the lake for this kind of fishing are found in the Jacks Creek arm, around Line Island or in Cane Branch.
Once a fly caster finds that kind of situation, however, he is then faced with the problem of trying to effectively use a fly rod. Quite often making back casts is difficult to impossible and even roll casting can be hard.
To make the best of the situation, employing a short 6- to 7-foot, 2- or 3-weight rod is one option. Or, using a longer 9-footer, you can use a popping bug with a dropper fly tied off it to emulate the jigging pole crowd. It may not be classic fly-rod action, but sometimes you just have to adjust to the cards you are dealt.
Bluegills offer a more open water option on Lake Marion.
If you are having trouble locating the shellcrackers, switching off to casting for bluegill can be your plan B. Casting popping bugs along the outer edge of the cypresses, dollar pad fields or any shoreline lined with stands of reeds offer spots for that. One especially good area for the ‘gills is along he rocky edges of an old dam that stretches almost completely across the Jacks Creek arm just to the east of Relaxed Retreat compound.
The bottom line is the shellcrackers run big and plentiful on Lake Marion, but they don’t present easy fly-fishing targets. You have to work to get to them and then fool them with your flies.
