—
State of the Waters · Palmetto State

South Carolina Water Levels & the Daily Bite

Live pool levels for South Carolina's great lakes — Santee Cooper (Marion & Moultrie), Lake Murray, and the Savannah & Catawba chains. Striped-bass and world-record blue catfish water. Every tube shows the full pool, the current level, the lake's two signature fish (hover for the species, click for 2026 tournaments), and a live bite gauge at left. Scroll down for the Lower Saluda trout tailwater, the catfish rivers, and the Edisto float.

Fetching live readings…
Pick how you're using the water today — jump to live conditions:
🎣 Fishing another state?  Step 1: pick it Step 2: how you use the water
Flood / above normal At normal pool Below normal Current level Bite gauge: slow → hot (solunar)

Hover a fish for its species · click a fish to search that lake's 2026 tournaments

Each cylinder is scaled to its own operating band: the gold line is normal full pool, the red line is the flood / above-normal line, and the blue water is the live reading. Savannah-basin lakes report ft MSL; Duke Energy lakes (Keowee, Jocassee, Wylie, Wateree) use a local 100-ft = full-pool datum, so a reading near 100 is full. The colored bar at left is a solunar bite forecast for right now (red = slow, green = hot).

Trout Tailwaters — Cold Water Below the Dams

South Carolina's trout fishery lives below a dam: the Lower Saluda, where cold water pulled from deep in Lake Murray holds rainbows and browns year-round through Columbia. Release-driven — the cylinder shows live flow (cfs): low = wadeable, high = fast water. Hover a trout for the species; tap it for a guide.

Low generation (under ~700 cfs) wades best on the Lower Saluda; check Lake Murray releases before stepping in.

River Catfish — Warm-Water Rivers

The Santee and Cooper below the Santee Cooper lakes are world-record blue catfish water, with flatheads on the Wateree, Congaree & Pee Dee. Live river stage (ft) from NOAA with the action and flood stages marked — rising, stained water turns the cats on. Hover a cat for the species; tap it for a guide.

Float Rivers — Paddle & Wade

The Edisto — the longest free-flowing blackwater river in the world — plus the Congaree through the national park and the shoals of the Broad. Live gage height (ft); each tube marks FLOAT, EXPERT and FLOOD. Hover a fish; tap it for an outfitter.

The Edisto is an easy paddle at low gage; the Congaree spreads into the bottomland hardwoods as it climbs.

Advertisement