Clemson University

College Ambassador: Luke Fesler

Species
 
At Clemson, there is a wide variety of species you can chase, whether on a fly rod or on conventional tackle. Striped bass, hybrid bass, Largemouth bass, and spotted bass are all easily accessible from Clemson’s campus. There is also ample opportunity to fish for both stocked and wild brown trout, rainbow trout, and brook trout. Anglers can also target the native Bartram’s bass in certain river drainages and even smallmouth bass at certain locations.

Accessibility 

Clemson has great accessibility to many different kinds of water for students to fish. Clemson’s campus is situated on Lake Hartwell. Lake Hartwell is a great bass lake. It has hosted the BassMaster Classic and boasts great bass fishing for largemouth, spots, stripers, and even hybrids. Hartwell can be fished by walking from campus and fishing from the dykes or by putting your boat in at a local boat ramp. There is also great trout fishing up in the mountains. Clemson is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and anglers can choose to drive anywhere from 45 minutes to three hours or more and will find miles of stocked and wild trout water, whether it be in Georgia, South Carolina, or North Carolina. Many of my favorite pieces of trout water are only an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes from campus. Also, if you work hard enough and find the right people, you can go blue-lining for native southern Appalachian brook trout in small, high-elevation streams, which can be an absolute treat.

Community 

The fishing and outdoors communities are very strong at Clemson. There’s a fly fishing club, a TU 5 Rivers chapter, which offers gear, club trips, fly tying nights, and much more for anglers to get involved and talk fishing. There is also a bass fishing team that students can join if they are interested in competitive angling. It is not hard to find a fishing buddy or somebody to talk fishing with at Clemson.

Hangouts

There are some great fly shops near Clemson. The Chattooga River Fly Shop in Mountain Rest, South Carolina is a great local fly shop with some really cool people running it. It is a great spot to go for information, flies, or just tips on the numerous different rivers in South Carolina and parts of North Carolina. Headwaters Outfitters in Rosman, North Carolina and Davidson River Outfitters in Brevard, North Carolina are also great places to seek information, flies, or even other anglers. Another great way to meet other anglers is out on the water. If the weather is nice and you are fishing some of the more well-known spots around the area, you can count on meeting some cool people out on the water.