Many years ago I used to keep tropical fresh and saltwater fishes. My wife and I are now talking about setting up a 29-gallon freshwater tank and stocking it with species representative of the upstate region of South Carolina. While I see that there are many places that I could buy appropriate fishes, I am intrigued with collecting them myself. In particular, I'm interested in collecting yellowfin shiners, darters, killifish, and the smaller species of sunfish, such as the blackbanded.

Has anyone here collected in the upstate area of South Carolina (e.g., around Anderson, Clemson, Greenville, etc.)? I'm a little foggy on legal issues. From what I can tell, the state of South Carolina only seems to be concerned if I will collect game fish (which I am, of course not interested). Do I need to buy a fishing permit? What other issues do I need to be concerned with?

What about access to areas? Lake Hartwell is a public reservoir. Can I collect here without any issues since it's a public body of water? What about the pond or stream in the state botanical garden in Clemson? How about in a stream meandering through a public park? I would intuitively surmise that streams or bodies of water on private property would require permission from the owner before I collect.

Many years ago I used to keep tropical fresh and saltwater fishes. My wife and I are now talking about setting up a 29-gallon freshwater tank and stocking it with species representative of the upstate region of South Carolina. While I see that there are many places that I could buy appropriate fishes, I am intrigued with collecting them myself. In particular, I'm interested in collecting yellowfin shiners, darters, killifish, and the smaller species of sunfish, such as the blackbanded.

Has anyone here collected in the upstate area of South Carolina (e.g., around Anderson, Clemson, Greenville, etc.)? I'm a little foggy on legal issues. From what I can tell, the state of South Carolina only seems to be concerned if I will collect game fish (which I am, of course not interested). Do I need to buy a fishing permit? What other issues do I need to be concerned with?

What about access to areas? Lake Hartwell is a public reservoir. Can I collect here without any issues since it's a public body of water? What about the pond or stream in the state botanical garden in Clemson? How about in a stream meandering through a public park? I would intuitively surmise that streams or bodies of water on private property would require permission from the owner before I collect.

Greenville very close top haywood mall is where I'm at
well you have to go south or east to get good collecting (or legal for that matter) yellow fins are best collecting in Gerogia where laws are easier to mess with.
lake hartwell has a good amount of interesting fish(and clams) and I have even gotten a few threadfin shad alive out of it for a pond

Hi Temperate. Good to see another SC face around here.

Getting out in the water and catching your own fish is definitely the way to go, but you will need to be careful up in your neck of the woods. There are some basic rules in SC that you need to be familiar with.

1) You will need a SC fishing license to collect and fish out of any stream.

2) WIth this license, you can only take non-gmae, non-threatened species. For a list of what is considered a game fish and for a list of protected speies, check out the SC DNR website. You will want to read this as some of them may surprise you.

3) You CANNOT collect from any stream considered a trout stream. This includes the entire NW corner of the state. There is a map and description of these streams on the DNR website as well.

Now that we got the ground work out of the way, let's concentrate on the collecting. You can collect in any stream at any road crossing as long as you are withing the right of way of the road. The right of way offset changes with the size of the road. I would advise against trying to collect anywhere where there are obvious no trespassing signs even though you may be in the right. It is not worth arguing with a gun-toting land owner. If the stream is large enough for a boat to traverse, you can go further upstream or downstream because the water that is navigable is property of the state, even though it goes through someone's property.

Asking permission from a land owner is always a good idea, but you will find that many of the streams that will look good to collect in will not be near any type of dwelling and there is generally no obvious person to speak to.

I would also suggest getting a book on the species found in SC's waters. This will help you avoid taking fish that you shouldn't and it will give you a better idea of what is where. Fritz Rohde's book on the fishes of SC, NC, MD, VA, and DE is the best book for SC right now and you can get it for a very good price.

We get out in the state as often as we can and have site for nearly every species found here. If you have any additional questions please PM me.

Welcome to the NANFA forum! Looks like Dustin covered most of what you need to know. As he said, we've got spots for just about any species found in SC but you need to be aware of the regulations. Much of the area in the upstate is off limits due to the trout streams. If you want, feel free to PM me anytime.