Bream tournaments are not a mainstream event as fishing tournaments go. But we typically have a "family and friends" bream tournament every year, which jump-starts our family's bream fishing season into high gear. We have this tournament on the full moon in May.

There's a reason we usually try to have the event at that specific time. Bream tend to bed on the full moons throughout the summer, and May is the prime month for great bream fishing throughout the state of South Carolina.

In reality, just about anywhere that holds water for 12 months would probably be a great place to host such an event. The bream fishing is just awesome throughout the Palmetto State, and right now is prime time.

We're going to take a look at some of the best bream fishing hotspots in the state. By best, I'm referring to size, numbers or a combination of both.

We'll first look at a few of the larger lakes in the state.

Both lakes Marion and Moultrie provide sensational fishing for huge bream. With water levels down because of the drought, the bream fishermen did suffer for a while. But now water levels have replenished and bream are again working the shallow cover.

In Lake Moultrie, most of the bream fishing is confined to the shallow water around the huge open-water lake. The mid-lake, wide-open body of water will hold bream during the hot summer months. But during the spring, you'll need to fish the shallow-water areas for consistent action. The good news is there is a super-abundance of these areas.

Most fishermen will use small johnboats to get back into these shallow, cypress tree-studded flats. However, a few knowledgeable bream fishermen will get in there, abandon the boats and wade-fish the areas. This does offer advantage in terms of getting your bait or lure back into tight cover and under the cypress trees. One type of hotspot is to find old pond sites that were flooded. These areas will usually only be slightly deeper than the surrounding water, but are ideal places for bream to gang up. Whether the fish are bedding or not, you can do really well in these places.

Lake Marion, too, is a prime lake for spring. The major creeks, such as Wyboo, Potato, Eutaw and others, will produce great fishing. But the entire upper end of the lake from Jacks Creek up through Packs Flats will produce excellent bream action.

In addition to the numbers and average size of the bream in this lake, anglers have the chance to encounter an abundance of two of the most sought-after species of bream: bluegills and shellcrackers. While several different species are often found in any given lake when talking about "bream," these two distinct species apparently have ideal conditions in this part of Lake Marion.