These fish generally bed in different areas; however, they are certainly sometimes found in proximity to one another. The key, according to many anglers, is that if you want to focus on the bluegills, then stick with crickets as your primary bait. If you want to hunt the huge shellcrackers, then use redworms.

The bream will bed among the cypress trees on sandy or gravel bottoms as well as in the backs of coves and creeks and even in small bays where there is ample shallow water and sandy bottom. Typically, they avoid a mucky bottom.

Standard gear includes everything from long cane poles to small, sleek fiberglass or graphite poles. I like the graphite because of their light weight and ease of maneuverability within the tight confines of numerous cypress trees. I like to get tight to the cover and work well back into the trees, if there's even just a foot or two of water. Sometimes the shellcrackers will bed in extremely shallow water.

By seeking out these places, you can work in and around the trees and pull the bream out of areas other anglers typically pass by. While plenty of fish can be caught around the edges, there are always some untouched hotspots a bit deeper in the cover. Most of the fish will be taken in very shallow water, from a few inches deep, down to 3 to 6 feet deep. Generally, there's little need to fish much deeper than that during this time of the year.

Most Lake Marion anglers go with 8- to 10-pound-test line when bream fishing. While that's a bit larger than most bream fishermen would prefer, there are so many snags, trees, cypress knees and other debris for the fish to wrap around, the big bream sometimes require some muscle to get them into the boat. Eight-pound-test line can be used successfully in some areas, but that's about as light as I would go at this lake.

Farther upstate, around Columbia, Lake Murray is certainly a prime target. Now that there have been a few years since the last drawdown, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) biologists point out the cover that regenerated when the lake level was down has provided ideal sunfish spawning cover. The panfish population has increased significantly because of this cover. Lake Murray is truly a bream bonanza looking for someone to enjoy it.

The entire lake is productive, not just the upper end. While the upper end has great bream cover and diversity, the lower end of the lake has benefited just as much from the regrowth during the drawdown.

Wateree Lake is an outstanding lake for bream fishing. While the average size of the bream is not as huge as the bream caught at lakes Marion and Moultrie, if you are willing to catch and cull, you can limit with some hefty bream in the cooler. Plus, the numbers of fish are simply amazing. You will be hard-pressed to find a better lake in the state to introduce a youngster to the sport of bream fishing. The fish are ample size to put up a great battle on light tackle and are found in awesome abundance.

Lake Wateree is also excellent for the fly rod and popping bug combination early and late in the day from May through September.