Wedding & Event Venue Near Saluda, SC.

Saluda County voters will be asked about a bond referendum for the school district, and a new form of county government.

SALUDA COUNTY, S.C. — With less than a week until the start of early voting, Saluda County Council Chairman, James Moore is hopeful people in his community come out to vote.

In this election, the local school district is asking residents for a $49,000,000 bond referendum which would collect taxes to help fund the construction of a new Saluda Elementary School, and improvements to Hollywood Elementary, as well as Saluda Middle and High School.

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Saluda County is also voting to change its form of government, so Moore wants to ensure that everyone understands what they are voting for.

"Right now, we have a Council/County Director form of government," Moore explained. "What that means is that the county director does the day-to-day things but she has to go through the county council for a lot of things... The other form of government is a Council/ Administrator Form. The Administrator would have a little more lead way, could make decisions, could hire and fire people... but anything major they are going to come to the County Council."

There are currently 20,000 people living in Saluda County, but Moore says only a handful of them are active when it comes to county government.

"Unless there's something on the agenda that has got people talking there's not a lot of participation. For the most part, there may only be 5 or 6 people out there," Moore stated.

With a lack of participation, he worries that people will not know what is on the ballot.

Aaron Bryant, a Saluda voter says he has lived in the area for 20 years and votes whenever it is time. This November, Bryant says he is not exactly sure what to expect.

"I'm not sure what's on there. I think there might be something about us getting a new school," he said.

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Bryant plans to research candidates before he goes to cast his vote.

Kelsey Robinson, another Saluda voter only had one thing to say about the upcoming election.

"I hope you all just get out and vote, please," Robinson said.

South Carolina signee Arden Conyers and Missouri signee Jordan Butler are among the selections to this year’s Carolinas Classic all-star basketball game.

The game, which features some of the top seniors in North and South Carolina, will be played in Wilmington, North Carolina on March 25. The girls game is set for 3 p.m., with the boys to follow.

Conyers, who plays at Westwood, and Butler, who is at Christ Church, are the top two-ranked prospects from South Carolina in the boys game. Butler is ranked No. 2 and Conyers No. 3 by the 247Sports Composite.

The game is for players from teams that compete in the S.C. High School League, which excludes Legacy Early College’s Coen Carr, the state’s top prospect.

Conyers is averaging about 20 points a game and went over 1,000 career points this season. He is one of nine Midlands players picked to play in the game. Gray Collegiate has two selections: Georgia Southern signee Avantae Parker and Montraivis White. Keenan’s Chrisean Oree and Irmo’s Brandon Crawford also are on the boys team.

The girls team includes Westwood’s Jessica Woods, A.C. Flora’s Trinity Delaney, Saluda’s Jessica Means and Lexington’s Lindsay Garner.

Keenan’s MiLaysia Fulwiley — a Gamecocks signee — would have been selected but will be in Houston that weekend for the McDonald’s All-American game.

Ridge View’s Joshua Staley is an assistant coach for the boys, and Saluda’s Jessica Wilder is an assistant coach for the girls.

Montraivis White, Gray Collegiate; Chrisean Oree, Keenan; Sean Lindsay, Dorman; Arden Conyers, Westwood; Justin Britt, Goose Creek; Malachi Stevens, Oceanside Collegiate; Horace Jacques, Orangeburg-Wilkinson; Brandon Crawford, Irmo; Jordan Butler, Christ Church; Avantae Parker, Gray Collegiate

Head coach: Jerome Stewart, Timberland

Assistant coach: Joshua Staley, Ridge View

Jessica Means, Saluda; Jessica Woods, Westwood; Alaina Nettles, Summerville; Amiyah Ferguson, Timberland; Dasia Ferguson, Dorman; Yasmine Cook, Stratford; Trinity Delaney, AC Flora; Kamari Thompson, Southside; P’eris Smith, North Augusta; Lindsay Garner, Lexington

Head coach: Perry Stokes, East Clarendon

Assistant coach: Jeanette Wilder, Saluda

Jacob Adair, Enka; Addison Archer, Chase; James Scott, EE Smith; Elijah Strong, Myers Park; Trey Horton, Hough; Collin Kuhl, Holly Springs; DyQuavion Short, Farmville Central; Randall Pettus, Bessemer City; Malachi McLean, Lee County; Jack Voth, Hoggard

Head coach: Ike Walker, Jack Britt

Assistant coach: Billy Martin, RJ Reynolds

Daneesha Briggs, Beddingfield; Reychel Douglas, Millbrook; Kirsten Lewis-Williams, Lake Norman; Nevaeh Farmer, North Mecklenburg; Darrionna Howard, Clayton; Ally Hollifield, Shelby; Cassidy Geddes, Newton-Conover; Ka’Nyah O’Neal, Southside; Evangelia Paulk, Asheville; Caroline Thiel, Rocky Mount

Head coach: Marlon Lee, Clayton

Assistant coach: Brandon Holloway, Pisgah

This story was originally published February 15, 2023, 3:47 PM.

Davy Hite is one of the nation’s most decorated and celebrated pro bass fishermen. A native of Saluda, S.C., who now lives in Ninety Six, S.C., he is one of two bass pros who have won bass fishing’s triple crown – the Bassmaster Classic, FLW Tour Championship and BASS Angler of the Year award.

So if he worries about the average bass fisherman getting a late start on the year, there’s probably a good reason. He thinks it’s the early fisherman who gets the lunker bass – that keeping your boat in the garage until March is a huge mistake.

“I think February and March are the best months to catch your PB – personal best. They are great times to catch a big fish,” said Hite, who gave a handful of seminars at the recent Raleigh Bass and Saltwater Expo on the N.C. State Fairgrounds. “Later in the spring, when the water is warmer, the fishing will be better for numbers, but this is the perfect time of year to target those big, prespawn females.”

Hite said that the weather can be troublesome. There are as many more 30- and 40-degree days than 50-degree days – but a serious bass fisherman knows that it’s just in the cards for bass to start getting into more of a feeding mood. Bass often key on the water temperature, but not nearly as much as they key on the lengthening amount of daylight in every 24-hour period. They understand spring is on the way, and know what that means: time to replenish the species.

“Don’t plan long-term; just look out a day or two and when you can, just go,” said Hite, who starts getting serious when the surface water temperature creeps into the high 40s. Bass metabolism is still slow, but it’s starting to warm to the tests of packing on weight in a period of just a few weeks in order to be at peak health when they spawn.

“Wherever you are fishing, there can be a lot going on (in February). You will have some fish that will almost immediately be prespawn fish, who aren’t far from spawning. Those fish will be in around 5 feet of water. And then, you’ll have fish that are still deep, relating to baitfish in 20 to 40 feet of water.

“Even if the weather is cold, there will be some bass that really want to get into shallow water. The approach of spring and the spawn will make them move,” he said. “I’ve fished with snow on the ground and caught them in 5 or 6 feet of water. You can have some groups of fish on shallow flats in creeks or in flat pockets, and they can be on 45-degree banks where you’re sitting in 20 feet of water throwing to the bank.”

Hite said he starts each February fishing day trying to figure out which stage the fish are in the lake where he launches his boat. He has crankbaits and jigs tied on all the rods on his casting deck: crankbaits when he is looking for fish, and jigs when he finds them.

“When I get on a body of water I haven’t fished in a few days – or a few weeks, or maybe not for a while – I’m going to start with a crankbait, because I can search with it. I start the day out looking, putting my trolling motor down, covering water,” he said. “In February and March, I like to fish crankbaits that have a tight wobble; that’s an action that really works in relatively cold water. I am going to fish either a Shad Rap or a Rapala OG Slim. Both of them have a tight wobble and they come in different sizes; the biggest baits typically dive deeper, and the smaller baits, you can’t throw them as far.”

Hite said bass in most lakes have a favorite meal in late winter: crawfish. The little crustaceans are full of protein, and bass want a high-protein diet when they’re preparing for the spawn. That’s why he uses baits that are colored like crawfish: reds, oranges and browns. Those colors don’t change when he finds fish and picks up a rod with a Buckeye mop jig tied on; he’ll use that bait to cover an area more thoroughly if he thinks it’s full of bass.

“I made my living as a bass pro for 24 years with a jig tied on. It’s super good to catch big fish, but I’m going to start every day with a crankbait,” he said. “I usually start fishing shallow water with deep water close by, and that’s relative, depending on the lake you’re fishing. I’m looking at staging areas where prespawn fish hang out. I think they use them to get back and forth to deep water like a car uses a highway.

“When I’m searching with a crankbait, I’m trying to find what kind of cover bass are relating to, and sometimes, water conditions can dictate that,” he said. “They can be on wood, brush, stickups, but this time of year, rocks are usually good. It can be any type of rock; river stone, pebble rock, chunk rod, slate rock or riprap. Where the bass are is relative to what kind of rock the crawfish are hiding in. When you get that figured out, if you catch a couple of fish, that’s when you go to a jig. I can fish it more slowly, and I have confidence I can throw a mop jig and have a good chance of catching a big, female bass.”

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SCDNR News

The S.C. Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) has announced dates for two public meetings to provide citizens with an overview of a new water planning framework that will guide surface water management in the Saluda River basin over the next 50 years.

The meetings will also serve as venues for engaging volunteers interested in serving on a council that will develop and implement the plan for the Saluda River basin. Meetings are scheduled in Columbia at Saluda Shoals Park on Tuesday, Nov. 1 and in Greenville at Roper Mountain Science Center on Thursday, Nov. 3. Both meetings will be held from 6-8 p.m.

In March 2018, SCDNR established the State Water Planning Process Advisory Committee to help draft a “framework” document that will guide the development of individual river basin plans for each of the state’s eight major river basins. The Planning Process Advisory Committee includes representatives from a wide range of organizations, including the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, Clemson University’s S.C. Water Resources Center, municipal and rural water systems, conservation groups, power companies and agricultural interests. In 2019, the group completed a report, the “South Carolina State Water Planning Framework,” which describes the river basin planning process and the intended contents of a river basin plan.

“The Planning Framework represents a foundation for the development of regional and state water plans, which are essential for our continued economic growth and protection of the resources and environment that we all share,” said Ken Rentiers, deputy director for SCDNR’s Land, Water and Conservation Division.

Each river basin plan will be created and overseen by a river basin council, a working group of stakeholders with water interests in the basin. River basin councils in the Edisto, Broad, and Pee Dee River basins have already been established and planning activities in those basins are ongoing. The Saluda River basin has been selected as the next basin to implement the new planning framework. Planning efforts and councils in the other four basins will follow as funding becomes available.

At its most fundamental level, a river basin plan will address four basic questions:

As stated in the Planning Framework, “Answering the fourth question is the heart of the water-planning process and greatly benefits from cooperation and consensus among all stakeholders throughout the basin. A successful and equitable river basin plan addresses the effects all water users have on one another and on the resource.”

Public involvement is critical to the goal of ensuring that future generations of South Carolinians have secure, well-managed supplies of our most critical natural resource—water. You can download a copy of the “South Carolina State Water Planning Framework” and learn more about the Planning Process Advisory Committee and the research underpinning this initiative.

Meeting locations and times:

Columbia—Nov. 1, 2022, 6-8 p.m.

Saluda Shoals Park – River Center

5605 Bush River Road

Columbia, SC 29212

Directions via Google Maps

Greenville—Nov. 3, 2022, 6-8 p.m.

Roper Mountain Science Center

Environmental Science & Sustainability Building, Room 201

Greenville, SC 29615

SCDNR News

Two public meetings will be held next week by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) to provide citizens with an overview of a new water planning framework that will guide surface water management in the Saluda River basin over the next 50 years.

The meetings will also serve as venues for engaging volunteers interested in serving on a council that will develop and implement the plan for the Saluda River basin. Meetings are scheduled in Columbia at Saluda Shoals Park on Tuesday, Nov. 1 and in Greenville at Roper Mountain Science Center on Thursday, Nov. 3. Both meetings will be held from 6-8 p.m.

In March 2018, SCDNR established the State Water Planning Process Advisory Committee to help draft a “framework” document that will guide the development of individual river basin plans for each of the state’s eight major river basins. The Planning Process Advisory Committee includes representatives from a wide range of organizations, including the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, Clemson University’s S.C. Water Resources Center, municipal and rural water systems, conservation groups, power companies and agricultural interests. In 2019, the group completed a report, the “South Carolina State Water Planning Framework,” which describes the river basin planning process and the intended contents of a river basin plan.

“The Planning Framework represents a foundation for the development of regional and state water plans, which are essential for our continued economic growth and protection of the resources and environment that we all share,” said Ken Rentiers, deputy director for SCDNR’s Land, Water and Conservation Division.

Each river basin plan will be created and overseen by a river basin council, a working group of stakeholders with water interests in the basin. River basin councils in the Edisto, Broad, and Pee Dee River basins have already been established and planning activities in those basins are ongoing. The Saluda River basin has been selected as the next basin to implement the new planning framework. Planning efforts and councils in the other four basins will follow as funding becomes available.

At its most fundamental level, a river basin plan will address four basic questions:

As stated in the Planning Framework, “Answering the fourth question is the heart of the water-planning process and greatly benefits from cooperation and consensus among all stakeholders throughout the basin. A successful and equitable river basin plan addresses the effects all water users have on one another and on the resource.”

Public involvement is critical to the goal of ensuring that future generations of South Carolinians have secure, well-managed supplies of our most critical natural resource—water. You can download a copy of the “South Carolina State Water Planning Framework” and learn more about the Planning Process Advisory Committee and the research underpinning this initiative at: https://hydrology.dnr.sc.gov/state-and-river-basin-planning.html.

Meeting locations and times:

Columbia—Nov. 1, 2022, 6-8 p.m.Saluda Shoals Park – River Center5605 Bush River RoadColumbia, SC 29212[Directions via Google Maps]

Greenville—Nov. 3, 2022, 6-8 p.m.Roper Mountain Science CenterEnvironmental Science & Sustainability Building, Room 201402 Roper Mountain RoadGreenville, SC 29615[Directions via Google Maps]