It may be a rough ride this year boys…we already are below 6… 5.4 to be exact. This time last year we were above 6 and we all remember how close we came last year. Send a prayer to the fish Gods yall. Would hate to see a kill when Murray is just starting to produce alot of big fish again.
“All fisherman lie. And if they say otherwise, then they’re lying”
“Sea~N~Stripes”
21’ Hewes Craft Custom
115 Evinrude
Was talking to Liz about this on Monday while we were on the lake …
Based on the actions of the fish over the last six months, the current trends with regard to weather and water temps, and the high number of “floaters” we’ve already seen so far it seems like a fish kill is all but inevitable …
I’m not a biologist, but I do remember the last kill on Murray and the conditions are scary similar … 
… it’s my Wife’s fault we HAVE to fish !!!
2005 Sea Pro 2100cc / Yamaha 150hp 4-Stroke
Rick, I can’t imagine any floaters you may see now have anything to do with low DO. It may be lower than this time last year, but still not anywhere near any levels that would stress them out, even at the “bottom” reading of 5.5.
Does make you wonder what that level will be in mid August though…especially with these hot temps that may drive them deep early.
'07 198 DLX Carolina Skiff
FS90 Suzuki
I think Striper Skiff is “Dead On”!!
Rick K
2310 Polar Bay Boat
Yamaha 250 4 Stroke
I wonder if the current floaters could be fish that have been caught and released back into the very warm surface water. The water seems to have warmed up a lot in the past two weeks.
quote:
Originally posted by striperskiffRick, I can’t imagine any floaters you may see now have anything to do with low DO. It may be lower than this time last year, but still not anywhere near any levels that would stress them out, even at the “bottom” reading of 5.5.
Does make you wonder what that level will be in mid August though…especially with these hot temps that may drive them deep early.
'07 198 DLX Carolina Skiff
FS90 Suzuki
Typing on handheld devices does not lend itself to my, more customarily lengthy, style of response writing … 
I was not saying that the floaters were due to the DO levels … We were more concerned with the spike in water temps COUPLED with the DO levels … on Sunday the water temps where we were fishing where 80 - 81 … on Monday the water temps were 85-88 … in 24 hours …
When I started seeing floaters (shad at first then stripers) I checked the DO & Temp levels at the towers on my app and then pulled the app back to 2010 and the correlations were startling …
I believe the current floaters have more to do with the water temps than anything else … except the shad, those were really big shad … like, the kind Chip dreams about in the winter time … 
That all being said, IF we get through this year without a kill it will be phenomenal to say the least …
quote:
Originally posted by Lawcrusher .......I believe the current floaters have more to do with the water temps than anything else ... except the shad, those were really big shad ... like the kind Chip dreams about in the winter time ... :smiley:.....
I fished last Saturday evening/night for a while and saw some of the biggest shad that I’ve ever seen in Murray, floating.
-The size of a fish is directly proportional to the time between when it’s lost and the story is told. - Me
-What’s the best eating fish, you ask? I’ve found that for a lot people, its the ones that they happen to be able to catch, clean, and cook. - My Dad
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-Team Gonna Fish
Correct me if I am wrong, but the big fish kills in the past were mainly because SCE&G pulling water at the thermocline. One of the tower intakes is at a depth that sucks the last layer of oxygenated water and there is nowhere for the fish to go. I heard part of the last licensing agreement was that they will no longer run that tower during the critical period in the summer. It should also be noted that the midlands striper club fights for these kind of changes on the lake. They are not just a group of people that fish together, they actually lobby for our fishery.
Wellcraft V-20 sportfish with a 200 Evinrude
I looked back at 2011 and 2012 and the DO readings were similar to what we are seeing this year. The DNR has a theory that if we get a lot of spring time rain it washes a large amount of debris into the lake that settles down deep. That debris decomposes during the summer and uses up some of the DO that is “stored” in the layer of cool water trapped at the bottom of the lake. The more debris the faster the DO gets used up. If the surface temps stay very hot all summer and the DO gets used up we will have a big problem. Two years ago the DO went all the way down to 0 before the turnover but fortunately the surface temps stayed in the low 80s and the stripers were able to come back up early enough to avoid a fish kill. Fingers crossed!
quote:
Originally posted by steelytomCorrect me if I am wrong, but the big fish kills in the past were mainly because SCE&G pulling water at the thermocline. One of the tower intakes is at a depth that sucks the last layer of oxygenated water and there is nowhere for the fish to go. I heard part of the last licensing agreement was that they will no longer run that tower during the critical period in the summer. It should also be noted that the midlands striper club fights for these kind of changes on the lake. They are not just a group of people that fish together, they actually lobby for our fishery.
Wellcraft V-20 sportfish with a 200 Evinrude
you are right on the money! with the new flow regimes the fish wont be getting squeezed as bad. we will probably have some awefully skinny fish by September but they should survive.
Shawn is dead on…the DO is falling fast this year and they have literally only ran water prob 4 days for the last month or longer. In order for plants to decompose and any other plant/animal matter it takes oxygen to do so sucking it straight out of where are beloved stripers are spending their summer vacation. …
“All fisherman lie. And if they say otherwise, then they’re lying”
“Sea~N~Stripes”
21’ Hewes Craft Custom
115 Evinrude
Lake Murray sorely needs an oxygenation system like they have at Clarks hill .Fish in summer do like the added oxygen that the system provides. Our beautiful lake always seems to play Russian roulette in the summer months .Something needs to be done .Any politicians listening???
TOM GITTO
Team Shad Up and Fish member
20ft Sea Hunt cc Red T Top
Short comment ,but sweet don’t y’all think.
TOM GITTO
Team Shad Up and Fish member
20ft Sea Hunt cc Red T Top
Tom, I think an oxygen system would be great, but IMO, I would think it may be a hard sell at this point, since we haven’t had a bad kill off since SCE&G started regulating the water flow during the mid summer months. A quick search online looks like it cost about $12M, just to get up and running, not counting the purchase of tons of liquid O2 per year.
I was just looking at the Lake Murray data and it looks pretty bad if you just look at the surface temp as it is at record high temps lately, based on statistics from the last 21 years.
But, then again, the “Bottom” temp has been staying within a few tenths of a degree of the all time low reading for this time of year, based on the statistics of the last 18 years. I would guess because of how little water has been drawn from the lake this summer?
Today, the bottom DO reading, at 5.1, is significantly lower than last year and below the 17 year median for this date of 5.6, but it’s still above the 25 percentile reading of 4.7, which doesn’t sound that bad when you consider that most of that 17 years the water flow wasn’t controlled as it is today.
Hate to get too hung up on something we can’t control, but it is interesting to follow the data and look for patterns. Besides, it was too hot to go out to lunch today and I needed something to do.
'07 198 DLX Carolina Skiff
FS90 Suzuki
The main reason we will not get oxygenation is just cost. With SCANA being a public traded company they cannot spend money on something like that. If this was a core of engineers lake then they would have tax dollars. We know there aren’t many limits on what that co go for. Just my opinion.
Joby