OK! Heading back south next week to Fish Lake Murray. We have done great figuring out the trolling method with live herring. Now we would like to mess around with cut bait. What do you use for a rig and do you use just the center part of the herring.
Not sure you could pick a worse time of year to try some cut bait fishing. Not that it can’t be done, but normally people double anchor and the fish are deep, so it can take a bit of effort just getting set up.
I rarely try it any more, but a Carolina rig like you would use on down rods is standard. I normally used a short leader though to make it easier to cast and a bit larger hook that I use on live bait.
I haven’t done it near as much as some people, but I seem to do better with a piece with the head on it. I have caught them with both though.
Sometimes they may want a piece of tail and other times they may just want some head.
'07 198 DLX Carolina Skiff
DF90 Suzuki
Well, who can blame them?
'06 Mckee Craft
184 Marathon
DF140 Suzuki
So guess it’s live bait and spoons this time of year.
Per the latest tournament results the winning boat was trolling lures on downriggers. It’s a preference thing. I prefer to avoid the cleanup, hassle and cost of using live bait. On the other hand, a live bait bite and fight is my favorite. Pick your poison.
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Mike Martinez
“Team Hookers Dream”
2016 Sea Hunt 25 Gamefish twin Yamaha 150’s “Wet Dream”
1994 Ken Craft 175CC 1998 Yamaha 115 “Dream Machine”
That would be my choice.
It helps a lot if you have a chip with Lake Murray contours to find humps if you have one, but if not, you can usually find suspended fish in the big pool pretty easy this time of year.
'07 198 DLX Carolina Skiff
DF90 Suzuki
Edit: just to clarify, I was referring to JZO’S post and not FB.
FB, I agree. Been catching some working spoons in the eve before trolling and definitely much more fun to catch. Always, much more noticible that they are the least bit stressed when they hit a plug with treble hook than a single hook and I use fairly light gear now trolling.
Anchoring will be your biggest obstacle. Double anchor. Front back. If I were fishing for money right now that’s the only thing I would do. Cut bait!!! Obviously fish are deep. 45’and deeper. If you find suspended fish in the area, find a clean bottom in that depth. I haven’t fished Murray in the summer in over ten years but I’ve caught many striper on the bottom as deep as 85’. Find some fish close to a point or hump near the channel. 45’ deep. Anchor on top of hump and fish off the sides. I would zoom in to the bottom and make sure it’s clean before you anchor.
I’m still not sure on the technique of catching them on the big 7-8" spoons. I don’t know if I should cast, let sink and reel in. Jig them or what. That’s my next thing is to learn the spoon fishing and perch jerking. Hoping Fogman can get me on the perch jerkin this winter.
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Mike Martinez
“Team Hookers Dream”
2016 Sea Hunt 25 Gamefish twin Yamaha 150’s “Wet Dream”
1994 Ken Craft 175CC 1998 Yamaha 115 “Dream Machine”
Power reeling, check it out on you tube! (three eye deep, ben parker spoon, power reeling)! You’ll learn a lot!
Just reeling fast. Drop it through the fish and real it up back through. Fast as a 6500 will go.
Spoons have been my preference this summer. Did the live bait early June, by mid June I was on the spoon…I have caught more fish on spoons this summer than any other method. A few trips have yielded three and four person limits in about an hour or two. That is an extremely fun bite with spoons. In the last month-and-a-half we have had 6 teenagers and two fish over 20 pounds all on spoons… we have lost three that I could not even begin to guess how big they were. We have caught all spoon fish by power reeling.
I generally like to stay between 70 and 100 ft but lately I have been catching them as deep as 160 ft…
Couple from the spoon.
Cooler of spoon fish. Front 3 are all over 34"
“All fisherman lie. And if they say otherwise, then they’re lying”
“Sea~N~Stripes”
21’ Hewes Craft Custom
140 Suzuki
Well that stinks…let me see if I can get pix to load another way…see if this works. These should be an order to the way it goes up above…
“All fisherman lie. And if they say otherwise, then they’re lying”
“Sea~N~Stripes”
21’ Hewes Craft Custom
140 Suzuki
Dam, I’ve never seen them down that deep. I thought there was no oxygen down there. Nice fish!
Wellcraft V-20 sportfish with a 200 Evinrude
quote:
Originally posted by steelytomDam, I’ve never seen them down that deep. I thought there was no oxygen down there. Nice fish!
Wellcraft V-20 sportfish with a 200 Evinrude
That was the first thing popped into my mind as well. They must be holding their breath. 
'07 198 DLX Carolina Skiff
DF90 Suzuki
was that depth finder pic on Murray? seems fishy
Yes it was on Murray. About 400 yrds or so from the towers. I came off from plane to start graphing before coming up on a 95’ hump I like to fish. As soon as the transducer started marking I couldn’t believe what I was seeing…needless to say I didn’t make it to my hump. I even called 2 other buddies in separate boats over to see what I was seeing…
This is actually pretty common in lakes like Lanier that do not stratify. I have graphed Manny fish this deep on Lanier, BUT yes again this was Murray. I have caught them regularly on the bottom in 125’, but this is the deepest I had seen them before.
“All fisherman lie. And if they say otherwise, then they’re lying”
“Sea~N~Stripes”
21’ Hewes Craft Custom
140 Suzuki
Just spot locking, dropping to the bottom and reeling up to the top and back down it goes? No jigging? I have the big Parker spoons but have a couple from Striper Sniper tackle that I’d like to try. The jig/spoon bite has always intrigued me but never gave it a go.
…
Mike Martinez
“Team Hookers Dream”
2016 Sea Hunt 25 Gamefish twin Yamaha 150’s “Wet Dream”
1994 Ken Craft 175CC 1998 Yamaha 115 “Dream Machine”
quote:
Originally posted by FLORIDA_BOY2Just spot locking, dropping to the bottom and reeling up to the top and back down it goes? No jigging? I have the big Parker spoons but have a couple from Striper Sniper tackle that I’d like to try. The jig/spoon bite has always intrigued me but never gave it a go.
…
Mike Martinez“Team Hookers Dream”
2016 Sea Hunt 25 Gamefish twin Yamaha 150’s “Wet Dream”
1994 Ken Craft 175CC 1998 Yamaha 115 “Dream Machine”
Drop it down and bring it back…no jigging or anything… You can’t bring it back too fast. If you haven’t got hit in the 1st 10min you will be tired from reeling so fast. Getting a fish every 10min or so helps keeping yourself entertained…ha…
“All fisherman lie. And if they say otherwise, then they’re lying”
“Sea~N~Stripes”
21’ Hewes Craft Custom
140 Suzuki
I use the 8" and 9" Parker spoons and have caught sub-21" fish. Just because the fisherman thinks it’s a “big bait” doesn’t mean the fish see it the same way.
As far as “retrieve,” you gotta play with it until you find what the fish are wanting. I alternate between “drop and reel” and “drop and jig.” If I’m catching them on one method and they stop biting, I’ll switch retrieves to see if that will fire them back up. Make sure you have a rod that’s able to handle those big spoons. I personally use an ALX Powerbolt (ZOLO series) for the bigger 8"-9" spoons and an ALX Gravity (ENOX series) for the smaller 5"-6" spoons. Both rods are paired with baitcasting reels (I use Quantum Smoke PT reels) filled with 17-20lb test fluorocarbon (I like Sunline FC Sniper).
http://www.alxrods.com/product/powerbolt/
http://www.alxrods.com/enox/
God bless the “ignore” function.
I can tell you this … If Murraymaker is posting pics and how-to’s then you know that type of bite is over …
… it’s my Wife’s fault we HAVE to fish !!!
2005 Sea Pro 2100cc / Yamaha 150hp 4-Stroke