Went out around 6 and found fish in a little cove near a small island between shull and bomb. Went through 4 dozen baits by 9:20, but we were able to catch herring pretty easily in the lights. Fished till 1:00 and caught probably 50 shorts with 2 solid keepers. Quite a few just at or within 1/2" of 21 that were let go. The keepers were 23" & 24", and full of eggs. We could only fish with one rod. We never would have fished the spot, but I ran out of gas about 2 miles from the ramp (neighborhood ramp)so we fished where we were stuck. I’m heading out again tonight, not sure if my thumbs can take any more striper liping.
Free lining them or down rigging?
We ended up each just using one downline. Put on bait, drop to the bottom, three or four slow cranks and you had a hit.
Excuse my ignorance, but I have always heard the stripers in Lake Murray didn’t spawn, but if they’re full of eggs? I also heard they were all males(released). Can someone get me straight?
I know they sapwn in the rivers, and that fishery is strong, caught 30-40 in the Congaree on Fri. They turned on for 45 min, they were almost jumping in the boat. No keepers, but a smallie and catfish for a nice bonus.
Can I borrow your towel? My car just hit a water buffalo.
Its a fake spawn. There is no way to know what u are stocking when u stock 1.5+ million fingerlings a year. Good mix of both is my guess. I would say the majority of big fish we catch are females, they just get bigger as u know same in the congaree. The reason they say they don’t spawn is cause there is not enough current in the lake to tumble the eggs, but it doesn’t stop them from laying them.
hey tom; don’t forget to put a little gas in that hog. ha ha. that sounded like a lot of fun. seems like everytime i go we just drift along wasting time. maybe i can get into them shortly. we need to try out my new terrova trolling motor.
I was always told that the striper in Murray don’t reproduce but I caught a 10" striper one fall during a year that there weren’t any releases. Even if there was a release in the spring, he should have been bigger than 10" right? If there’s enough water flowing down from Greenwood, I don’t see why they can’t reproduce.
I think they stock finger lings that are only a couple inches long, but I may be wrong. Plus different fish will grow faster than others. I think the eggs have to tumble for like 30 days or may be longer than that. There is just not enough length of current water to make them hatch
eggs have to tumble in semi turbulent water for 48 to 72 hours. It depends on the temperature of the water. They say that they do not spawn in Murray because the rivers do not have enough flow over enough distance for the eggs to hatch. So the eggs just fall to the bottom and die. But, there are always exceptions to rules. I suppose if a fish went up in the right tributary to the lake at the right time conditions may allow some to hatch. I suppose its also possible for a few to hatch even if conditions are not perfect.
Here is a good article on the sc striped bass http://spart5.k12.sc.us/techtraining/teacher/webpages/SCFish/sc_striped_bass.htm
Here is what is says about size “Male Striped Bass usually reach sexual maturity at two years. They are generally less than 12 inches long. About 25% of the females reach maturity at four years of age when they are about 17 inches in length.”