Whats up guys…I was going to go this morning, but I am taking a girl who insited on sleeping in. She wants to go around noon. I told her that would be the hottest time of day and that the bite would get slower. So now I have to figure out were to take her. This girl has only been fishing once in her life. I figure I can put her on brim almost anywhere, but I really want to put her on some striper. Even if we only get a few would be nice. Right now due to the time of day I am going to have to take her I am thinking 30+ feet down near the towers…anyone got a better idea I’m all ears. God Bless,
Coach B Herring
Columbia, SC CoachB@TeamFCA.com
Is it any wonder Jesus choose Fisherman for his disciples?
thanks Chris…I don’t figure we will catch much, but I’m praying for a few…I guess I can always just hit the towers and hope I can find a hungry one around somewere. talk to you later. If not I’ll take her Brim fishing…and show her some Striper pics at Lake World and tell her if she wants to go after those we have to get up early.
God Bless,
Coach B Herring
Columbia, SC CoachB@TeamFCA.com
Is it any wonder Jesus choose Fisherman for his disciples?
try the tree tops on the ballentine side of goat island, they are in about 90ft of water. I’ve done well there this time of year in the past. Just put your live bait to the bottom and reel up 2 or 3 turns.
Coach, I almost always fish for stripers in the afternoons, although I usually don’t start until 2:00 or 3:00. Almost never in the mornings. I prefer to fish during the week and my work prevents me from going out in the mornings. I know the heat can be oppressive this time of year and you may need to experiment a little, but I have had some red hot bites in the early afternoon.
I can’t offer any help on where unless you don’t mind catching “shorts”. The Hollow Creek area was full of shorts last Saturday, but I had a very hard time finding keepers. That was not the case the previous trip. My next trip will probably be a searching trip more than a fishing trip…on the big water.
Whaledriver, how do you go about “searching” I will use the lowrance and strat at where I last caught fish (to see if they are still there)(or where friends caught recently). I will zig zag and pattern an area, then go to the points and try to work with some logic. Very difficult, and I know that some of the guides here go very early in the morning. History is a good teacher…cuahgt them here last year at this time… but I have only been doing it a couple of years.
Any better ways guys? Always good to hear other ideas, I might be completely wrong (soemtimes I am sure of this because I get skunked!)
Chris, I don’t have any really good advice for searching. I use gut feelings sometimes based upon past experience, time of year, etc. Other times, I will look at a contour chart and search for humps, ridges, good looking points, etc. Now that the water is warm and my favorite places seem to be full of shorts, I will go at a slow cruise over river and creek channels while paying close attention to my fish finder. I am looking for suspended fish or large schools of bait at a depth, and in an area that I feel comfortable using downriggers. If I spot something interesting, I hit the MOB button on my chart plotter and go back for a slow look. If it shows promise, I start trolling. I am no expert and don’t pretend to be. I just cover a lot of water when I am searching and once I find something that interests me, I will stop and fish it with patience. I prefer not to use downriggers, because mine are manual, but we are at that time of year when I use them regularly. I hope to upgrade to electric downriggers one day. Electric downriggers are a lot less work to use, especially in a lake where the bottom contour changes so abruptly.
If you don’t already have a gps chart plotter, get one as soon as you can along with an electronic chart of Lake Murray or anywhere else you fish. The track plot and mob button on the plotter and my fish finder are my very best friends when I am striper fishing.
Guys I talked her into a rain check at earlier hours. I am heading out in the morning however so might try some of your ideas. I also heard today that you can find fish at 90+ feet…rumor but you never know. Anyhow I’ll be with a buddy near the towers, Goat, maybe Hollywood, or big water. Depth finders down so I’ll have to see about finding them…lol and a little help from the good Lord and maybe I can put my buddy on his first striper…his third trip down from Florence…past two were all cats and jug heads…I just want one keeper on his line in the morning. God Bless,
Coach B Herring
Columbia, SC CoachB@TeamFCA.com
Is it any wonder Jesus choose Fisherman for his disciples?
5 Keepers by 9am…We started working the points on the Balentine side of the dam…then went and worked Spence…followed by an hour at the towers…then a lil bit near Yacht Cove. We had two break offs, 5 misses, 0 short fish, and 5 keepers. I think Matthew and I are going tonight…any suggestions? All I can think is cut bait in 30-60 feet of water near points…? God Bless,
Coach B Herring
Columbia, SC CoachB@TeamFCA.com
Is it any wonder Jesus choose Fisherman for his disciples?
Same type of deal up here on Hartwell also. We are finding them deep, I picked up a few small fish on the downrigger line Friday am in deep water around timber. I also picked up a couple of smaller fish on umbrella rigs and lost what I think was a good fish in the timber as well.
Whaler, I am with you I use the downrigger but when I am alone it is a chore, in fact the big fish I lost hit when I was letting the ball down and I thought the line just came out of the snap.
I am also wanting to switch to electric downriggers but that may be a while.
Also a lot of guys up here swear by leadcore line this time of year as well, so I may break that out this week.
tprice, I’m up here at Clemson. We’ve been trying for the stripers but having no luck at all. You got any more tips that might be helpful on Hartwell in particular. Thanks for any info.
This time if year is not my strong point. I prefer to fish from Dec thru May with freelines and planer boards.
This time of year there are a couple of methods that work. Night fishing is great with Hydroglow lights or generators and sodium lights. I do have a hydroglow and will night fish 1-2 times per year but I am not fond of night fishing.
The other method is to troll with leadcore line and or downriggers.
I have 2 reels loaded with leadcore(penn 320 gti’s) and my boat also has a downrigger. Most of use use the roadrunner jigs tipped with a big chartruese/yellow jig tail and troll as slow as the big motor will take you. You need to really watch your graph and troll the humps in the deep water of the lake. It helps if you pick up one of the lake topo maps or if you have a Lowrance unit that you can install the chip in(Navionics).
If you need more help post it back here or you can visit the Greenville Stiper Kings Web site and pick up some tips there. Some of the guys will help you and others will not give the time of day particularly when a TX is around the corner.
Also I needed to ad that you will start seeing a lot of schooling late in the afternoon this time of year thru fall and that is a lot of fun as well. Most of this is in the main part of the lake and even draws in the greenbass fishermen as well, this way they can fight a REAL BASS:sunglasses:
When you see them schooling get close but do not run through the school and cast a jig and you will hook up. They sometimes will not stay up long and other times they never go down, I even have picked up a fly rod to try this summer on the schooling fish.
When I say the main lake I am talking from Portman Marina down to the dam.
I do not know where you are but I put in Friday at Broyles landing and headed out to the main channel. There is a small island that is almost covered with water(it has an American flag on it) and it has drop offs and trees all around. This is where I was catching fish.
Most of them came on the roadrunners from the downrigger and a couple on umbrella rigs, I do not think my umrellas were deep enough and that is why I did not catch more
