Hello All,
I have gotten to go striper fishing on Lake Murray about 5 times recently, and have done fairly well each time. The keeper count for each day was 5, 6, 9, 9, and 12. We consistently caught fish every time. We used herring on down rods. Most of the fish were caught in about 95-105 feet near the bottom. We did not catch many short fish at that depth. The short fish were everywhere at the top of the water column. There were consistently small <17” striper popping all over the entire day, even into the 100 degree weather. In the morning it was about every 5 seconds.
Some new things I tried that worked
Suspend at least one rod with cut-bait
The bait guy suggested that I try it. I suspended 2 of my 9 rods with fresh cut-bait. They actually got more hits per rod then the live bait. If you saturate the 20 ft by 10 ft space under you boat with 9 baits, switch up the presentation. The striper in Lake Murray seems to be very lazy some times.
Use # 2 ultra point fine wire circle hooks. They seem to work the best. We all know the benefits of circle hooks. They are just a better hook in the down rod situation then a J hook.
Get to the rod and reel down before it doubled over and drag started to go. I would get to the rod and reel the handle to ensure a good hook set. Especially when you are fishing right off of the bottom, I feel this is even more important. If your bait is close to the bottom, say 1’ off the bottom and a striper eats your bait, he cannot run down far enough to pull line off the reel, and it will just bend the rod. So the fish now has to swim out to pull the drag. Well, now you have a striper at or near the bottom sprinting off with your bait. We lost 4 or 5 nice bites that got hung on the bottom of beautiful Lake Murray. There is still a bunch of junk down there. Back to my point, reel the handle as soon as you can get to the rod, it will increase hookups, and help to get the fish off the bottom sooner. If you watch the rods, you can see a bite often a goo
Well my only secret really is always throw 1 or 2 freelines even if the upperwater is scorching, you might be surprised that there are some bigguns hangin around up there.
And the thing about your cutbait, thats something I do everytime just to get some scent around but I have never had a hit from a striper only caught catfish and some big gar.
my secrets only seem to catch the small ones. so whatever it is i am doing, do the opposite and you should catch some big boys.
i don’t use lures. i’m a mass murderer of better bait’s frisky herring on crack. i typically only fish 3 rods, since that’s all i own. 2 down at different depths, 1 above and 1 below where the most fish are being read and i periodically reel the deep one up and let the up one down. the other i either free line, or nothing, depends on how much attention i have to pay to the trolling motor to keep me on track. i change herring about every 15 minutes.
oh… and i fish with steelytom, which means that he will watch the tips and only pick up the ones with a good pull down and leave the dinks for me too catch. (thanks steely)
I have had the 2x4 of the bottom of the boat work before and I saw a guy cut bait fishing killing them doing it. He seemed like he had a fish every five or ten minutes. One thing I like to do is look on the contour map for valleys going off the main channel. If they have trees it is even better. I also like to run a freeline at all times. I put two or three bb spits on it and let it wayyyyyyy out. The bigger fish seem to hit that one. I guess because it is farther from the boat and they feel more comfortable. Most important thing is to know the difference between a small fish pull down and a big one. When it is a small one give it to the guy your with. That opens up the rest of the rods for you to catch fish on. Also make sure you put the plug in your boat before you launch.[:0]
I have had the 2x4 of the bottom of the boat work before and I saw a guy cut bait fishing killing them doing it. He seemed like he had a fish every five or ten minutes. One thing I like to do is look on the contour map for valleys going off the main channel. If they have trees it is even better. I also like to run a freeline at all times. I put two or three bb spits on it and let it wayyyyyyy out. The bigger fish seem to hit that one. I guess because it is farther from the boat and they feel more comfortable. Most important thing is to know the difference between a small fish pull down and a big one. When it is a small one give it to the guy your with. That opens up the rest of the rods for you to catch fish on. Also make sure you put the plug in your boat before you launch.[:0]
oh… and you have to make sure that the rhythm you use on the boat beating method is funky. the big stripers don’t like simple beats. you’ve got to jazz it up a little for them.
chunk for them like tuna also break the backs of some of the fish and trough them out sends out lots of vibrations bigger fish that i have caught come away from the dam
What do you mean by away from the dam. How far up lake have you caught fish this time of year. i have been wanting to try up around shull and Dreher in the channel. But my fishing time is kind of limited and I like to stick to what I know works.
Has anyone ever used cut panfish or whole panfish. I bet a nice 8" crappie would interest a big one. i have been wanting to try trout in the winter. Go catch them in the saluday and troll them in the lake. That is how they get some big ones on the river. Captain Dave of Striper addiction said he likes to use trout at times.
i think it is shull island the one with the green becon at the tip also up where turners landing use to be i catch them this time of year and when you leave the dam there are those two islands just to the right there are some submerged trees that hold good fish also another way to find fish is watch guide boats and where they go fallow but dont get too close that is how they make their money be courtious
trout work well in the river but you cant catch them below the dam and then bring them back up if you fish the river you can get some like 8-10 inch swim baits that look like trout and they work well
actually my super secret is using bally-hoo smalls work well chin weight split bill 30lb mono little larger hook than normal behind a planner or down rigger
actually my super secret is using bally-hoo smalls work well chin weight split bill 30lb mono little larger hook than normal behind a planner or down rigger
I have thought about using some of my king-rigs on the lake for striper--where can you get bally-hoo around the lake/ Columbia?[
I talked to a guide that said he likes to use trout. But I have heard that you are not allowed to use them in murray. All I can see is they have to be caught legally.
you can catch them in the river and use them in the river you cant catch them there and bring them to the lake i guess they are trying to stop an invasive species or something
That is probably their thinking. But Lake Murray would never hold trout through the summer, yet alone spawn and take over. Trout unlimited would not be happy if they allowed that for sure.
we use them on the lake.we got checked by dnr last year while we were using them said it was ok to use them.i get mine from a guy in nc,make sure you keep your receipt with you to prove that they wre bought not caught.the 8 inch run $1.50 each.
