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Columbia, SC – While Lake Murray, site of this week’s Carolina Clash – the sixth stop of the 2008 Bassmaster Elite Series – may have initially been constructed as a hydroelectric generation facility, it has evolved into one of the most storied bass fisheries in the nation. With Santee Cooper drawing much of the springtime glory, anyone will tell you that Murray is the best fishery in South Carolina.
It’s been a few years since the BASS boys have been to Murray. The last Tour event at the storied pond was back in 2000 when Alton Jones won a Megabucks event there with nearly 44 pounds. This week, pros are saying that 44 pounds will be enough to secure a Top 50, but it is likely going to take more than a 16-pound per day average to win.
At 41 miles long with just over 52,000 surface acres, there are plenty of nooks and crannies, points, and shoreline cover to target. However, early reports indicate that due largely to the delayed spring the lake is fishing very small. As with Clarks Hill, it all comes down to location – and being on your spot at the right time.
This will be the second stop where the presence of the high-protein Blue Back herring will play a pivotal role. Two weeks ago at Clarks Hill the herring and shad spawns were still cycling making pattern and spot fishing very much a hit or miss deal. For most, it was more miss than hit and winning at Murray this week the herring spawn is still a wild card.
As a result, anglers agree that your boat draw will be pivotal as the first two hours of each day will provide some of the best opportunity. The “what if” here is if the forecast for clouds this week pans out making the topwater bite much more dependable. If not, it’s going to be a classic post-spawn tournament where big football jigs and Carolina Rigs, along with a healthy dose of luck and timing, will serve as the main ingredients for quality bags of bass.
The BASS ZONE met with some heavy hitters
the morning of the final practice day to get their take on how the week will unfold.
Shaw Grigsby
“It’s post-spawn, so a lot of the fish are getting out on the drops and I think it’s going to be a good top water bite. There are a few major schools right now that a lot of the guys have found, and then a few minor ones that are just full of two-pound fish.
“Sight-fishing is all but non-existent here this week. If you do any, it will be off the fry and there aren’t enough of those to really make an effective strategy with. Your best bet this week is going to be chasing the schools that are following herring around.
“All in all, I think it’s going to be a really good tournament. At Clarks Hill we had one 22-pound stringer, but this week I’m sure you’ll see many that will go better than 20 pounds. I think that overall it will be about the same weight to make the 50 cut, like 14 to 15 pounds.”
Edwin Evers
“I’ve had a pretty tough practice so far. I can see a bunch of fish following a lot of different baits, but haven’t gotten it narrowed down to the right baits or the right areas. I’ve still got some practice time left, and I have found about 20 groups of fish. So about the only thing I can do right now is just go out and keep my head down and fish.”
Brent Chapman
“It’s all based on the herring spawn again. The water is higher than I’ve ever seen it at Murray – which is pretty exciting for me – but it’s been really random and scattered, so I’m still looking around a lot.
“It’s frustrating because just like at Clarks Hill we were a couple of weeks early, and here we’re a couple weeks early too. It’s just because the water temps, which are still in the upper 60s, are too cool for a good herring spawn. It’s all about pulling up to the right point and giving it 15 minutes and moving on to the next one.
“I’m definitely relying on my last day of practice – that’s for sure. I would like to think that Saturday the winds will be pretty low, which will help a bunch. Still though, I think we’ll see very similar cut weights to what we had at Clarks, but with a bigger average to win – probably 17 or 18 pounds a day.”
Bernie Schultz
“I’ve only had two days on the water, and the first morning there was a really good top water bite. That didn’t materialize at all yesterday so I don’t really know what to think. Basically, the fish are all shallow, and I can catch a few stragglers after the sun gets up, but I haven’t developed any kind of deep bite.
“It’s fishing similar to Clarks Hill, but at the same time it’s a lot different because I feel like the guy who wins will be out deep. I say that, and I haven’t had a deep-water bite materialize yet, based on my gut feelings. If you can figure out a deep-water bite here, you can really run away with it.
“Like Clarks Hill, I feel like the overall weight here to get a check will be relatively small – probably 10-pound days. At least I hope it will based on how my practice is going.”
Marty Stone
“It’s typical post-spawn. You have a ton of fish that are done with spawning deal and you have the herring coming up. So the first two hours of the day can be pretty intense, but if you miss that (bite) it goes from being intense to really slow. You have to make hay while you can, that’s for sure.
“I have figured out a few little things that I can do to get bit after those first two hours, and it’s a pretty good pattern, but it is all about those first two hours. Everyone is poor-mouthing this tournament, but I’ll tell you right now that if the weather forecast holds true, this could be pretty awesome.
“I keep notes that go all the way back to when I was fishing Red Man, and I have never once fished this lake in May. I know why now.”
Alton Jones
“It’s not the same as what it used to be because we don’t have all the grass anymore. That just means that you have to look harder to find what the fish are relating to, and it seems to be a really specific deal. There are definitely some fish starting to school up, and I’ve even seen some fish that are still spawning.
“As a result, you’ll have a lot of guys doing a lot of different things, but in the end I think it’s going to fish real similar to Clarks Hill. The fish here at Murray tend to run a little bigger on average, so the weights at the top will be heavier, but could actually be lower than Clarks to get a check.
“I’m going to fish in the shallow to mid-range depths. I’ll be doing several different things this week, but again, it all hinges on location. And really, more importantly, it’s about having your best water to yourself the first day or two because I don’t feel like there’s any one spot that you can win on. There will be a lot of gasoline burned up this week, no doubt.”
Kenyon Hill
“I’ve found quite a few fish and pretty much know what’s going on. Murray fishes a lot smaller than Clarks Hill, so the word gets out pretty quick. You have to be pretty slick about catching them during practice or you’ll get poached.
“It’s fishing very similar to Clarks Hill, and I’ve got a couple of things that I’ve sort of pulled out of the hat that can catch them when other guys struggle. It’s just almost impossible to get water that someone else hasn’t fished over already. I mean, you can sit on a point and look in either direction and count 10 boats.
“This week it’s going to be about getting your timing down and just rotating through your spots. You never really know what it’s going to take to win, at the end of the day. I feel good about what I’ve got, but you could talk to 10 other guys who do too. It’s supposed to get rainy and cloudy this week, so it could really get good by the weekend.”
Casey Ashley
“It’s going to be the same thing as Clarks Hill. The Herring are spawning really good, so you’re going to see bigger weights. We’re hitting this lake at the right time, but the only thing is that this lake fishes a lot smaller than Clarks Hill. Your boat draw is going to be huge this week because if you miss that early morning bite, you’re in for a long day.
“There’s going to be a lot of cut-throat this week because all of the best spots are marked. This lake was down for so long that they put market buoys on everything, so everyone knows where every piece of cover and structure is on the main lake. You can’t find anything here that’s out of the way.
“I love fishing Murray, and I like what I’m doing right now. Even though I’ve never fished a tournament here this time of the year, I’ve fun-fished it a bunch during this month and know what it’s capable of producing in just a few casts to the right spot. Trust me, there’s going to be some big sacks weighed in this week.”
Kevin VanDam
“It’s going to be really similar to Clarks Hill. The herring spawn is still a key element, but the bass are a lot further along. The thing is that everyone is on the same pattern because they got a good lesson at Clarks Hill.
“As a result, every time a guy leaves a good looking point someone else pulls in right behind him. So the fish have just been brutalized by us and the locals. If someone can find something a little different they can do well, but those fish are so keyed into what the herring are doing that it’s almost impossible to find a one-off pattern.
“It’s going to be hard to get on a point after the early morning bite, so you’d better get after it while you can and hope for the best the rest of the day. A lot of guys will camp out on a point where there’s a pod of fish, so it’s going to be extremely difficult to run and gun. If there’s one place that you want to be in the first flight it’s here. And boy, you’d better make the right decisions after you leave the launch because it you miss that herring bite you’re
hurtin’.”
NOTES:
The Legend, Harold Allen
and Mark Jeffreys will be on Lake Murray
for Live Chat from the water at 10:00am
EST during Day 1. This Sunday will
mark the second time the BASS ZONE on XM
Sports Nation will broadcast LIVE from
Lake Murray this Sunday at 6:00 and 8:00am
EST on XM Channel 144. Pete Robbins
will be at the XM Studios in Washington
D.C. and the Legend and Mark will be on
location at Lake Murray. Now you can
call in and ask questions about the Lake
Murray event or anything else in the bass
fishing world. The call in number is
866.967.6144.
Give Mark, the Legend and Pete a call on
Sunday.
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