March 16th, 2009 9:39 PM by Jason Compton
Fishing Report (Updated 3.14.2009)
Lake Murray is over 358; main lake temperatures remain cold but surface temperatures in some areas were over 60 degrees before the cold snap.
Bream: Good to very good. Shellcracker fishing remains strong in 2 to 10 feet, particularly up the lake. Use red worms and cut nightcrawlers.
Catfish: Good. Captain Chris Simpson reports that drifting cut bait across flats 5 to 15 deep is putting a mixed bag of blues, channel catfish, and white cats in the boat. Some fish are still deep but many are making their way to shallower water.
Striped Bass: Fair. Fishing on the lower end of the lake is improving, and live bait and bucktails are both working. Lots of 18 to 20 inch fish continue to be caught but getting keepers is difficult. Up the river there is still good schooling activity being reported, and free lining is working from Billy Dreher Island on up. A 17.5 pound fish was weighed in at Dooley’s on Saturday morning which was caught on a free lined herring.
Largemouth Bass: Fair. Largemouth bass fishing has improved as temperatures have risen in the last week, but the bite is still not hot. Fish are starting to move towards the banks, although dropping temperatures may push them back out to deeper areas. For now shallow water fishermen should look for the very warmest areas possible in the backs of coves and cuts; sometimes the biggest fish are the first to move shallow. Texas-rigged worms, Carolina rigged worms, and jigs are popular choices.
Crappie: Fair. Down the lake crappie action is almost non-existent, but up the rivers the bite is off and on. Most anglers are concentrating on the Kempson’s Bridge area in 8 to 20 feet, and purple and yellow jigs are the go-to color. Once temperatures stabilize look for the fishing to improve.
No DHEC fish advisories.