The fifth stop of the Bassmaster Elite Series took place this past weekend at Lake Murray, South Carolina. It was a return visit to this lake for the second year in a row, though it was a month later than when we were there last year. I didn’t have a great tournament last year, which was the first time I visited this lake, but I had a great last day so I left on a good note and was excited to get back.
Lake Murray is unique in that it has a healthy population of blueback herring, a baitfish that is not that common in lakes in the south. These herring absolutely control where you find the largemouth bass and you want to be fishing with baits that imitate them. This time of year, these herring are found in shallow water on top of the many shoals and points on the lake. As you’re fishing, you’ll often run into bass schooling and blowing up on the surface as they attack these bait fish.
When you come across this schooling action, you can cast a topwater or soft jerkbait into the surface explosions and you’ll often get hooked up. It’s a fun way to catch fish but if you miss on the cast and land out of the commotion, you probably won’t get a bite. Same goes if you just don’t come across the schooling action.
I fished a different part of the lake than I did last year and had a decent practice so heading into the tournament I had a good feeling that I was going to catch some nice fish. Things went great the first day and I had a solid limit within the first hour the first morning. The first couple hours of the day were important because that’s when you would see the most schooling activity and the fish would bite a lot better. As the day went on, it would get tougher.
I ended day one with a limit for 18-13 and was in the mid-20’s, well within the top 50 cutline. Day two did not go so well in the morning. I didn’t catch anything on my first three stops of the morning, all of which produced multiple fish the first day. As the sun came up, I noticed the water was a lot more coloured than it had been in the area I was fishing, near the mouth of a river flowing in on the west end of the lake.
We had severe rain and storms the couple of days before the tournament started and evidently, it had brought a lot of muddy water into the lake, via the river that was flowing in. I had a rough day, only catching seven or eight keepers and when I arrived at weigh-in with a limit weighing only 12 pounds, I figured for sure that I was going to drop out of the top 50 cutline to fish on day three and earn a payday.
Fortunately, much of the field had a tougher second day and I finished the day in 41st place. Making the cut in these tournaments is always the first goal and when it works out, I consider it a win. Obviously, you try to win and do as well as you can, but this field of anglers is extremely good so it’s a tough crowd.
The water was even more coloured the third day and my main area was a bust so I fished some new water and managed to catch some fish but never did run into any big ones. I caught 13 pounds and finished up 44th.
After the last tournament in Florida where I had the worst finish of my career, I earned some much needed points in this event and moved from 60th up to 50th in the points list. The goal for the season is to make the top 40 to qualify for the Bassmaster Classic. With four events left, I still have some work to do but I’m not too far from the right side of the line.
We get a few weeks off before the tour visits Alabama for a pair of events in June, followed by the final two in August, out in New York. In the meantime, my wife Shelby and I are headed home. I’m looking forward to our excellent fishing and catching some walleyes this weekend.
