The striped bass on Lake Murray must have been watching “Shark Week” programming on the Discovery Channel, because they seem to have taken a hint from their saltwater brethren and have started a feeding frenzy of their own.
Guide Brad Taylor of Taylor Outdoors said stripers are biting just about anything you put in front of them, as long as it’s live herring.
“Stripers are definitely in the hot, summer pattern in the deep water on the lower end of Lake Murray,” said Taylor (http://tayloroutdoors.com). “Just about anyone can go to the Towers and catch fish on herring down there. All you have to do is ride around look on your graph in the 60- to 80-foot range, find the fish, put live herring down and catch them.”
Taylor said it really doesn’t matter what size bait you use since they’re biting just about anything you drop in front of them. Along with catching on down lines, Taylor said fish are starting to show some interest in topwater baits as well.
“In the next couple weeks, the fish will start doing some schooling on the lower end as it starts to cool off,” Taylor said. “If you find them schooling, you can chase them with topwater baits, which is starting to happen a little bit. What the bite should do over the next couple weeks is, those fish should start to school consistently and move up the lake. They should migrate six to eight miles from the dam and as the year continues, they’ll move even farther up the lake. Starting the end of August, the baitfish start moving up the lake, and the stripers follow them.”
Early mornings and late evenings seem to produce the best bite, but as long as the weather stays somewhat cool, the fish should stay on the bite. Taylor said most fish have been running in the 3- to 5-pound range, with a couple of really nice ones caught occasionally.
If you’d rather keep the boat moving while you fish, Taylor said some fish are being caught trolling with downriggers and live herring. Right now, however, it doesn’t really matter which method you use.
“As long as you have a bait on your hook, you’re going to catch fish,” Taylor said.
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