Thread: Ill be in Columbia for the week befor the 4th hows Lake Murry for Crappie?

The word out is that Murray has been tough fishing for crappie all year long. Throw in these 100 degree plus days that won't ever seem to end and you have a recipe for disappointment. Murray has very few white crappie, they seem to prefer the cranks over the blacks. If crappie is your quarry of choice, I would make every attempt to locate deep brush, of fish deep water docks. Area probably won't matter much, but if I had my choice, I would fish mid lake up towards the rivers focusing on creek or river channel ledges.

What ink said. Murray has been a bear all year. I haven't been in a few weeks myself but if I get to go this weekend coming I will try targeting brush in the 25 - 30 ft range. Hope this helps and best of luck. If you don't mind fishing for stripers then that may be your best bet. Size limit is off for the summer but you must keep the first 5 you catch

Like brush like said, stripes would be your best bet for Murray right now. Fishing with live herring around the dam on humps will put you on some fish. Crappie can be caught on brush in the 20-30 foot depths around mid lake and if you prefer single pole fishing, a mess can be caught fishing docks, bridge pilings, stickups, and brush from dreher island up both the rivers. Don't expect to catch a bunch of big fish but you can certainly drum up enough to keep things interesting if you put in some time searching.

Thanks a ton guys.

One thing that is popular this time of year is to fish around the towers after the sun goes down. The public landing on the west side of the dam is only a few hundred yards away and is easy to get to and from. There is a bait and tackle shop on the opposite of the dam that sells live herring and they are open until 7 I believe. Most folks just tie up at the towers which you will see just off the face of the dam and fish the herring down various depths from 10 to 50 ft. to locate the stripers.
You can call the bait shop to get the hours and they can tell you what depths have been producing. Lake Murray (SC) Bait & Tackle
Remember if you fish for stripers in Murray during the summer you have to keep the first 5 you catch. You cannot cull and there is no size limit.

My grandkids like to go out when they come visit in the summer and this is the easiest way to put them on fish when it is so hot during the day.

That's awesome

Struck out on stripers. Saw a couple caught though.

Sorry to hear you had bad luck but being on the water is a reward in itself sometime. Did you try them at night at the towers? That usually pays off with at least 2 or 3. Oh well, now you got an excuse to come try them again.