Panfishing on Murray

Attachment 207678
We hit the lake about sunrise this morning and ran up into Bear Creek where we set up to fish for Shellcrackers and Bream. It was surprisingly cool this morning and felt good for a change. By noontime it had warmed up a good bit but not as hot as the last few weeks.
First spot was a no go so we moved and started to pick up a few.

Attachment 207679Attachment 207680Attachment 207681
We were catching both Bream and Shellcrackers fishing on the bottom with red worms and night crawlers. We went through a bunch of smaller fish and half a dozen channel cats to get to a decent mess.

Attachment 207682Attachment 207683


We were anchored in about 10 FOW but I caught 2 or 3 decent fish out toward the deeper water so we moved out and anchored in 16 FOW and there we caught he majority of the keepers. especially the shellcrackers. We were surprised to catch them that deep.

Attachment 207684
Here is a cooler shot. This cooler is pretty deep so it is hard to capture more than a couple swimming at the top. Jeff told me to wait before I took the picture so he could throw out the dead perch floating on top. In retrospect, that would have been the highlight for some of our members.

And I was reminded of the reason I hesitated until now to move to a stick steer boat. When we headed back to the ramp the lake was rolling with white caps and I took a pounding going across, not to mention getting wet, so I need to carry a poncho with me at all times I guess. At least it was warm enough not to be a problem by then.

Good report Ray. Siounds like a mixed bag with a nice mess of fish. Congrats.:)

I bream fished his morning too. That 60* felt NICE, huh!:HandsClapping I did opposite from you guys. I moved along the edges throwing a worm under a cork under willows and next to bushes and probably caught 30 or so. I never got anything big enough to fillet although I did catch some that were good hand sized. All of mine went back. I might try it again soon using your method and see how that works for me.:)

Butch, I got a note from one of the guys that also fished this morning at Murray. He only caught a half dozen or so but said they were pigs. He was fishing worms on the bottom in 25 to 40 FOW. Guess they are running from the heat. Water temp this morning was around 85 degrees.

Was 87* in the back of the creek I was in. Big flat with depths from shallow to 7' deep.

Good report Ray, enjoyed reading it. Tell that other guy that fished there to come around, enjoyed his post also.

Very nice fish Ray! Y'all are getting pretty good finding them. I had to work yesterday, but man those cooler early morn temps made me wish I was on the lake. Glad some folks got to enjoy it! Thanks for the pics.

Got ya some nice looking bluegill, shell cracker, and channel cats there Ray. Congrats on on getting out on the water and bagging a nice mess fish.

Way to go Ray. Ya got that new boat broke in good so far. Keep up the reporting for us old workin stiffs !

Congrats on a great catch Ray! Glad to here you stuck with them and figured them out.

Well, just when you think you got'em figured out you find out you don't. With it being a full moon tonight I thought the activity would really pick up today so off I went with one of my buds and there we sat. Our "hot spot" was over run with 6" White Perch, of which a great number are now floating if the Osprey have not eaten them all by now. We had to move to keep from feeding all our bait to them and we never got into any decent fish. We probably had 5 decent Shell Crackers in the well and we turned them loose to fight another day.
But it beats not fishing so it is all good.
Happy 4th of July to everyone. Have fun and be safe.
SeaRay :ThumbsUp