Lake Murray Striper

Don't want to start a heated debate or ruffle any feathers, but figured I'd pose this question to the folks that fish Murray. Are the stripers becoming a problem?

I, for one, believe they are becoming a huge problem. I believe they are the second most abundant fish in the lake (first being perch) and I think they are wreaking havoc on the crappie population. They are everywhere and I can't think of another fish that would threaten them. They are on top of the food chain as far as I can see.

I keep hearing that striper will not reproduce in the lake except for a few that find moving water up the Big Saluda and that 1,000,000 are stocked yearly? Why? And if they are a virtually a renewable resource why do we have a 21" minimum size limit 9 months out the year? It just doesn't make sense to me. I see other striper fisheries around the state growing much larger striper than Murray with no size limit. I'm sure this has a lot to do with other factors, but it leaves me scratching my head.

To make matters worse, grass carp are stocked and all the grass has been killed out of the lake leaving virtually no habitat. There is no winter draw down to keep shoreline vegetation from drowning (willows, button bushes, ect.) and promote the growth of shoreline cover. Other than man-made cover, Lake Murray is a cover barren lake.

I've fished Murray my whole life and it seems the lake has taken a turn for the worse over the last 10 years. And at the current rate, I don't see any improvement in the near future. Unless you like striper fishing, cat fishing, or chasing bass who are brained washed by bluebacks (also stocked for striper food just as the perch were from what I'm told) you are better off taking a trip elsewhere these days it seems. Aside from the limit change I don't see anything happening to protect our crappie fishing. And from what I've seen there aren't enough DNR boats on the water to enforce the rules.

What's everyone's thoughts? Am I way off base in my thinking?

Crappie predation to striped bass is very minimal, so i would say you are way off base. Like you stated with largemouth the stripers are keyed in on blue backs especially when they are suspended in the big pool. I don't think crappie are ever suspended over 80-100 FOW. Right now with the striper up in the rivers they are full of threadfin shad. Striper are open water fish and your smaller younger crappie are shallow usually isolated around cover. From a few articles I've read white perch are more to blame than any other species other than flatheads. Another major issue with some of the reservoirs is that they aren't as fertile anymore. Clean water act and phosphorus bands have really cleaned up the water and the nutrients that young crappie need to survive. Prime example is Wylie. 15 years ago is used to be nice and green and tremendous fishing. Now it's as clear as Murray and you have to work to get a good limit. Also no striper in Wylie either to blame them.

Most of the opinions I hear are the White Perch pose the biggest threat but your point is well taken. The Striper and the White Perch are closely related and it stands to reason they follow similar patterns. I assumed the perch were the bigger threat because they are so prolific but if you got a much bigger fish like the striper with unchecked numbers they will eat a ton of fish as well.
When we have questioned DNR about how the perch got in the lakes they claim they were put in there by fisherman and DNR never stocked them for fear of them overpopulating and crowding out other fish. As I understand it, they are the reason for the decline of the White Bass. They occur naturally in salt water bays and I can see how they got into Santee through the locks, but somebody put them in the other reservoirs.
The other threat is the humongous catfish you see being caught. I can't imagine how many crappie or bream a 90 lb cat would eat. Course they eat White Perch too so that might be a good thing.

Don't know what the answer is, but keep in mine the SC legislature, not DNR, make the laws governing our hunting and fishing so when you get politics involved lots of stuff happens that make no sense.
I teach an introductory class on fishing for DNR targeted at young kids and one of the question in the teaching guide is to ask the class who makes the laws that regulate fishing. I think DNR would like to see it moved to them from the politicians, and want to make the public aware of this.

First of all it comes down to the almighty dollar. Stripers are a put and take resource. Dnr puts them in and the fishermen take them out. There is no reproduction on Murry or the river system. Striper fishing brings way more money to the state as it is a year round fishery and has more groups lobbying for it. They get first choice when it come to regulations. All of the grass cover was removed from the lake for the homeowner not to help the fisheries. When they had the relicense agreement on the lake there were several groups lobbying for the striper fishery. There was nobody for crappie. SCEG is suppose to drop the lake 8ft every 3 years to help the shoreline brush. SCEG does not care if fishermen catch any fish out of Murray as it is here to produce electricity and flood control not be a top rated fishery. You are just going to have to put up with the crappie fishery as there is nothing that is going to be done to help it. That is why I plan on fishing other SC lake the most in the coming years. My two cents worth Don

Studies have consistently shown that Stripers overwhelmingly prefer soft-finned baits (herring, shad, etc). That's not to say the occasional crappie or Bass or bream is not consumed by a big Striper, but realize it is rare. Stripers also help consume the larger herring and shad, which keeps the average bait fish size smaller, which usually makes them more useable by smaller game fishes (crappie, bass, etc). So in most cases Stripers are beneficial to the other popular game fish. I think the others hit the nail on the head with the White Perch. They essentially are direct competitors with the crappie. I know I catch many a white perch while crappie fishing on other lakes. I fished Murray last month in the big Striper tourney held out Dreher Island on 12/9. One thing many of the competitors commented on was the abundance of small white perch. Many times a bait ball looked like shad, but when a net was thrown on it, hundreds of small white perch were the culprit. My two cents.

Good posts. That's why I asked the question. I am not a biologists nor do I read a bunch of studies. I realize it's all political and I guess that's the part that aggravates me the most. I also know it's all about the dollar. That's what makes the world go round.

I know perch are detrimental to all bodies of water that they infiltrate and hurt other fish populations. I hear what everyone's saying that striper don't feed on crappie, but it's hard for me to believe. This time of year the largest population of crappie and striper are in the same place at the same time. From what I've seen a striper is a vicious fish and will eat what ever is put in front of them.

I don't think striper fishing on Murray is very political. User groups like the midlands striper club help to support DNR studies and contribute a lot of money for stockings. Regulations are changed frequently biased on science. Do you really think politicians would have come up with the 5 and done rule. True the DNR has no regulatory authority but most is based on science. I will say the santee cooper blue catfish laws are politically driven and not science based though. A lot of changes have public comment meeting sessions that are held and very few people attend.

I have cleaned a ton of striper and yes they will eat crappie, but not enough to affect the population, especially on Murray where there is a tremendous herring forage base. I have fished with just about every bait and can get my hands; bream, eel, perch, trout, mullet, and even a few largemouth and crappie before they made it illegal and I can say that striper are actually pretty picky and prefer shad and herring. If there's nothing else to prey on then they might start to consume other fish. I can tell you that there is tons of bait fish up in the rivers now.
Crappie buster next time you hang a couple striper while you are targeting crappie clean them and do a dissection. What better evidence, which ever way to turns out.

Around xmas i cleaned several larger striper from lake wateree that had multiple fingerlength sized crappie in its belly. No doubt that the boys that fish wateree hard will be seeing the same effect in the coming years.

Derek we have discussed this topic several times including yesterday, so I am gone throw my 2 cents in. I do not believe that crappie is a primary food for stripers but I find it hard to believe that they don't eat some of the smaller fish. I think what has messed Murray and other lakes up more than anything is the abundant supply of blueback herring. It has made the bass become more like a striper in the fact that they are rarely on the bank and basically just roam open water now. I really believe in the winter crappie are becoming more like stripers on Murray as well, just roaming open water chasing bait and moving from day to day. Years ago when you found fish on Murray tightlining you could usually go back and fish the same school the next day. Now you basically have to start the searching over again the next day. You will never get anyone to admit it but they probably messed up if you ask me by stocking our lakes with striper and I believe perch were probably stocked as well. I will say that I believe the WORST mistake they ever made was getting rid of the grass, ever since the grass was taking out of the lake the fishing has definitely gone down. The bass, bream, and crappie fishing was booming during this time because of the ample forage. As for the perch I agree with what most have said they are definitely competition for the crappie. I guess the best way we could help is to keep every perch that we catch because as others have said it is all about $$$$ and striper fishing brings in the $$$$, so they are really not worried about the crappie. Greenwood is going down hill as well because they don't let the water up until April 15th now, by this time most of our fish have already spawned. If the water is not all the way up there is essentially no cover at all on this lake for the fry to get around.

I agree with you Roland. We will probably never see a another stitch of grass in Murray. It's not pretty to most folks, and jet skis can't run in it :)