Well, my least favorite time of the year for fishing is upon us. Or atleast my least favorite time of year for Crappie fishing on Lake Murray. I will never understand why the fishing slows down so much during the latter part of October through Mid-December, but it does from my experiences. Other lakes, such as Wateree heat up, while Murray get tough. Every once in a while fish can be found and caught, but I would not call it the norm. This past Sunday was no different. I had a free afternoon so I loaded up the tightline poles and dropped the boat in the water. The wind was a little stiff so I opted to head up river where I'd be protected. There was plenty of bait and I marked a few fish, but nothing spectacular. Of all the areas I graphed the one common theme was fish on the bottom. I assume this is a result of the recent drawdown Murray has experienced. As I was setting out my poles I noticed one of my lines kick to the side. Low and behold a fiesty chunk weighing about a pound was on the other end. I thought I was on to something. Two hours later I realized that it may have been a fluke LOL

I decided to change up tactics for the last couple hours. As I was winding in poles, the drag started singing on one of my poles. After a brief battle I was able to land a 23" striper. As aggressive as he was, he was no match for a 12' crappie pole!

Once all the excitement had settled I broke out a jig pole and started fishing every piece of cover I could find. NOTHING! Not even a nibble was had with the jig pole. Water temps were 58 degrees and the fish I caught was 12 foot down in 15 foot of water. I truly believe the fish are there, but have lock jaw at the moment. Maybe another week of constant water level will have them ready to feed by the weekend.

Both fish were released to swim another day.

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