I'm planning a trip to Lake Murray next week and was hoping somebody on the boards could give me some "local" advice. 

I'll be spending two full days on the lake and would like any "recent" activity reports or suggestions anyone may have. 

 - what area of lake to fish this time of year. Murray is a pretty big pond. 

 - what type of areas to try...creek channels, points, docks...any "success" stories.

 - any lures working better than others. 

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated. 

Steve:

                Not knowing where you are going to put in at.' as you Know a good lake map is a great way to start.

                Check out the bear creak area. The west side with the main points and working your way to the back of the little coves. The docks in this area are some of the best .work the points, work the docks. Work your way all the way to the end of the main creak. Stay to the left side and watch all the humps . stay out side the buoys as you run your boat. 

Hey Fry, thanks for the tips. I'll be putting in on the north west side of the lake (close to Buffalo Creek). With 3 days to fish, I plan on covering a lot of water. 

We camped and fished there a few years ago in July and caught nothing. Not even one single bite all day long. We rented a boat and tried a lot of locations but to no avail.

 

The one place we heard that usually has the best fishing is up near the dam. But from where we rented the boat it would have been an hour out and and hour back and that chewed up too much of our rental time. With the cruddy fishing we spent most of the afternoon tubing with the kids.

It's clearer water. I went striper fishing there once and was struck by how deep you could see your fish. There will be a lot of boat traffic since it's near the city. I would expect the offshore structure to be the best bet.

 

Given a choice, I would choose either of the Santee Cooper lakes for largemouth. From what I'm told, you can just about put in anywhere and find fish in that area.

On 7/3/2017 at 11:15 AM, the reel ess said:

It's clearer water. I went striper fishing there once and was struck by how deep you could see your fish. There will be a lot of boat traffic since it's near the city. I would expect the offshore structure to be the best bet.

 

Given a choice, I would choose either of the Santee Cooper lakes for largemouth. From what I'm told, you can just about put in anywhere and find fish in that area.

What’s said here is true, I fish in high school tournaments and the Lake Murray did the worst by far, the winning bag was only about 17 lbs if I recall. However on Lake Marion and Lake Moultire the winner had close to a 25 lb bag. Lake Wateree is pretty good to, not a lot of coves though, just a big bowl. You have to fish docks or find off shore structure. If you come bakc to South Carolina I would highly recommend those lakes. Lake Hartwell can be pretty fun to by the way.

13 hours ago, Triddle55 said:

What’s said here is true, I fish in high school tournaments and the Lake Murray did the worst by far, the winning bag was only about 17 lbs if I recall. However on Lake Marion and Lake Moultire the winner had close to a 25 lb bag. Lake Wateree is pretty good to, not a lot of coves though, just a big bowl. You have to fish docks or find off shore structure. If you come bakc to South Carolina I would highly recommend those lakes. Lake Hartwell can be pretty fun to by the way.

I grew up on Wateree. It has become a very good bass lake in recent years. But I eventually quit fishing it too. I just don't go looking for competition.