PROSPERITY, S.C. – Lake Murray will host the Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine South Carolina Division Super Tournament on Sept 6-7. The heat of the summer has not slowed the bite, and it’s taking excellent weights to win recent events, which should be the case for the anglers fishing this tournament.
This year, BFL anglers benefit from an expanded slate of Regionals, which minimizes travel costs and provides more opportunities to qualify for the $120,000 BFL All-American while fishing familiar, closer-to-home waters. Click here to find out more.
What to expect
Lucas Murphy has two Lake Murray BFL wins and is the current points leader in the South Carolina Division. He expects the fishing to be excellent, especially the weights near the top of the leaderboard.
“The lake’s been on fire, and there have been a lot of big bags caught in recent tournaments,” he said. “I’d say this one will be dominated by those catching schooling fish in the middle to lower part of the lake. You’ll see your typical summertime Lake Murray patterns in full effect.”
Targeting schooling fish will undoubtedly play a role, but it can be risky.
“You always hear stories at the end of the day of guys having fish coming up schooling everywhere around them and not catching any,” he said. “Some days they eat your baits, and sometimes they miss them. It can be a pretty volatile way of fishing this time of year.”
While Murphy believes offshore bass chasing herring will be the dominant approach from the field, he says the shallow bite may still be a factor.
“It’s going to come down to what an angler wants to do. If they’re points conscious and just need to catch some to make the Regional, I would be trying for the larger schools and bigger numbers of fish offshore,” he said. “If you’re willing to go for the win, the shallow bite can be a factor. I’m sure some will try the shallow bite, at least for a few hours, to try to catch a kicker before easing out to some of the schooling fish.”
Baits to bring
Soft-plastic jerkbaits are staples on the fishery, and Murphy says they will account for a large portion of the fish caught. His choice is a Strike King Caffeine Shad in the Carolina chrome color. His other choices would be a Strike King Sexy Dawg hard knock topwater in chrome for open water schoolers and a buzzbait for shallower water.
What will it take?
According to Murphy, after two days of fishing, a weight of around 22 pounds per day should be enough to win. He says the weights can be top-heavy and will drop from there, but catching 14 pounds of bass on the first day should be the goal to make it to the second day.