Expect a strong start to South Carolina Division season on Lake Murray

Anthony Gagliardi knows a thing or two about catching bass on Lake Murray. He's logged several big wins on his home pond, including a Bass Pro Tour event in 2023. Photo by Garrick Dixon.

January 2, 2025 • Mitchell Forde • Phoenix Bass Fishing League

PROSPERITY, S.C. — Lake Murray has been one of the hottest tournament lakes in the country in recent years, making it the perfect venue for the Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine to kick off the 2025 slate in the South Carolina division. The season-opener is set for Jan. 18.

New for 2025, the BFLs will feature an expanded slate of Regional events, which will give anglers more chances to qualify for the All-American and further minimize travel costs. This expansion ensures that grassroots anglers can fish closer to home on lakes they know and love for a chance to win a $50,000 Phoenix 819 Pro bass boat with a 200-horsepower outboard as a boater and a new $20,000 cash award as a co-angler, plus qualification into the BFL All-American.

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What to expect

Lake Murray offers ample shallow and deep habitat for its healthy largemouth bass population to dwell. Photo by Christopher Shangle

While the bite at many fisheries might slow in the heart of winter, that shouldn’t be the case on Lake Murray. Bass Pro Tour angler Anthony Gagliardi, who lives on the lake, predicted the event will produce some heavy limits of largemouth.

“We’re getting to the time of year where the bigger fish start showing up in the wintertime,” Gagliardi said.

Gagliardi also believes anglers will have options when it comes to catching those fish. While plenty of the lake’s bass follow the blueback herring, the predominant forage in the fishery, to offshore haunts during the cold-water months, Gagliardi said a population remains shallow year-round. Helping the shallow bite is the fact that the water level is currently a bit above normal winter pool. If that remains the case and the area gets some warm weather prior to derby day, anglers could be in for a shallow smash fest.

“If you get four or five warm days strung together, then obviously there may be some fish that really move up shallow feeding that weren’t there before,” Gagliardi explained. “It’ll just be one of those deals where you’ve got to pay attention to the weather and see what trends you have going. Either way, there’s still going to be fish out deep and up shallow regardless of what happens with the weather. But the weather could impact one and make it better.”

Regardless of the conditions, there should be plenty of bass to be caught offshore as well. Gagliardi said anglers fishing away from the banks could choose to target fish relating to the bottom with football jigs, drop-shots or metal baits. This being 2025, we’ll also see a sizable contingent of competitors using jighead minnows and jerkbaits paired with forward-facing sonar to target suspended, baitfish-chasing bass.

Gagliardi believes both the shallow and offshore programs have the potential to produce a bag in the mid-20s. He predicted a winning weight in the 24- to 26-pound range — and if the bite is on, he said it could take more than 20 just to earn a paycheck.

“Somebody’s liable to have 24 to 26 pounds, and it could be that 20 pounds doesn’t do much for you,” he said. “That just depends on the weather and whatever happens. But if it gets really good, and if it’s a good wintertime bite here, 20 pounds isn’t going to get you very far.”