Lake Murray was a bit of a rollercoaster for anglers in the Bassmaster Elite Series this past week. Day 1 started out with buckets and buckets of rain, but a great bite that produced some big bags. Day 2 on the other hand… the bite was TOUGH for a number of anglers who had a solid first day. But overall, the South Carolina reservoir proved to be a really fun place to fish and an active blueback herring spawn was a key player.
The bass were heavily congregated around near-shore transition zones and subtle bottom rises, waiting to ambush those herring. Georgia native and part-time guide Paul Marks leaned on his lifetime of experience fishing similar conditions on his home waters of Lake Lanier, weighing in a monstrous four-day total of 90 pounds, 14 ounces to take home the coveted trophy and the biggest check.
If you want to know exactly what the pros were throwing to trigger these postspawn bass, and how you can take some of these tips and apply them you you local fishery, you’re in the right place. Here’s what the top 10 anglers were using to catch big bass on Lake Murray.
10. Caleb Hudson (78-7)
Hudson relied on a classic one-two finesse punch to pull a 10th-place finish. He paired a drop-shot rig with Zoom Z-3 Trick Worm and a 3/16-ounce weight. And when he wasn’t dragging that, he was tossing a weightless Zoom Super Fluke rigged on a 4/0 EWG hook. The fluke was chartreuse, which proved to be a really popular color at Lake Murray.
Shop the Zoom Trick Worm at Tackle Warehouse – $6.99
9. Drew Benton (80-6)
Benton mixed things up, rotating through a creature bait, a swimbait, and a wacky rig depending on the scenario. He slung a SPRO Surface Swimmer (once again in chartreuse), punched with a Nories Front Flapper, and then slowed things down with a wacky-rigged SPRO Wacky Snack.
Shop the SPRO Wacky Snack at Tackle Warehouse – $7.49
8. Andrew Loberg (82-6)
Loberg did his damage by alternating between a traditional fluke and an urchin/dice style presentation. He also utilized a chartreuse Zoom Super Fluke, but threaded on a round bend hook. For his other look, he rigged a G-Ratt Baits Webber on a wacky hook.
Shop the G-Ratt Webber at Tackle Warehouse – $14.99
7. Jordan Lee (83-4)
Former Bassmaster Classic champ, Jordan Lee, stayed weightless all week, allowing him to focus on bass schooling over shallow points. His go-to baits were a Berkley PowerBait Power Jerk Shad, as well as the newly-released Berkley Lab Series Minnow.
Shop the Berkley Lab Series at Tackle Warehouse – $14.99
6. Emil Wagner (84-2)
Wagner was hunting schooling fish and calling bass up from deep water with a combo of topwater and minnow techniques. He was making long casts with a Berkley J Walker 90 for topwater explosions, and combined that with a Berkley PowerBait Power Jerk Shad.
Shop the Berkley J Walker at Tackle Warehouse – $11.99
5. Trey McKinney (84-7)
AOY leader Trey McKinney secured another top 10 finish by showing the fish something a little different: dice-style baits. While he had a few soft plastics in rotation, his heavy hitter was the new 6th Sense Abstract, rigged up on a 1/0 treble hook.
4. Robert Gee (85-11)
Score another point for chartreuse flukes. Gee used the new Buckeye Elevate Head (sort of scrounger-like but with a metal head), tipped with Yamamoto D-Shad, and also kept a standard weightless D-Shad tied on in your standard fluke presentation.
Shop the Yamamoto D Shad at Tackle Warehouse – $5.19
3. Brandon Cobb (86-7)
Cobb spent the majority of his week running and gunning across the main lake, hitting cane piles, brush, and points. His main weapon was a Zoom Super Fluke, but he also mixed in an Ark CT35 squarebill to secure his third-place finish.
2. Sam Hanggi (87-5)
Hanggi spent the mornings fishing the herring spawn. In the afternoons, he skipped docks and picked apart shallow brush. His primary herring imitator was the aforementioned Buckeye Lures Elevate Head paired with a Big Bite Baits Spotlight Minnow. He also pitched the very popular Coike Fullcast around for a more finesse presentation.
Shop the Coike at Tackle Warehouse – $20.49
1. Paul Marks (90-14)
Marks dominated by using his Lake Lanier expertise to dissect Lake Murray. For the first three days, he crushed them using a Zoom Super Fluke (alternating between Chartreuse Pearl and Chartreuse Herring colors), but when that bite died off on Sunday, he changed course and picked up a SPRO Little John 50 squarebill.
Shop the Zoom Super Fluke at Tackle Warehouse – $5.79
*This post contains links through the Tackle Warehouse Affiliate Program. While all products are independently selected by our expert Riff Outdoors team, if you use these links to make a purchase, we may earn a commission.
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