Lake Murray is slap full of big ones. Nearly every angler we’ve had a camera with the last two days has said the same or similar things.
“Man, that’s a big one right there,” said Drew Benton. Some anglers might miscalculate the size of a bass they see cruising. Benton’s not one of them, having sight fished for double digit bass at times.
We’ve heard Brandon Lester say something similar, as he finally eased up to the point that he had been fishing, only to see several big ones piled up in the shallow clear water. The bass are there, they simply will not bite.
Then there’s Hunter Shryock, who has had several giants follow his Berkley Choppo to the boat. He’s caught a couple on the bait as well. But he’s also got places like his most impressive hole he’s nicknamed “Narnia”, where he believes there are $100,000 worth of fish cruising. But he can’t get any to bite.
Matt Robertson was the angler who cracked the code on Day 1, catching 25 pounds, 8 ounces on a Berkley Cane Walker. Today though, a different story so far. Robertson heaved his Cane Walker all morning, but couldn’t get the big ones to fire.
“I really hate to do this,” said Robertson as he reached in the rod locker for a spinning rod. “I mean I hate too. This ain’t gonna get but a cast or two. But they are right there.”
A cast or two it got, and then Robertson picked his topwater back up. He held it in hand, as patiently as he could.
“Yesterday, I’d stand here for 20 minutes, just waiting. I probably made the least casts of anybody yesterday,” said the Day 1 leader.
Robertson knows that if the fish aren’t actively feeding on bait along the surface, it’s almost impossible to trick them into biting. Most of the guys haven’t been able to hold off though. They’ll have just made a bomb cast as the bass start to blowup in another spot nearby. By the time they can burn their baits in, the bass have again disappeared, leaving nothing but frustration and a few ripples on the water.
This place is full of big ones, but they are among the most educated of any the Elites ever have to fish for.
