Fish Stories

2022 KBF Trail: Lake Murray Part II

The Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF) Trail at Lake Murray was a challenging event for many, myself included. The bass were active but not participating as I was expecting them to. Apparently they don’t read the books.

The first day of practice I wanted to start mid-lake and get a good look at one of the major creek arms so I decided to launch at Buffalo Creek. Nice folks at the shop, $5 launch fee and a little tip on the bass action the owner's son had recently around the corner. Sounded like a good omen, so off I went.

The first thing I decided to do was to just fire up the depth finder and see what the bottom looked like and what life was around. One set of docks had some damage and there was some sunken parts that looks to be holding fish in 12-20’. After popping a couple waypoints on the graph, I had seen enough and decided to throw a crank bait around the bank in 3-10’. No bites, but was getting good feedback from the bait letting me know the bottom hardness was what I was looking for.

After giving that a little time I took off to some underwater points and humps in the main part of the creek arm to see what was out there. Marked some fish and pulled up a white bass out of 14’. I then headed to the bank to the docks that looked like they were in deeper water with no success, partially because I just wasn’t feeling there were fish around and decided to head all the way up to the back of the creek.

Some nice water with a bending channel lead me up to the back where I found a school of 15-16” bass, caught a couple of those and proceeded further back to have a giant catfish smash my bait, but no bass. 3-4 fish by the end of the day, wasn’t looking great but possible to expand on.

The next day of practice I headed further up the lake closer to the lower dam end after hearing some good things including schools of bass roaming but wanted to find my own water and not step on toes. Another OK day, only 4 fish caught but I covered a lot of water checking for options. Found some really nice bass, 1 5lb loaner smashing bait up in 6” of water and a school of 4lbers hanging under a dock. Sadly the dock was boarded up like a cage with no great way to fish it.

Day 3 the fellas in the house and I drove about 100 yards down the road to launch which was about on the line of upper and mid lake. We all had some bites, and marked some fish but the majority of the day was tough with us all having a bit of a time trying to figure out what the bass wanted.

Go time! 

Day 1 of the event consisted of a mild cold front and I was not feeling that I had anything to go on. I decided to take the advice of the anglers I housed with, Jody Queen and Cory Dreyer, and head to the lower end of the lake which I figured wouldn’t even be in play when I left for the trip (see Part I). Started out OK with a short bass quick, then a 17”, 14 and 14.75 all fairly early. Thinking this may actually work out I then went the rest of the day without a bite. Finally at the closing minutes I started fishing every shady spot in the marina at the ramp and caught a 4th, then missed the 5th. Jody and Cory ended the day well in the area somewhere, but both too had some long spells with no bites and moments of concern.

Day 2 was an even harder decision with less confidence than I had on Day 1. Not wanting to hit the same area again I decided to open up maps on my phone. I still had the pin from practice day 2 sitting there, and took it as a sign. Don’t ever take a pin as a sign, horrible idea. I ended up missing the only fish that bit first thing in the morning, and that was the extent of that day. Saw some fish hanging around a private ramp but they wouldn’t bite and all the areas I had seen fish looked baron. The cold front was worse, with rain all day making it even less enjoyable.

Conclusion

If you haven't fished Lake Murray, I would definitely suggest putting it on your list. Its a beautiful lake with a nice community of folks. Everyone I talked to was very friendly and had heard about the "big kayak tournament" coming that weekend. I plan on getting back there as soon as I can to figure it out and get some redemption. There's something about these blue back herring lakes that I can't seem to do well on and I need that monkey off my back!

One thing I realized I hadn’t done was mix up what I was doing. I had a plan and arsenal of baits I grabbed before heading to Murray, and 90% of them were ever pulled out of the box. Granted the weather and conditions made some of them not really great choices, but others probably could have worked. I’ll never know.

All winter I have mentioned that I need to stop from being stubborn, and failed on that goal in the first event of the year. It’s hard to veer away from what you enjoy throwing and have the most confidence in when at a new lake. Now having that burning in the back of my head I’m looking forward to the next event with even more desire to break that habit than I did last week.

Next KBF Trail stop for me will be at the Potomac on April 9th. Another lake I haven't been to that I expect to be a challenge. Tidal waters will be completely new to me but the spring time is my strength so I think it will be great timing to tackle it! I'll have a couple more events done at that point fishing with Carolina Kayak Anglers on March 19th at Falls Lake and Lake Macintosh on April 2nd.

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Eric Nelson
Professional Kayak Bass Angler

Biography

I was born in Southeastern Massachusetts, where I began fishing for bass when I was in my early teenage years, graduating to competitive bass tournaments in my late 20’s. I moved to North Carolina in 2015 and found the passion for bass fishing from a kayak, and quickly became involved in both the local and national kayak bass tournament scenes. My fishing skills have allowed me to qualify for almost every major event since joining the clubs, be it at a club, state and even national level.

Being a professional in the online web development and design field for publications, I have always used my skills to help promote the clubs and the sport as a whole in my spare time.  I have been a part of the club directors for Cape Cod Bass, and now for Carolina Kayak Anglers, one of the larger kayak clubs in the country. I am also a part of the national KBF tournament advisory board.

The Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF) format has allowed me to travel across the United States, fishing against the best fisherman in the country. Now with the KBF Pro format, and the merging with the FLW organization, I am looking forward to where this adventure takes me in the future.

Highlights

Total Career Earnings - $3,250

Competition Highlights
Inaugural FLW / KBF Cup Championship Qualified 2019 - Hot Springs, AK
KBF National Championship Qualified 2020 - Lake Guntersville, AL
KBF Challenge Championship 2018 - Toledo Bend, LA
2019 KBF National Championship - 57th overall out of 462 anglers - Shreveport, LA
KBF Regional Trail Championship Qualified 2019 - Lake Wheeler, AL
KBF National Trail Championship Qualified 2019 - La Crosse, WI
2nd Place 2018 KBF National Trail - High Rock Lake, NC
2nd Place 2019 - Plastic Pirates - Randleman Lake, NC
11th Place - 2019 KBF Southeastern Region Trail - Santee Cooper Lakes, SC
13th Place - 2019 KBF Southeastern Region Trail - Chickamauga Lake, TN
46th Place 2019 FLW / KBF Cup Qualifier - Nickajack Lake, TN
2nd Place - Plastic Pirates - Randleman Lake 2019
1st Place - Cape Cod Bass,  2002 - Lake Winnipesaukee, NH
1st Place - Cape Cod Bass, 2008 - Glenn Charlie Pond, MA